"In those decades, the hotel has grown from a 12-room hunting lodge with a communal bathroom to an almost 500-room resort with restaurants, bars,
ballroom, a pier and the elegant Casa Playa Spa.
"We are so grateful for those decades of growth and support," said former two-time Rosarito Mayor Hugo Torres, who has been president of the
family-owned hotel since 1974. "As we get closer to our 100th year, we plan to make this a grand occasion."
Special promotions and gala events now through May 23 will mark the anniversary.
Mondays through Thursdays, rooms in the Coronado tower are $18.88 per night, and deluxe one-bedroom condos in the Pacifico tower $88. An $88 weekend
special in the Coronado includes two getaway dinners, two margaritas and one 30-minute massage.
Eighty-eight free rooms will be given away in contests on the hotel's Facebook page.
Months of events also are planned, culminating with a gala anniversary costume ball on May 18 in the Salon Mexicano. Room and ball packages, including
commemorative bottle of wine, are offered at $149.
American investors opened the hotel in 1925 as a 12-room lodge catering to the hunters who enjoyed the región, which at the time was no more than a
small village with no highway connecting it to Tijuana or points south.
Manual Barbachano --- a visionary eventually responsible for highways and a power company --- bought the hotel in 1929 and it began to flourish and
expand.
Fifty more rooms were built, along with a casino and ballroom. In 1937, Barbachano married actress Maria Luisa Chabert (Mr. Torres' aunt) and built an
elegant family mansion, which is now home to the luxurious Casa Playa Spa.
During prohibition, the hotel was a popular stop for Americans looking to for a place to enjoy a drink or, until Mexico banned gambling in 1937, a
place to try their luck at the resort's casino.
The Hollywood crowd fell in love with the beautiful Mexican resort a short distance to the south. Stars flocked there. A photo from the era shows the
hotel encircled by small private planes. Some had propellors but the Hollywood jet-set surely had arrived.
Plaques in the hotel's restaurant now mark favorite tables of John Wayne and others. Burgess Meredith and Paulette Goddard were frequent guests, and
Kirk Douglas visited.
Prince Ali Khan spent two weeks with Rita Hayworth. He left a waiter a $100 bill for a 45-cent drink and said keep the change. The prince enjoyed long
walks on the beach with Hayworth. Servants used palm leaves to erase the couple's footprints in the sand.
As decades passed, surfers replaced hunters as frequent visitors. Rosarito grew. The hotel became an increasingly popular spot for visitors from
California and the southwest --- and it continued to expand.
A three-story addition was built in 1984, an eight-story tower in 1994, a pier in 2000 and a 17-story condo-hotel tower in 2008.The región became
famous for the Puerto Nuevo lobster village, nearby wine country and Baja Studios, where Titanic was filmed.
Today, the Rosarito Beach Hotel & resort continues to expand while preserving some of the best architecture and artwork from its past.
In 2012, the almost 500-room resort enjoyed its busiest summer ever. And some of the most beutful women in the world continue to pass through its
door."
MEDIA CONTACT:
Ron Raposa
ronraposa@hotmail.com
The Pier
bajaguy - 3-16-2013 at 08:19 PM
I especially like the pier........a brilliant idea willardguy - 3-16-2013 at 08:56 PM
like calling a cheesy golf course in ensenada a "country club"?bajaguy - 3-16-2013 at 09:00 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by willardguy
like calling a cheesy golf course in ensenada a "country club"?
Hey, frog face.....at least it has a purpose, the pier doesn't.
Oh, by the way.....have you ever been to the "country club"???David K - 3-16-2013 at 09:14 PM
Guys let's be nice to each other... please. Let's keep the negative posts at no more than to me, I'm used to it! lol!willardguy - 3-16-2013 at 09:28 PM
frog face? hey countryclub boy I resemble that! BTW you still callin tiger a "a legend in his own mind"?Zapotec - 3-17-2013 at 10:35 AM
We have stayed at that hotel many times and we all enjoyed walking n that pier and took many good photos from there. So it serves a purpose!
