A Sign of the Times? From Luxury Seaside Hotel to….

This summer I had the pleasure of visiting friends on the West Coast, including a stop in Carlsbad, California to learn more about actuarial and accounting standards for continuing care communities (CCRCs). As I walked into “Carlsbad by the Sea” on the corner of Grand Avenue and the old Pacific Coast Highway, I thought things looked a bit familiar.  The mission style, the healing waters from a “well” across the street, a Victorian style building a few steps away that I seemed to recall as the “chicken place” (and honestly, that’s a compliment!) — they all seemed familiar.  I telephoned my mother in Phoenix and asked, “by any chance, when I was a kid, did we ever stay at a hotel at this location?” 

My mother laughed and said that the family didn’t — but she and my father visited the historic Carlsbad Hotel on this spot in 1952 on their honeymoon! She told me they had the “best” roast beef in the dining room.  I had seen pictures  of my parents in photo albums, arm in arm in the hotel gardens and sitting on the steep steps to the beach.  (Later, as a family, we also toured Carlsbad on a family summer vacation — hence my memories of the “chicken place,” a restaurant popular with families because of a huge plaster chicken on the corner and live hens and roosters roaming the grounds.  At that age I didn’t make the connection to what we were probably eating….).

I learned that the Carlsbad Hotel was first opened in the late 1880s.  In 1929, it was rebuilt in a classic California mission style (shown above)and the resort was known for its proximity to the beach — and its hot and cold mineral baths.  In the 1930s, the resort was popular with the Barrymores and Greta Garbo. In the 1990s it closed — and was eventually rebuilt and reopened as Carlsbad by the Sea Retirement Community.  My mother enjoyed my latest photos, showing how the garden and building traditions continue in the new setting.  

So, from luxury hotel to a remarkably nice retirement community by the sea, with independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing available on the site.  And, I’m happy to report there is still very fine dining available.  The “hospitality” industry has given way to the “long-term care” industry.  All of this is another sign of our aging times, right?

P.S.  For more on the “chicken place,” once called the Twin Inns, here’s a link, including a surprising Pennsylvania-to-California connection.