Casa de Bandini Memories

In the 1950s, this structure in the Old Town district of San Diego was known as the Casa de Bandini, an upscale tourist motel.



Going back to its origins, Casa de Bandini was built between 1827 and 1829 as a one floor Spanish colonial style home for cattle rancher Don Juan Bandini. In the 1850s Bandini sold his home to Albert Seeley, who added a second floor to the property, converting it into a stagecoach stop and hotel with 20 rooms. The hotel prospered as a stagecoach stop for layovers between Los Angeles and San Diego. By 1888, Seeley sold the hotel due to an increase in railroad use and the popular Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego. In 1928, Don Juan Bandini’s grandson, Cave J. Couts Jr., bought the property and restored it as a memorial to his mother, Ysidora Bandini de Couts, renaming  it “The Miramar,” a hotel and restaurant. In 1945, James H. and Nora Cardwell purchased the Bandini property, with their son Frank renovating the building into the motel you see in these vintage images. The Cardwells eventually sold the property to the state of California in 1968, when Old Town became a state historic park. Okay, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s proceed to modern times!



I became aware of it when it was Casa de Bandini, a lively Mexican Restaurant which was a popular spot for both tourists and locals.



Mariachi bands, festive decor, tasty Mexican dishes, and an outdoor patio made it my go-to choice for both food and margaritas when my friends and family came to town.



And then there’s that one time I got frosted tips, but that’s another whole tale entirely…



Margaritas of every flavor and color were served at Bandini in glasses as big as you desired!





Then in typical fashion when the government steps in to “help,” things go down the toilet. Diane Powers was the masterful businesswoman behind the successful Casa de Bandini restaurant, making it thrive for over thirty years. In 2005, the state park agency decided not to renew her contract and instead gave it to Delaware North, an unimaginative company who dutifully went along with the state park’s desire to make Old Town a more authentic and historically correct place to visit. 



Revenue plunged under the new management, dropping from $18 million to barely $8 million. From a  San Diego Union Tribune article:

Dave McGuire, co-owner of Bailey & McGuire Pottery, a retail shop within the state park, said the era the park is trying to recreate was not an especially romantic time. "If you read all the history books, it was not that appealing," he said. "It was dusty and dirty."...It is unclear whether people want a history lesson or just a tasty margarita when they visit Old Town.

In spring 2009, Delaware North withdrew from its contract with the state and management changed hands to the Old Town Family Hospitality Corporation, headed by local restaurateur Chuck Ross. Recently, I decided it was time to revisit my old haunt and see how it was holding up. Hoping to see if the menu had improved since I first ate there after the “historic renovation,” I learned that they only serve a limited menu on Fridays and Saturdays during happy hour. That’s it. Not surprisingly, on the Friday afternoon that I visited the once vibrant patio looked like this:



Empty. Completely. The Casa de Bandini restaurant I used to frequent was so popular they didn’t have to take reservations. Patrons dutifully waited in line for an hour or more to get a coveted table by the courtyard fountain. Today, you could walk in and be seated immediately.



This is the type of fare you can expect.



A beat-up fake leather menu and a piña colada served in a basic bar glass. Stupendous!



While I applaued the restoration efforst to the interior of the hotel…



it looks more like a museum than a spot that encourages people to visit and enjoy.



If you want to visit what once was, you need to trek up north to a strip mall in Carlsbad. Diane Powers took her successful business and relocated it about 20 minutes away from where it started. And yes, it’s doing well.

See more Casa de Bandini/Cosmopolitan Hotel photos at my main website.