Edna Purviance's bio

June 6, 2018 - Re-editing Edna Purviance's family biography 2nd Draft. Photo: Leading Ladies © used by ednapurviance.org

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Hotel Del Monte Monterey

In The Sea Gull 'A Woman of the Sea' I have a section about Monterey and the Hotel Del Monte. This hotel was originally created by Charles Crocker (Transcontinental Railroad builder and president of Southern Pacific). This was the same railroad Edna Purviance used as a child during her Lovelock years.

Hotel Del Monte was a favorite for Hollywood stars in the 1920s, and Chaplin was known to stay there during his visits to the Monterey Bay area. But during Chaplin's late 1925 visit and Edna's trip to Monterey in March 1926, the Hotel Del Monte was being rebuilt after a fire nearly destroyed the hotel. (This was the second major fire the hotel suffered.)

A couple of months after Edna and Sternberg's film company finished filming in Monterey, the hotel had a grand re-opening.

What remains of that 1926 hotel building currently exists as the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. The original hotel was taken over by the US Navy during World War II.

While the hotel has been stripped of its former glamour, a special exhibit is bringing it back! Called Relive the Magic: Hotel Del Monte, the exhibit will share photos as well as live talks with former hotel employees, reliving their experience working at the Del Monte.

The exhibit is scheduled to run through August 31st, 2008. You can learn more at this link.

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