Greta Garbo, Bing Crosby and John Wayne all had a connection to a Carlsbad hotel built around an unlikely attraction: mineral water.
The California-Carlsbad Mineral Springs Hotel & Spa opened in 1930 as a luxurious Spanish Revival resort, complete with 130 rooms, landscaped grounds, health treatments and a Hollywood clientele. But the story of the hotel actually began decades earlier, when mineral springs helped put this North County community on the tourist map.
with the multi-story hotel being slightly to the right behind the platform c. 1890. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center.)
Mineral springs were discovered in Carlsbad in 1882, according to preservation architect David Marshall, co-author with Eileen Magno of Forgotten San Diego. The discovery spurred development, and in 1887 the community’s first hotel opened.
The 85-room Carlsbad Hotel catered to tourists and health-seekers who came to take advantage of the mineral springs. But the hotel had a short life. It was destroyed by fire in 1896.
Opened in 1887 and destroyed by fire in 1896 (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center.)
Carlsbad’s resort ambitions didn’t disappear with it.
In 1930, the California-Carlsbad Mineral Springs Hotel & Spa opened along what is now Carlsbad Boulevard. The half-million-dollar Spanish Revival resort featured 130 rooms, landscaped gardens, lounges, sun parlors and roof gardens. Its health program offered mineral and ocean baths, massages and exercise programs. The Carlsbad Historical Society says the hotel became an important part of Carlsbad’s growing tourism industry.
And Hollywood noticed.
The Carlsbad Historical Society says the Mineral Springs Hotel brought celebrities to Carlsbad throughout the Depression years. Guests came to rest, enjoy the mineral baths and participate in exercise programs conducted by Dr. P.M. Seixas, whose health broadcasts could be heard on Los Angeles radio station KNX.
A preservation history by Save Our Heritage Organisation specifically names Garbo, John Barrymore and Crosby among those associated with the hotel’s original lobby.
In Forgotten San Diego, Marshall also writes that the hotel welcomed such notables as Garbo, Crosby and Wayne.
(Photo courtesy of David Marshall, AIA.)
The hotel itself was designed to impress. Its Spanish Revival lobby featured colorful stenciling, terra-cotta tile, a flagstone fireplace and murals depicting California missions.
But one of its most memorable features was outside.
(Photo courtesy of David Marshall, AIA.)
The hotel’s large garden patio was built around a “Weeping Eucalyptus Tree,” according to Marshall. Local legend held that a Spanish señorita once sat beneath the tree waiting for her sea captain to return. When his ship was lost, the story goes, she died of a broken heart. The tree’s drooping branches and falling leaves were said to resemble tears shed for the doomed couple.
The tree eventually succumbed to disease and was cut down, but the story remains part of the hotel’s lore.
The hotel wasn’t just a destination for movie stars.
The Carlsbad Historical Society reports the San Diego Padres sent pitchers and catchers there for preliminary spring training. Team owner H.W. “Bill” Lane touted Carlsbad’s climate, mineral baths and hotel accommodations as an ideal combination for preparing players for the season.
Lane was also the namesake of Lane Field, the downtown San Diego ballpark that became the Padres’ home beginning in 1936.
The glamorous resort, however, struggled financially. The Depression hit soon after the hotel opened, and it went into receivership. In 1939, Oliver M. Morris purchased the property and eventually turned the operation around, according to the Carlsbad Historical Society.
The hotel’s role changed again during World War II. With Camp Pendleton nearby, the property accommodated military personnel and visitors, and the Carlsbad Historical Society reports movie companies used the hotel for stars and crews working on productions at the Marine base.
By 1957, the hotel had been converted into a retirement home.
The building survived for decades more, but not unchanged. Marshall writes that the hotel was demolished in 1996, with its entry tower and front façade later rebuilt as part of a new senior residential complex to resemble the original 1930 design.
The city of Carlsbad identifies the historic property at 2855 Carlsbad Blvd. as the Carlsbad Mineral Springs Hotel/Carlsbad-by-the-Sea, dating to 1930.
So there are really two Carlsbad hotel stories here: the first, opened in 1887 and destroyed by fire in 1896, and the much grander 1930 resort that brought Hollywood celebrities, athletes and health-seekers to town.
For a community that started drawing visitors because of mineral water, that’s quite a legacy.
Read more history stories here. Do you have a story to tell? Send an email to DebbieSklar@cox.net
Sources:
- David Marshall and Eileen Magno, Forgotten San Diego.
- Carlsbad Historical Society. Carlsbad Historical Society / City of Carlsbad Historic Resources. Jeannie Sprague-Bentley, Carlsbad: Images of America.
- St. Michael’s by-the-Sea — History and Sources
- Susan Schnebelen Gutierrez, Windows on the Past: An Illustrated History of Carlsbad, California.
- St. Michael’s by-the-Sea — History and Sources.
- Lola Sherman, A History of San Diego North County: From Mission to Millennium.
- Marje Howard-Jones, Seekers of the Spring.
- Historic Carlsbad: A Self-Guided Tour, Carlsbad City Library. City of Carlsbad — Historic Carlsbad GIS Tour.
- California Garden, April 1935. St. Michael’s by-the-Sea — 1930s History and Sources.
- St. Michael’s by-the-Sea — Early Regional History
- Save Our Heritage Organisation.
- City of Carlsbad historic-property documentation. City of Carlsbad — Local Landmarks and Historic Resources.
