Material in the public domain. No restrictions on use.
Description
Key Words: Claremont Inn [Part 1] Paul Scott moved to Southern California in 1931. His first experience in hotel management was in 1932, when he began working at Lake Arrowhead. In 1941 he was hired as the manager of the Claremont Inn. He describes the challenges of running the Inn during the Second World War. “We made a lot of friends [in Claremont] because we started running at capacity [at the Inn]. We had at least fifteen or more Claremont residents who were delighted to rent their gets room to someone we sent them.” Scott worked long days at the Inn, seven days a week. “I was the handyman. I was the manager. I was a room clerk. I helped the hostess. I bussed dishes when I had to . . . I sold all the banquets, bought all the food, wrote all the menus, even had to write the work schedules for the kitchen. I was the personnel person that employed everybody . . . I did all the bookkeeping, and did the payroll, paid the bills, did anything else that hadn’t gotten done that day.” [Tape 2] Scott lists some of the most famous people who visited the Claremont Inn: Admiral Richard H. Leigh, the commander-in-chief of the Pacific fleet during the Long Beach earthquake in 1933; Richard Nixon, who stopped by during his first campaign for Congress; and Barry Goldwater. Scott describes some of the staff and guests who frequently visited the Claremont Inn. Some of the guests would live at the hotel for many years. The hotel would host a Christmas Eve reception for their guests and the residents of Claremont. He describes how the Inn served as an important cornerstone of the City of Claremont: “We were running a college information service, we were running a city information service, we were an adjunct of the chamber of commerce, and nobody really understood what we were doing.”
Type
sound
Format
Master Audio cassette
Form/Genre
Oral histories
Extent
1 Tape of 1
Identifier
caclah_000035
Language
English
Subject
Hotels Local history Motels
Time Period
1931/
Place
Claremont (Calif.)
Provenance
Claremont Heritage California Revealed is supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.
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