I wouldn’t have expected to find such an impressive hotel in late-1800s Pomona, but Hotel Palomares at 344 North Garey Ave opened its doors in 1897. By that stage, the city of Pomona had only been around for less than a decade (incorporated in 1888), but evidently someone thought great things were coming. Garey Ave wasn’t even sealed when this photo was taken in 1904, so those grand ladies in their Victorian dresses had to be careful during the rainy season as their horse-drawn carriages pulled up.
** UPDATE ** – The hotel burned down in 1911.
Advertisement for Hotel Palomares, circa 1897:
The Hotel Palomares is no longer there, but this rather nice event space now stands at the corner of Garey and Monterey Aves. This image is from September 2022.
Give me the Palomares beauty any day. Why do they always have to destroy, destroy and destroy!!!!
But haven’t you heard, John. It’s “progress.”
bah ha!!!!!
I understand the fondness for many buildings lost to history, but unless we know why they’re not around any more I can’t ascribe it as something necessarily negative. Unless you’re willing to take care of wooden hotels like this one, and spend the money to do it, like the Hotel del Coronado, that’s one thing. Wooden buildings may have burned down. Many buildings have been altered over the years because of earthquake retrofitting. Time ravages many buildings for many reasons. Things like that. The building that’s there now could use some greenery around it, but I think it’s nice in and of itself.
–So I just did a quick search on the hotel and the first thing I saw was a photograph on Pinterest with a caption that said, “In June, 1911, a fire destroyed the hotel.” The photograph apparently shows a large crowd watching the tallest turret in flames.
Here is a link to a report of the “Tavern”/ex-hotel (?) fire: https://www.firehouse.com/home/article/10462737/100-years-ago
Dates in sources can be confusing, and this one reportedly opened in 1885 by Frank Miller (of Mission Inn and Hotel Arcadia fame?). They certainly have Mr. Miller (a Huntington/P.E. Ry. ally) running all over the place.
Evergreen Cemetery info. on Frank Augustus Miller’s life holds that he did indeed own and operate (three years) the hotel which was greatly enlarged in 1887. [Photos show central building first existed with no wings. RPPC fire photo on Worthpoint shows it burned entirely to the ground. There was a fire plug for hoses by the sidewalk in that shot, and a curbside mailbox by then.]
Rail history of Pomona local lines which might help date images: http://www.erha.org/pelines/peepll.htm