The Lebec Hotel

The Spirit of Tehachapi

 


Some days ago the Californian featured an article about the old Ridge Route Highway that took one from the San Joaquin Valley to the L.A. area. In 1988 I had written an article about an old hotel, The Lebec Hotel, which was a rather famous and beautiful stopping place. I had visions of pulling an old article out of my files and quickly copying a vintage story I had written about the old lodging place. It’s harder to rewrite than it is to write and I spent hours revising my own copy.

The Lebec Hotel was an elegant structure, of French-Norman style architecture with 80 rooms. It was built in 1918 and opened for business in 1921. The cornerstone read, Built by Durant…1918. It soon became a playground and hideaway for Hollywood stars who came to gamble (illegal at that time), buy bootleg whiskey (also illegal at that time- prohibition being in full force),plus dancing and merry making.

Back in old “1988” when I first wrote about the hotel, I was fortunate enough to become acquainted with a Lebec resident, Milton Lenke, who had worked at the hotel from its early days until its demise. He was a wealth of information and gave me bits of lore not mentioned in the usual factual briefs. Those kind of first hand facts always tell the rest of the story. According to Lenke the hotel was built by William Durant (of Durant automobile fame) along with a man named Thomas O’Brian. O’Brian owned the property and Durant had the funds to build.

The grandiose building had a large and beautiful lobby with two story wings extending on either side. Each wing housed forty rooms. The formal dining room had floor to ceiling wide windows. The immense kitchen housed a bakery, butcher shop, cold bay area and a place to prepare and dispense food. To finish off with its ritzy trappings it had a complete laundry in the basement and a steam plant in a separate building to heat the establishment. In spite of the sumptuous setting, the hotel, being slightly apart from the highway, did little tourist business.

Durant seemed to lose interest in the hotel and Mr. Foster Curry showed up on the scene as part owner with O’Brian. Foster built fifty cabins on the back of the property to rent to campers and tourists. He ended up leaving to do business in Yosemite after losing a lawsuit with O’Brian.

To bring in more trade, in 1925 Mr. O’Brian built a restaurant and gas station near the highway, seventy-five yards from the hotel. But, the business operated at a deficit. One must remember that during the 1930s proprietors were feeling the effects of the depression that gripped the nation at that time. Those who could afford to patronize the hotel came but not everyone drove the Ridgeroute willingly. Richfield Oil Company finally picked up the mortgage. Years later Mr. Lenke was to retain the cornerstone from the restaurant structure.

The Lebec management was kind to the local folk and opened its doors to town dances for P.T.A fund raisers. Lenke said they not only raised funds, but a little “Cain”as well. There was a PBX telephone switchboard which served all of the hotel including the SIX local Lebec telephones!

Back in the 1920s The Lebec played host to silent film stars such as Clara Bow and Rex Bell. Charles A. “Lucky” Lindbergh would be seen driving up the torturous Ridge Route Highway; a two lane hairpin curve road. Clark Gable in the 1930s would arrive with friends to hunt rabbits and other game. Later after his marriage in 1939, one would see accompanying him, his beautiful wife, actress, Carole Lombard.

In the late 1930s and 40s it was a favorite out of town site for Big Band performances which were broadcast nationwide from the mountain hideaway by the Mutual Broadcasting System. The bands of Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Harry Owens , with Hilo Hattie, Ted Fio Rito, Jimmy Dorsey were some who drew big crowds on their performance nights.

In the front of the hotel in a separate building to one side, was Emmory Whilton’s Florafaunium, a museum that contained the world’s most complete collection of wild birds, animals, flowers and plants. It is estimated that 14,000 people per year passed through the museum.

There was gambling into the 1950s, which was illegal in California, but the establishment managed to evade the Attorney General’s Office. There were Corporate Parties and Jasper Tully, head of Reserve Oil and Gas used it for headquarters while the oil fields in Wheeler Ridge were being developed. In spite of that, the splendid old business couldn’t seem to turn a substantial profit.

Richfield Oil finally sold to New Hotel Corporation in 1937. Harry Burk bought it from them and later sold to Simon Beverly Corporation, a large drive-in restaurant corporation owned by Saul Meadows. The hotel, by this time began to show signs of neglect and dis-repair. Meadows finally closed its door in 1967 never to reopen. Tejon Ranch ended up with the property and ordered the demolition of all buildings by means of a controlled burn of the structures and then finishing it off with the wrecking ball.

A violent ending for a classical hotel whose beautiful architectural lines had been likened to that of a “graceful old lady” by those who knew her.

ALSO: The cornerstone only mentions the hotel being Built by Durant…1918 as he was in charge of the actual construction even though O’Brian was the property owner at that time. Milton Lenke tried to beat the wrecking ball and preserve the cornerstone but was too late. William Durant was not only the founder of the Durant Automobile Company but was also the founder of the Buick Motor Company, Chevrolet Motor Company and was most instrumental in the formation of General Motors. He asked people to call him “Cliff.” His full name was William Crapo Durant. Now, if my middle name was Crapo, I might ask people to call me “Cliff” also.

Thomas O’Brian, years later, came upon hard times and sold off all of his property surrounding that area just to have money to support himself.

[Editor’s note: To the postcards in color look for this article online at TheLoopNewspaper.com a few days after publication.]

 
 

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