Inns

I read with great sadness this week of the closing of a venerable old hotel located on the Columbia River in Hood River, Ore., the Columbia Gorge Hotel. Built by timber baron and philanthropist Simon Benson in 1921, she sits on a bluff overlooking the river, surrounded by beautifully landscaped grounds and highlighted by a 208-foot waterfall that tumbles over the cliff to the Columbia below. In her early days the hotel was referred to as the “Waldorf of the West” and was host to presidents (Coolidge and FDR) and movie stars (Clara Bow, Rudolph Valentino and Shirley Temple). Its distinctive red-tile roof and Mediterranean-style stucco exterior houses just 39 guestrooms and several public rooms, all boasting the craftsmanship and elegance of a bygone era.

The current owners, Boyd and Halla Graves, rescued the place from a future as a retirement home almost thirty years ago and restored it, but they cite age, ill health and the current economic woes for the closure. They have had two sales fall through in the past year when the buyers weren’t able to secure financing, and their attempts to cover their mortgage have come to naught. Financiers and others have suggested that other factors, such as the limited number of rooms and poor management, have also led to the abrupt closure, but the reasons are of secondary concern for those most closely affected by the move.

Thirty employees were suddenly informed that they no longer had a job, and some had not been paid for several weeks. The hotel employs about 130 workers during the busy summer season, and several businesses in Hood River and beyond benefit from the traffic the hotel draws. There are a number of creditors left wondering if their invoices will ever be paid, and likely hundreds of future guests with prepaid reservations and gift certificates who may never see a refund. And there are 18 brides out there who had weddings scheduled at the site between now and this summer who are out their deposits and no doubt in a panic over what to do next.

There are great hopes that a white knight will come riding in to purchase the hotel and make it a viable operation again. One suggestion is that the property is just the kind of place that Colin Noble’s Noble Hospitality Inc. specializes in: small, failing properties that can become profitable again. Others point to Oregon’s own McMenamin brothers who over the past thirty years have been very successful at buying up old schools, theaters and even a former poor farm (Edgefield Manor) and turning them into boutique hotels, entertainment venues and brewpubs. All agree that whoever takes the project on will need to invest in upgrades and renovations and may need to add rooms to make it a viable business.

I sincerely hope that this beautiful, grand place can be rescued and reopened to be enjoyed by the public. One of my fondest memories is of our stay at the hotel on our third wedding anniversary, accompanied by our three-month-old firstborn. Living on just my husband’s teaching salary at the time, we were counting pennies, so our overnight there seemed a real indulgence. We felt welcomed, though, and really enjoyed the beautiful setting and rooms. The next morning we gorged ourselves on the hotel’s famous and enormous Sunday brunch, for which people drive 90 miles from Portland without a second thought.

I know I’m among thousands who hope for a return of the Columbia Gorge Hotel. As John Wroblewski pointed out in his blogs on the demise of the Purple Hotel in Chicago and the Brickyard Crossing Inn in Indianapolis, while it is understandable when age and/or declining business cause these institutions to close, it is a shame to lose that connection to the past and their glory days.

Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader