Albemarle Hotel Register, 1888 October 18-1889 March 27

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Summary

Creators:
Albemarle Hotel.
Abstract:
The collection consists of a guest register for the Albemarle Hotel for the dates October 18, 1888 through March 27, 1889.
Extent:
1.5 Linear feet (1 box)
Language:
Preferred citation:

Albemarle Hotel Register, MS 14, San Diego History Center Document Collection, San Diego, CA.

Background

Scope and content:

The Albemarle Hotel register, manufactured by the Pacific Coast Hotel Register Company of San Francisco, dates from October 18, 1888 through March 27, 1889. Each page of the register lists the guests’ name, residence, room number and time. The 'time' column is filled with the letters B, L, D, R or M for each guest, possibly noting breakfast (B), lunch (L), dinner (D), and maid service (M). There is an advertisement for the San Francisco Chronicle at the foot of each register page. Every other register page is a blotter page which consists of the same advertisement for Peruvian Bitters and the San Francisco Examiner. Hotel guests traveled from across the United States, and as far away as Canada, Mexico, England, and Scotland. Some notable local guests were Milton Santee and James Balfour, as well as the Californian writer Charles B. Turrill. A number of traveling performance artists were registered as guests, including Haverly’s Mastodon Minstrels, Atkinson’s Comedy Company, Augustin Daly’s Comedy, Eunice Goodrich Company, and Sells Brothers and Barrett’s Circus.

Biographical / historical:

The Albemarle Hotel was built in 1888, during a brief economic boom, on the corner of Front Street and Broadway in downtown San Diego. The hotel billed itself as a family hotel, but was popular with officers of the ships docked at the nearby bay, as well as traveling performance and comedy troupes. The hotel suffered financial hardship and eventually came under the ownership of Ben Hill, a rancher from El Cajon who later became sheriff.

There is a popular story connected to the hotel of “The Itata Affair.” A Chilean revolutionary, who was an officer on the docked ship Itata, took a room at the Albemarle. The hotel staff and guests heard muffled yells from his room, whereupon forcing the door open, they discovered the officer trapped in the folding bed. The bed had simply malfunctioned, but the officer was convinced it was part of a political plot.

Processing information:

Collection processed by Jennifer Ho on May 9, 2011.

Collection processed as part of grant project supported by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) with generous funding from The Andrew Mellon Foundation.

Arrangement:

The pages in the register are arranged chronologically.

Physical / technical requirements:

Register is warped and discolored. Some blotter pages are torn. (July 19, 2011)

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The San Diego History Center (SDHC) holds the copyright to any unpublished materials. SDHC Library regulations do apply.

Preferred citation:

Albemarle Hotel Register, MS 14, San Diego History Center Document Collection, San Diego, CA.

Location of this collection:
1649 El Prado, Suite 3
San Diego, CA 92101, US
Contact:
(619) 232-6203
Website