bjgreen
While many families enjoyed a holiday dinner at home, there were a number of local eateries that offered traditional fare. The Carrillo Hotel promised a “Bountiful Holiday Dinner” – turkey with cranberry sauce, soup, salad, and pumpkin pie. All for $1.50.
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Is there a photo of the old hotel?
https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:x920g449f
I worked there on weekend graveyards for years…what a wonderful treasure the Carrillo was! The nighttime there was a special world populated by residents who would come down to the lobby to enjoy the coffee that I kept hot and fresh at the coffee machine, with the creamer, cups, and sweeteners stocked up. Many residents would go to bed right after dinner (the hotel served breakfast and dinner to its residents), waking up at 2 or 3 AM to come down to the lobby to chat, socialize, drink coffee, and watch the Greyhound station and passing traffic on Carrillo from any of the comfortable couches and chairs.
There were always programs and seminars on offer, with an activity board that I’d list the activity of the day or week on, informing residents of what was on the following day. There was a very large library in the finished basement, with comfortable chairs, sofas, carpeted floors and brightly painted walls. That basement was a fascinating combination of furniture storage, offices, the library, event center, etc. There was also an onsite beauty salon in the lobby hallway, and Pascual’s Restaurant was right out the front door and to the right! This building was in the heart of the city, within walking distance of everything, in a vibrant neighborhood, and reminded me a great deal of my years growing up in Chicago
KRUZ was also located down there, and I spent many occasions down there with Carrillo employee Ken Emmett, recording PSAs for the station. In the early mornings, the day staff for the station would arrive and head down for their day of live radio broadcasting, back when radio stations were staffed by actual humans and not all computerized, canned, formats.
Over my years there, I got to know a wealth of fascinating people who resided there, people with colorful life stories…so many colorful life stories! I really enjoyed those people and my time there and will always remember it warmly and with love.
The food was prepared with care and love; I remember many a night going to the walk-in refrigerator to retrieve a dinner left for me by the cook. It was always good and well-balanced and tasty. Many nights as I sat at my desk between scheduled tasks throughout the building, I enjoyed my meal and conversation with residents both face to face as well as those who would call down to the desk just to chat awhile. While the pay was low, the rewards were off the charts high; I LOVED serving the senior population there, and I got so much from my years with them…things that aren’t tangible but those things remain in my heart and memories forever.
Sadly, the owners/investors who bought it were not interested at all in maintaining it and chose instead to tear it down and build a high-end tourist/business hotel in its place, displacing all those wonderful residents and shattering an entire world. Everyone was scattered hither and yon, with most shuffled way out to a building owned by the same owner/investors in Isla Vista, far from any city infrastructure or social scene. It was a very sad ending to a wonderful time in Santa Barbara history.
What a loss to the community when it was demolished, but still a fresh and warm memory in the minds and hearts of those of us who knew it. It was an honor beyond measure for me to work there and know those residents and their families for those years.