- An Original Building of the Irvine Ranch -
The town of Irvine was started at the crossing of the state highway and the railroad tracks. The state highway began as El Camino Real. The railroad path was selected to cross the highway at it’s highest elevation on the Ranch. The first buildings (covered in more detail elsewhere) were the warehouses, the railroad section houses and the train station. In 1911, the store was built for Kate Munger whose large family farmed in the El Toro area. This was a time of change for the ranch. The Irvine Company, which ad leased plots of land to tenant farmers since the 1880s, raised the original 1/4 share to a 1/3 share lease fee in 1912. Many tenants were outraged by the increase, auctioned their personal property, and left the Ranch.
The area developed several names in the early years. It was known as the San Joaquin Ranch or Rancho from the original land grant purchased by James Irvine. The voting precinct (started in 1896) and the school district (formed by 1906) were both named San Joaquin. But when the post office was established with James Irvine as the official Postmaster on June 10, 1899, it was called the Myford Post Office, for the son of James Irvine, because an Irvine Post Office had been established in Calaveras County in February 1896. The train station was called Irvine when it opened no later than 1898 and also the ranch was often called the Irvine Ranch. The situation improved over the years. The Irvine Post Office in Calaveras County became the Carson Hill Post Office in October 1909, freeing up the Irvine name which was then adopted by the former Myford Post Office in May of 1914. (The post office was renamed East Irvine on October 01, 1965). The voting district was renamed Irvine for 1918 but the school district remained San Joaquin until 1972. Of course, the only school in town, which opened no later than 1906, was called the Irvine School and the intermediate school, which opened in the fall of 1971, was called Rancho San Joaquin just adds to the confusion.
In 1914, the state highway was paved which brought a sense of optimism that there would be a flurry of financial opportunities along the road. Kate Munger arranged for the building, now known as the hotel, to be built in either 1914 or 1915 as a barbershop and pool room that also served meals.
Like the store, the Irvine Company owned the building and Munger was the leaseholder. In June of 1916, Kate Munger posted an ad in the newspaper for “Poolroom, 4 tables for lease Inquire at Irvine Store”. She hired a barber as manager but things did not go well as she filed charges of petty larceny against him in July of 1917 for the theft of food. By 1919, Kate Munger had gotten married and was no longer involved with the building.
Eventually, the building was remodeled and a second floor was added. It was opened as a hotel in May of 1919 with Daisy Dell French Kraschel as the manager. Daisy French married Joseph Kraschel on Valentines Day, 1894 in Garden Grove and lived in the San Bernardino area. Mrs. Kraschel, the daughter of a Mormon minister, was widowed by 1919. She had four children, the youngest was only 14 when Mrs. Kraschel became manager. After a brief stint, Mrs. Kraschel moved to Santiago Canyon by July of 1920 and then back to the San Bernardino area.
By April of 1920, the hotel was being managed by Martha Ortega who lived there with her two daughters when her husband died after a long illness. The two girls also worked at the hotel. Juanita and Margarita assisted in the cooking. In 1921, the Irvine Company carpenters completed another remodel. This first one was to add “beauty and convenience”. September of 1927 found the girls married, one to a resident of the hotel and Mrs Ortega had become the manager of the Huntington Inn of Huntington Beach.
Mr. and Mrs. Glen Goodrich became managers of the hotel in September of 1927. The Goodrichs time as managers was short lived as they were replaced by George Angle, a former Orange County supervisor and the first defacto Myford postmaster back in 1899. After a few months, the management was turned over to his son Arthur (who also ran Irvine Super Service Station with his brother in law Elmer Dietrich) before the end of the year. Dietrich had been best man at Arthur Angle’s wedding some years before. Cadett Hamilton lived in the hotel in late 1927 and lived nearby the hotel for at least 30 more years. He was one of many people who lived in the immediate area of the hotel for most of their lives. During this time, the hotel was still serving meals and the chef was Bert Kelly who lived at the hotel with his wife Lois. Fred Tamblyn, a salesman working at the Irvine Store since at least 1925, also lived there. Fred also worked at the Irvine Super Service Station sometimes. Arthur Angle was back in Santa Ana in November of 1929, asking for, and receiving, city permission to open his own service station.
In 1929, Irvine Company carpenters remodeled the downstairs for what was described as ”future community affairs”.
Elmer Dietrich, Angle’s partner in the service station became the hotel manager in 1929 and also continued to operate the service station after Angle’s move. Elmer did not live in the hotel that he managed and maintained his home in Santa Ana.
There was a period of time when the hotel was without a named manager but was overseen by the landlord, the Irvine Company. 1932 brought the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Dick Diggs. Dick Diggs was a locally famous singer from Santa Ana. They moved into a recently finished downstairs apartment in January. They operated the café until January 1934 when they separated. Mrs. Diggs moved to Newport Beach to operate a nightclub there.
On February 25, 1932, a classified ad appeared in the local paper for a 4 room apartment for rent in the hotel for $30 per month. This would have been one of the two apartments on the first floor as the second floor apartments had not yet been created. The hotel offered rooms for rent and in addition to advertisements in the local newspaper, the hotel was always listed in the “hotels” classification of the county directories. This would not change until the 1950s. In 1932, the property was still being managed by the Irvine Company.
In January 1934, Mrs. Walter Sellers became resident manager, living in one of the apartments with her husband who worked at the Irvine Garage and her son Noble. In November, Dwight and Martha Ahern moved into the hotel. Dwight was the son of Philip Ahern who had been born in the nearby railroad section housing. Later, Martha would become the hotel manager. The Aherns were long term residents. In December of that year, the upstairs was remodeled to create two apartments.
By 1934, it appears that there were no more major remodels to the hotel. Upstairs there were two apartments, each with a mud porch, kitchen family room, bathroom with tub and bedroom. There were also three single rooms and one and a half bathrooms for the three single rooms. Downstairs were two apartments. Each of these apartments had a kitchen, bathroom and family room. One apartment had a single bedroom while the other apartment had two.
1937 brought some changes, Walter Sellars took over management of the garage and lived in the hotel with his wife Ruth who acted as the building manager and their son Noble who attended Irvine school.
The hotel in the next few years was managed by Ruth Sellars. Dorsey Clayton lived there and worked at the service station. Mr. and Mrs. Lyn Young, the cafe owners left in 1939 with the sale of the business.
By 1947, new faces operated the local businesses and the hotel. Henry Sizer ran the café with his sister Elizabeth Spencer acting as waitress. Thomas “Pat” Morton ran the garage. Dwight Ahern managed the service station. All of these people lived in the hotel where Dwight’s wife Martha was the manager. These people continued in their positions into the 1950s.
Over the years several minor modifications, the largest of which maybe the addition of two windows to the internal stairway. The rooms were all built without closets and the hotel did not originally have hot water. Space was taken out of neighboring rooms to create clothes closets and closet was created for a water heater. Upstairs there were mud porches for the two apartments that were not under roof which have since been incorporated into the building. There was never forced air heating but fireplaces were added throughout.
With the development of the City of Irvine, the changes in the Ranch and the southern California economy, the Hotel no longer served it’s purpose. By 1982, the building was boarded up and became the target of vandals.
Today the hotel sits next to the general store. They appear similar in design and construction. There is a version of history out there that ties the hotel's construction to Chris McNeil. The hotel was in fact built with Irvine Company carpenters over a long period of time that saw many additions as described above. The styles of the buildings appear to be similar because the redwood siding is the same and the windows are the same. Inside the walls, there are many differences. The largest of these is between the floors. The hotel has a space between the first and second floors and the store does not. A note about the c 1920 photo of the hotel that appears on the first page: The reason for this space in the hotel is based on the evolution of the buildings use. When commercial buildings were constructed about 1910, high ceilings were in style, often with decorated tin visible to the customers. When the second floor was added in the 1930s, it was built on top of the high ceiling first floor. Today, the first floor of the hotel has a ceiling height of about 8 feet. A new ceiling for the first floor was built at the height more typical of residential buildings. Inside the space today, the old first floor ceiling is clearly visible on the top of that space. The space is now used for air ducts for the first floor and a small electric water heater for the building.
Over time, several fireplaces were added to the building. The chimneys went along the outside of the walls and then through holes cut in the eaves. All those fireplaces and chimneys were removed during the 1986 remodel. The building today looks almost the same as in the photo on the HOME page except for the addition of two windows that were installed on the side of the second floor, almost halfway back, to add light to the stairway and the upstairs hall.