OpenStreetMap (new tab)

Google Map (new tab)

Building History

The Pickwick Hotel was named for the Pickwick Theatre that preceded it on this site. The theatre was razed c. 1925, before construction began on the new hotel. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, "The Limited San Diego and Imperial Valley Stage, thought to be the first local automobile transport service, began operations in 1911, moved into the Pickwick Theatre building by 1914 and changed its name to the Pickwick Stages. When the Pickwick Theatre was demolished in 1926, the stage line, now using buses, moved into a new building, the Pickwick Terminal Hotel, at 150 W. Broadway. It was the third in a series of bus terminal hotels in the Southwest operated by Pickwick Stages. The bus service merged with Greyhound in 1929." (SeeRoger M. Showley, San Diego Union-Tribune.com. "Pickwick Hotel is also in line for major makeover," published 09/03/2006, accessed 05/16/2018.)

Ken Winslow purchased the Pickwick Hotel in 1986.

Building Notes

In the 1930s, KGB Radio had its broadcast studios in the Pickwick Hotel. The roof of the hotel supported two tall metal transmitters bearing the name "KGB." Media personality Arthur Gordon Linkletter (1912-2010) took over as the station manager of KGB in 1936.

Alteration

In 2006-2007, Pickwick Partners financed a $16.3 million renovation of the Pickwick Hotel, creating 212 rooms. The renamed "Sofia Hotel" reopened in 01/2007. (See "Sofia Hotel," San Diego Magazine, vol. 59, no. 6, 04/2007, p. 102.) Funding for this renovation came, in part, from the Los Angeles branch of theState Bank of India. The hotel's new name was derived from Ken Winslow's five-year-old granddaughter, Sofia Violeta Martinez. (SeeRoger M. Showley, San Diego Union-Tribune.com. "Pickwick Hotel is also in line for major makeover," published 09/03/2006, accessed 05/16/2018.)

PCAD id: 21998