Overview

The Belmont Hotel, a noteworthy, early Los Angeles establishment, burned in a large fire on the morning of 12/16/1887. The conflagration started in the Belmont’s tank house and spread to the hotel, destroying it in about two hours. (See Ruth Wallach, Linda McCann, Dace Taube, Claude Zachary, Curtis C. Roseman, Historic Hotels of Los Angeles and Hollywood, [Charleston, SC: Arcadia Press, 2008], p. 31. See also Charles Fletcher Lummis, "The Making of Los Angeles," Out West, vol. XXX, no. 4, 04/1909, p. 255.)

Building History

The Reverend John W. Ellis erected this building originally as the first home of Ellis Villa College, a girls' s finishing school in Los Angeles, CA. By mid-1886, however, he leased the building to a hotelier from Victoria, BC, for use as the Belmont Hotel. The Los Angeles Herald wrote in 1887: “[The Belmont Hotel] Such is the name by which the Ellis College will be known hereafter. Mr. R.H. Bryant, late of Victoria, B.C., has leased the building for five years. He will, under the above title, convert the building into a first class family hotel. Mr. Bryant is an experienced hotel man. His mission here was to secure the furnishing of the great Raymond at Pasadena, and of the Arcadia, Mr. Scott’s new venture at Santa Monica. He has already succeeded in getting the contract for Mr. Scott’s house and he hopes to be as fortunate in the Raymond. Meantime, he goes into the hotel business himself. He gets possession July 1st next, and hopes to be able to open the house a month later.” (See “The Belmont Hotel,” Los Angeles Herald, vol. 25, no. 52, 05/04/1886, p. 5.)

The hotel under Bryant's leadership did not last long, due to a fire that was blamed on Chinese-American workers at the hotel. A report by the California Associate Press reported on 12/17/1887: “The Belmont, one the finest suburban hotels in Southern California, situated on Second street and Belmont avenue, burned to the ground about 11:30 to-day. The fire originated in the help room occupied by Chinese servants, and is supposed to be due to the carelessness of the inmates. Furniture, trunks, and wearing apparel were indiscriminately thrown from the upper windows and several workers barely escaped suffocation. While the fire was at its hight [sic], an explosion occurred which literally lifted the roof from its resting-place and violently threw it from its lofty perch. The building was owned by Professor Ellis of Ellisville Colege, and was completely destroyed. The insurance is not known. Loss about $100,000. No casualties.” (See “Great Loss: Destruction of a $100,000 Hotel at Los Angeles Yesterday,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, vol. 58, no. 102, 12/17/1887, p. 1.) Whether it was true or not, the writing of the article scapegoated the Chinese-American workers, reflecting the contemporary prejudice directed at the Asian ethnic minority throughout California during the 1870s and 1880s.

Ellis built other buildings for the college nearby in the Crown Hill section of Los Angeles. Classified advertisements in the Los Angeles Herald in late October and early November 1886 indicated, "After November 1st I am instructed by Mr. Ellis to state he will advance the prices of all unsold lots surrounding the college and hotel grounds twenty-five per cent. Edw. A Hall, Trustee, 37 South Spring Street.” (See classified advertisement, Los Angeles Herald, vol. 26, no. 24, 10/30/1886, p. 7.)

PCAD id: 23455