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“...a series of additions and innovations made El Cortez the destination of choice for
The“
WORD
The history and renovation
of a San Diego landmark
The colorful history of El Cortez’ Don Room is
matched by its ornate ceiling and chandelier
By Pat Sherman • Photos by STACY KECK
When it opened in 1927, the El Cortez Apartment Hotel
was San Diego’s tallest and most elegant building.
Constructed on the former site of Ulysses S. Grant,
Jr.’s home at Ash Street and Seventh Avenue, the $2.5
million Spanish Colonial Revival hotel boasted jawdropping
views of a San Diego Bay that, at the time,
included neither the Coronado Bridge nor Harbor and Shelter Islands.
During the next three decades, a series of additions and innovations made
El Cortez the destination of choice for visiting celebrities and dignitaries, from
President Dwight Eisenhower to Bing Crosby.
Elvis Presley stayed at El Cortez in April 1956 during his first visit to San
Diego. After one of his two sold-out concerts, police reportedly arrested 12 girls
running naked through the halls of El Cortez in search of “The King.” Mayor
Charles Dail was so incensed by the libidinal hysteria that he reportedly passed a
resolution barring Presley from performing in San Diego again (Presley wouldn’t
return until 1970).
Senator Robert F. Kennedy appeared in El Cortez’s 3,300-square-foot Don
Room for a fundraiser on June 5, 1968, the night before his assassination.
Nearly collapsing minutes into his speech, Kennedy had to be rushed into the
bathroom, where he vomited then briefly lay on the floor.
In 1940, the art deco Sky Room lounge was added to the 15th story,
providing a panoramic view of the San Diego skyline. The cost for Lobster
26 pacificsandiego.com { January 2011}