The Hotel Riviera del Pacífico was a hotel located in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. It was one of the most prestigious and luxurious hotels in Mexico.
History
The hotel opened with great fanfare in 1930 but was not a real success until the early 1950s. It finally closed in 1964.
Origins
Prohibition sent North Americans south of their border in search of entertainment and alcohol, developing first Tijuana, then Rosarito, and finally Ensenada as tourist destinations.
The Ensenada Beach Club, S.A. was formed with the goal to build a resort in Ensenada. After the Club dissolved in 1926, a number of its members joined a new company, Club Internationale, S.A., to continue the project, initially called the Hotel Playa de Ensenada (Ensenada Beach Hotel). Architect Gordon F. Mayer was hired to design the hotel; Alfredo Ramos Martínez was hired to do its murals. The Playa Ensenada Hotel and Casino opened on October 31, 1930 with spectacular festivities, including the Xavier Cugat band, under the de facto management of boxer Jack Dempsey.[1][2]
Decline
The hotel was never a financial success, however, partly because the road from the United States was poor, and the end of Prohibition proved fatal. The hotel only ever operated intermittently, and was put to military use during the Second World War.
The Margarita
The Margarita is claimed to have been invented in several different places and at several different times. One claim is that it was invented at the Hotel Riviera del Pacífico for Marjorie King Plant at the time when she was the joint owner.[4] Other versions refer to Marjorie King, an actress, and some move the location from Ensenada to Tijuana. Margarita is a Spanish version of the name Marjorie.
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, the Margarita was invented in the 1940s by Carlos Daniel "Danny" Herrera.[5][6]
Current status
Partly rebuilt in 1978, the hotel was reopened as the Centro Social, Cívico y Cultural de Ensenada.[3] This includes an open-air theater, a historical museum, a cantina, and a number of rooms used for a variety of functions.
See also
References
- Jack Dempsey's Hotel in Baja California: The Playa Ensenada The Journal of San Diego History (May 2018); retrieved June 3, 2020^
- "Historia y Mistérios del ex Hotel Riviera del Pacífico" Sistema Abierto de Educación Tecnológica Industrial (September 6, 2011); retrieved June 9, 2020 In Spanish^
- Maria Eugenia Bonifaz de Novelo, "The Hotel Riviera del Pacífico," San Diego Historical Society Quarterly Spring 1983^