my 13 year old son and I will be staying near union square for a week and January and I was wondering if there were any cool pianos he could practice on for fun nearby, such as in a hotel lobby or store

I expect any hotel would be pleased to have your 13 year-old son practice on their lobby piano.

You should give them a week's notice, though, so that they can tune it, regulate the action, and insure that it's voiced properly.

Otherwise, I wouldn't consider staying there.

thank you, the hotel we are staying at has no piano. Would other hotels in the area allow us to "visit" their piano? (any idea which hotel has a lobby piano?)

This is a joke, right?

00morningstar - why would you expect piano teachers from around the world to know which hotels in SF have pianos in their lobby? This seems like a topic for another forum. Anyway, good luck on your search.

There's a music store on Powell St. (can't remember what it's called, but it's on Powell Street, not too far from Market St.) that has practice rooms available for a reasonably cheap price. I used it myself on occasion. The pianos are not spectacular, but better than nothing.

There is a Sherman Clay piano store nearby to check out and across the bay in Berkeley and Oakland lie the famous Steingraebers and Faziolis. Both trips are quite easy with public transportation and are very easily accessed via the freeways. They may not be "practice pianos" as you were looking for, but it's always nice to check out the inventory.

BTW the music store on Powell is called the Music Center. It's on the block below the Westin St. Francis Hotel.