Opening on July 1, 1946, The Lafayette Hotel was originally known as Imig Manor, after its owner, local businessman Larry Imig. It became a place for celebrities (Bob Hope, Ava Gardner, Frank Sinatra, and Lana Turner) to escape Hollywood and hang out at the Johnny Weissmuller designed swimming pool as well as the 100+ guest suites. A recent $31 million renovation has given new luster to the Colonial mansion styled building, located along El Cajon Boulevard in North Park. The above shot is how the façade looked in 2014; below was taken after the remodel.
The Red Fox Room was a steakhouse that was once located on the front left corner of the hotel, since 1959. The restaurant moved across the street a few years back to make way for a different concept.
It is now Quixote, an upscale Mexican eatery.
Early press releases said the name of the restaurant/bar would be Mama Intento, and the base paint of the sign confirms that. However, the neon over it and the hotel website no longer reference that name.
The entrance:
The lobby. Wow! The experience when you enter is not what you would expect from the Tara Plantation exterior. It is more akin to the Jungle Room at Graceland (I’ll leave that up to you as to whether that’s good or not).
The famous Weissmuller pool:
More to come on this place!
See more Lafayette Hotel and Club photos at my main website.
Interior design that's definitely not for the fainthearted-! "A Good Place to Hide" - no kidding-! It all looks pretty swell to me - especially those boozy milkshakes.
ReplyDeleteSo glad places such as this still survive.
Thanks for sharing these images.
Last weekend I had the opportunity to join a friend ( manager at the Whaley House ) security detail for a special event. People were filming inside from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. as I drove there I passed by the Lafayette hotel. I had to stop and do a U-turn and come back because I heard about it in your posts and never had the chance to really see it before I'm impressed and have to go back and look inside. Thanks for these pictures, as always they do it justice and then some
ReplyDeleteNanook - Let me know when you want to meet for a boozy milkshake!
ReplyDeleteBryan - The outside doesn't really match the inside...and that's ok by me. One of those secret treasures when you enter.