Along with other 12th Street structures, such as the state Capitol, Francesca Apartments, erected in 1924, Weinstock's department store, and a Bank of America, the Senator Hotel became part of one of California's then-newest and trendiest commercial shopping centers. Silent film star Buster Keaton stayed at the hotel with his production company in the summer of 1927 while filming the 1928 feature-length comedy "Steamboat Bill, Jr." A few months later, adventure pilot Charles Lindbergh was honored in the hotel's Florentine Room for his May 1927 historic flight from New York to Paris, France. From the 1930s to the 1950s, the Senator Hotel served as the center of political activity in the capital. Legislators and lobbyists would sit in wicker chairs in the building's lobby, making one political deal after another deal regarding oil, liquor, railroading, electric utilities, and other areas. Max Baer, a Sacramento boxer and one-time [–[List of Heavyweight Champions|Heavyweight Champion of the World]], frequented the hotel in the 1930s where he "showed off his latest beauty" in the Senator Hotel lobby. Arthur Samish, one of the most influential and powerful individual lobbyists in the history of California, maintained a lavish suite at the hotel during the 1930s and 1940s. Dr Martin Luther King Jr stayed at the Senator Hotel. In the 1940s, American author Joan Didion auditioned in the hotel for a Pasadena Playhouse theater part at a casting call and Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist and author William Saroyan frequented the hotel bar. In 1954, Washington Redskins coach Curly Lambeau was fired after arguing with that professional football team's owner in the Senator Hotel lobby. In the late 1950s, Stan Kenton and his controversial jazz orchestra held concerts in the Empire Room of the Senator Hotel. Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, politicians such as Governors Jerry Brown and Ronald Reagan and Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter spent time in the hotel. President Gerald Ford spent the night at the Senator Hotel before the September 5, 1975 assassination attempt on him by Manson family disciple Squeaky Fromme. In early 1979, retired Major League Baseball player Mickey Mantle received $2,000 to attend the National Association of Health Underwriters of Sacramento convention at the Senator Hotel. In May 1979, the Senator Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in part due to its early 20th century adaptation of parts barrowed from Palazzo Farnese and other Italian Renaissance motifs.