From Imig Manor to The Lafayette

San Diego’s Imig Manor Hotel opened in 1946, boasting Hollywood celebrity Bob Hope as its first guest. The San Diego press reported this on June 28:

The west coast’s first large postwar built hotel, Imig Manor, officially opened today. Costing $2,000,000, the hotel has 180 units under its block-square colonial-style roof. In the center is a large patio with a swimming pool and two outdoor dining and dancing halls. Twenty-two shops line the block and one-half of corridor on the main floor.

Despite its lavish $2 million cost, not all the press was positive:

Add “Who Said the War’s Over” department: At a preview dinner for the “working press” at swanky Imig Manor last night, reporters were required to buy their own drinks at prevailing prices from the hotel’s bar.

Below is a contemporary shot of how the hotel, now named The Lafayette, looks today:



The Long Beach Press-telegram gave a bit more background on Larry Imig himself, on June 29, 1946:

Larry Imig, 31-year-old former sailor, last night formally opened his new $2,000,000 hotel, Imig Manor, built with a fortune he made in a construction business that began after he traded a car for a vacant lot 10 years ago. The 180-room hotel located on the edge of the business district, has a large swimming pool, nighclub, 700-seat dining room, bars, coffee shops and a shopping center. Imig will live in a half-block long penthouse atop the three-story structure. Imig received a medical discharge in 1935 after three years as a naval enlisted man on the U.S.S. Langley and got a job as an auto salesman in San Diego. After he had been at his job a year, a woman offered to trade a vacant lot for one of his cars and convinced him he could make a profit by building a house on it and selling it. In the following 10 years, he built 2000 homes and obtained enough money to finance half the construction of his new hotel.

Below are panels from a vintage brochure, showing interior views of the property and a map of the area:







How the diner looks today:



…and the pool:





The Mississippi Room and Circle Bar (above) are now Lou Lous’s Supper Club:





Consortium Holdings, who now owns the hotel and has been pumping money into the property at a feverish pace, has done a beautiful job of honoring the history of the hotel while bringing it into the 21st century for a whole new array of patrons. The photos in the brochure makes the hotel look a bit staid and stuffy; today, the property is vibrant and creative. Good job, CH!

See more Lafayette Hotel photos at my main website.