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Front porch of the El Carmelo Hotel. Mr. & Mrs. James Hamilton-Howe hold poles in the driveway.
August 14, 1900, 5:05 p.m. #05.0-294-BP, from the Museum's Tuttle Collection.

 

The El Carmelo Hotel was built by the Pacific Improvement Company in 1887, the same year their spectacular Hotel Del Monte suffered its first fire. The El Carmelo opened on May 20th, and accommodated guests during the rebuilding of the larger Del Monte. The Pacific Grove property was bound by the alcoholic beverage restriction that prevailed in the Grove.


The Pacific Grove Hotel being painted by Phillips and Lawrey. c. 1910, photo from the Museum's collection.
By time the hotel closed in 1918, its name had been changed to the Pacific Grove Hotel in order not to be confused with the newly incorporated city of Carmel. The building was deconstructed, and materials were used in the construction of the new Lodge at Pebble Beach. In the early 1920s, the property was the site of a large Chautauqua tent.


All photos above of the 1924 construction are from the Museum's Tuttle Collection.
In 1924, the site was cleared and construction of Holman's Department Store commenced. The store was started in 1891, when R. Luther Holman bought Towle's dry goods store on Lighthouse Avenue near 17th Street.

By 1924, when the store moved over two blocks to the new location, son Wilford Holman was in charge of operations. Holman's Department Store was the largest store on the Pacific coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Highway 68, also known as the Holman Highway, was built in part to bring customers to the establishment.
Page created August 24, 2005. Last updated September 6, 2005.
Page copyright 2005 by the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History.
Photos from this online exhibit may not be used without permission of the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History.