Claremont Hotel & Spa

The Claremont Resort & Club is a historic American hotel located at the foot of Claremont Canyon in the Berkeley Hills. It sits in the Claremont district, close to where Claremont Avenue meets Ashby Avenue, right on the border between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland. The area between these two cities follows the old path of the Key System E train, which is now a walkway linking the tennis courts of the Berkeley Tennis Club.

Standing at an elevation of 400 feet (120 meters), the hotel offers beautiful views of the San Francisco Bay. The building is made entirely of wood, and its central tower, rising 160 feet (49 meters), is one of the tallest wooden buildings in the world.

Overview

The Claremont Resort & Club is a historic hotel near the University of California, Berkeley. It is mostly in Oakland, but part of it is in Berkeley. The hotel has 279 guest rooms, a big spa that is 20,000 square feet (1,900 m²), 10 tennis courts, and beautiful gardens covering 22 acres (8.9 ha).

Some fun stories say the hotel was once won in a game of checkers. It is very important historically and is part of a group called Historic Hotels of America, which is connected to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

History

The site where the Claremont Resort & Club now stands was first developed by William Butler Thornburgh, who built a large home there around 1870 which he called a "castle." After Thornburgh's death in 1878, the property changed hands several times. In 1905, it was bought by Louis Titus for the Claremont Hotel Company. Construction of the hotel began that same year but was delayed by difficulties, including the 1906 earthquake.

The hotel finally opened in 1915, just in time to welcome visitors to an exposition in San Francisco. It was designed in a Tudor Revival style with decorative woodwork. Over the years, the hotel went through many changes in ownership and faced challenges, including a major fire in 1991 that was stopped just in time to save the building. Today, it continues as a famous resort and spa.

Transportation

The Claremont Hotel was very easy to reach by train. A railway line ran almost to the hotel's doors, allowing guests to travel directly from San Francisco. This train service stopped in 1958. The hotel was also located along a main road over the Berkeley Hills, making it accessible by car. A tunnel built in 1903, called the Inter County Tunnel, helped connect the area, and later became part of the Caldecott Tunnel.

Prohibition

In 1873, a law was passed that stopped the sale of alcoholic drinks within a certain distance from the University of California. This law was changed many times over the years. The hotel's owners tried to change the law to allow alcohol to be sold at the hotel, but it was difficult because of rules and protests from local groups. Nationwide rules against alcohol started in 1920, but these rules were removed in 1933. Even after that, the hotel still could not sell alcohol because of the old state law. In 1937, the law was changed again, and the hotel was finally allowed to serve drinks. A student had discovered that the actual distance by road was over a mile, which helped change the rule.