The HOTEL ST. GEORGE. All About It.; Santa Cruz, California. Pacific Avenue - Front St.
(n. p.): (n. d.). 1st printing (presumed), ca 1910. Not found in Rocq. 31, [1] pp. The narrative was written by the California author, poet Isabel Hammel Raymond, who contributed the text to another promotional booklet about Santa Cruz County. Her detailed description of the hotel consists of 15 pages of text. In addition, there are four more unattributed pages of text about Santa Cruz and its virtues. 10 b/w, captioned half-tone photographic images of, primarily, divers Santa Cruz scenes. Only one of the illustrations is of the Hotel St. George, that an image of the main office. Map, p. [32], showing routes from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. Oblong format: 4-3/16" x 6". Original publisher's red paper covers, printed in black, with yellow accents, stapled. Now housed in an archival mylar sleeve. A Fine copy. Item #48437
The Hotel St. George was built in the 1890s by the San Francisco millionaire, A. P. Hotaling, a very successful Pacific Coast liquor distributor. Stretching along one full block of downtown Santa Cruz, it was regarded as the best accommodation along the coast between San Francisco and Monterey. As it changed hands over the years, additions were added and renovations took place. As Santa Cruz’s coastal amusement tourist attractions were developed, the hotel played a major role in keeping the city’s downtown area viable. The hotel existed well into the 20th C, finally destroyed by fire in 1990.
J. C. C. Leonard, named as the lessee on the booklet's cover, was involved with the hotel for many years, before and after the turn of the 20th C. He is named in a 1905 lawsuit as being associated with the hotel as early as 1898. He was listed as the lessee as late as 1914. At the time of this publication, Leonard was also the proprietor of the Sea Beach Hotel (shown in one of the photo illustrations).
OCLC records 2 holding institutions: UC Berkeley & UC Santa Cruz.
Uncommon.
Price: $245.00