A clip from the Independent Dispatch of March, 1871 reads: “The outside of Carlson’s Hotel is now receiving the finishing touch of the mechanic’s skillful hand. When finished, this magnificent structure will reflect no little credit on Mr. Carlson. If all would display as much enterprise as has this gentleman, a lapse of six months would leave no trace by which one could discover that that ravenous monster, the fire-fiend, had ever visited Mendocino.” [Which it had done on October 17, 1870.]
The Mendocino to Cloverdale Stage in front of the new Carlson City Hotel, after the hotel was rebuilt in 1871.
As was the custom in European inns, the new City Hotel was to offer facilities suited to formal social life in addition to providing food and lodging for people and horses. On the ground floor Carlson partitioned off a parlor, a dining room, and a saloon to accommodate the social activities of the community as well as the traveler. Women could be comfortable in the parlor and dining room; gentlemen frequented the saloon. The dining room became popular as a place for townspeople to have Sunday dinners after attending church services.
How many rooms were for lodging is not known, but presumably each window, at least on the second floor, must have served a small room with a bed, commode and chair. A few hooks on the wall would hold clothing. Indoor sanitary facilities as we know them had not been invented yet but various pots, bowls, and water pitchers were furnished to each lodger’s chamber.
The third floor, with its windows open to the breezes, may have contained the Carlson family’s living quarters and housing for employees, or suites for permanent residents.
There are no available pictures of the interior of Mr. Carlson’s hotel, but the exterior was well photographed by both Carleton E. Watkins and M. M. Hazeltine, two excellent (and later famous) photographers at that time.
Surely no hotel built at a later date in Mendocino ever quite equaled the location or imposing stature of the City Hotel. The wide protective porch and the open gallery above, facing the bay and the sea, were warmed by the southern sun and protected from the cold northwest winds.
The rebuilt livery stable was located at the west end of what is now Albion Street, farther away from the hotel than the first one, but conveniently placed.
Carlson advertised in the December 15th, 1877 Mendocino Beacon: “The undersigned having refurnished and refitted the elegant Hotel, respectfully requests the patronage of the traveling public along the coast. The rooms are nicely furnished and the beds are kept scrupulously clean, so that patrons may be assured of quiet and comfort. The table will be supplied with the best the market affords and at the Bar will always be found the choicest wines, liquors and cigars. A splendid billiard table has been placed in the hotel, furnished with Delaney’s patent cushions, where lovers of this gentlemanly game may spend a leisure hour and a quarter or two. A Feed and Livery Stable in connection with the house. All Coast stages arrive and depart from this house.”
The Carlsons, John and Elizabeth and their children, prospered. John was elected to the school board in 1878: “J. E. Carlson received 107 votes, a majority of 5 votes over his opponent, Albert Maxwell,” according to the Beacon.
Continued next week.
Part 2 of 3; excerpted and annotated from “Mendocino’s Hotels & Saloons,” by Dorothy Bear and Beth Stebbins. Mendocino Historical Review, June, 1980.
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