Aug. 24--As the swank, refurbished Clift Hotel was preparing to open its doors to a hip, young clientele this summer, hotel managers fired the black-owned valet service that had parked guests' cars for nearly two years. 

The Ethiopian-born owners were told their employees did not fit the "image" of hotelier Ian Schrager's newest property, according to a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination filed Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court. The Royal Valet Parking Co.'s workers are black and Asian. The suit claims the valet drivers who replaced them are primarily white. 

Royal Valet's suit comes a year after owner Ian Schrager's Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles settled a federal discrimination action for $1.08 million. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the hotel for firing a group of mostly minority bellmen. Evidence in the case included a handwritten memo from Schrager that called certain hotel employees "too ethnic." 

Schrager, who owned Studio 54 in the 1970s and served a prison term for tax evasion before founding a chain of tony boutique hotels, shook up San Francisco traditionalists last summer when he bought the venerable Clift Hotel and announced plans to auction the furnishings of its signature bar, the Redwood Room. 

The Clift reopened last month after a yearlong makeover that turned its classic decor into a surrealistic dreamscape. Celebrities, including supermodel Elizabeth Hurley and actor Kyle MacLachlan, were among the guests at a glit-zy opening night party. 

Royal Valet's owners allege racial discrimination, civil rights violations and emotional distress and are asking for unspecified damages. 

"Just because they spent a lot of money and renovated the hotel, black people are not fit to work there," said Royal Valet owner Biruk Tadesse. 

A spokesman for Ian Schrager Hotels in New York on Thursday said the company had not yet been served with the suit but denied that Royal Valet's contract was terminated for racial reasons. 

"Any suggestion that racial or ethnic discrimination played a part in this decision is outrageous, since the firm that replaced the former valet firm is racially balanced," said Gerald McKelvey. 

According to the suit, the first evidence that Royal Valet didn't meet the new owner's standards came in June as the hotel was preparing for a "buzz marketing day," when the new hotel was to be shown to the travel industry. Royal Parking was told to stay away that day. 

When Tadesse questioned the hotel manager, he says he was told: "We decided your image isn't proper for the people who are coming this afternoon." When Tadesse asked what he meant, the manager declined to be specific. 

His drivers wear uniforms, have clean driving records and a professional demeanor, Tadesse said. The only difference, he said, is color. A videotape of the replacement parking service shows all white attendants, attorney R. Stephen Goldstein said. 

Tadesse, who immigrated from Ethiopia 10 years ago and has worked as a valet for seven years, called the Clift's action a disgrace. 

"When I came to this country, I never thought I would be discriminated against for my color," he said. "Is that the image they want? Is that what Ian Schrager is about?" 

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