The Lafayette Traditional Cache
Marko Ramius: No response from owner. If you wish to repair/replace the cache sometime in the future, just contact us (by email), and assuming it meets the current guidelines, we'll be happy to unarchive it.
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Marko Ramius
Volunteer Cache Reviewer
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This geocache sits next to The Lafayette Hotel. Originally known as Imig Manor, this hotel was built in the likeness of a Colonial-style mansion at a cost of $2 million by entrepreneur and playboy homebuilder Larry Imig. It opened on July 1st, 1946 and its first guest was Bob Hope. In the following years many celebrities of the golden age of Hollywood stayed here.
Throughout the forties and fifties it pulled in the stars of Hollywood and kick started the San Diego celebrity cult. Larry Imig’s idea was a resort for celebrities who wished to remain anonymous, were desperate to be seen, and wanted to misbehave. In its early days it enjoyed unparalleled success.
In addition to its impressive guest list, several prominent local figures were permanent residents, including clothier Bill Solof, restaurateur Ray Lubach and San Diego Padre baseball managers Lefty O'Doul and Bucky Harris. The hotel also served as a movie set for the 1986 movie “Top Gun”.
Part of the original design of the 2.36 acre complex was the 50 meter, 600,000 gallon Olympic-sized terrazzo-tiled swimming pool, designed by 1920s Olympic gold medal swimmer Johnny Weissmuller. Weissmuller was also famous for playing the best known version of Tarzan in a dozen films, and his wavering yell is still often heard in modern movies. To be honest, the pool is not a full 50 meters, but rather 163 feet, 10 inches, two inches short of an official Olympic pool – a fact San Diego native and athlete Florence Chadwick was quick to point out while training here for her then record breaking swim across the English Channel in 1950. The hotel has 131 guest suites, each one named after a great person in movie history, as well as several meeting and ball rooms.
Attached to the hotel is the Red Fox Room restaurant and piano bar. The Red Fox Room was an old inn in Surrey, England dating from around 1560. There are various stories, but it seems the inn's panels were dismantled some time around the late 1920s and shipped to the US. They were then incorporated into the "Ocean House" in Santa Monica, which was built by William Randolph Hearst for his mistress, cinema actress Marion Davies. In the 1940s the house was sold and became a hotel. Some time later the panels were again dismantled and placed in storage, and from there they somehow found their way into the Red Fox Room. In addition to the old panels, the bar, back bar and trim around the doors come from Charles of London. The Tudor paneling and the fireplace with its finely carved mantel bear the date of 1642. The three arched panels tell the story of Rebecca and Isaac as found in Genesis. Where else in San Diego can you find something as historic as this?
By 1960, Interstate 8 replaced El Cajon Boulevard as the main east-west connector of San Diego, and hotel operations ceased due to loss of traffic along the Boulevard. The building then passed through several owners, until March 2004 when Hampstead Lafayette Partners purchased 2.6 acres in North Park including the Lafayette Hotel, for $11.5 million. Since then the hotel has been a budget getaway for hip parents traveling with children, international travelers, and free spirits who find common ground with the discriminating tastes and historic charm that made celebrities want to stay here. In summer the pool is a mecca for local residents and hotel patrons alike.
In 2010 Hampstead Partners, aided by a $2.4 million loan from the city's Redevelopment Agency, announced a year-long, $4 million refurbishment to return the hotel to its former glory. The refurbishment considers the environment, the hotel’s guests, and its historic designation. It includes such projects as the exposing of the original 1946 terrazzo lobby floor (entombed for decades under carpet), and the refurbishment of the Johnny Weissmuller pool. Now completed, the hotel has been brought into the modern age, while still retaining its glamor and opulence as a historic Hollywood star getaway.
The cache is a camouflaged mini Altoids tin. Bring your own pen.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Obggbz bs yrsg pbyhza
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