According to the San Pedro News Pilot, the idea arose out of a chamber of commerce meeting in San Pedro in 1950:
Having observed the rapid postwar growth boom of neighboring suburban communities, an unnamed member of the group of local business leaders and boosters allegedly said something like: “What this community needs is a good hotel with facilities for parties, banquets and civic functions.”
One can imagine lots of nodding heads in the room — at the time, most all of those activities took place in Long Beach or the South Bay — but the inevitable next question to be asked was, where would blue-collar, working class San Pedro ever get the money to finance such an undertaking?
Seated at table under umbrella with pool and main public Hacienda Hotel building in background are, left to right: Molly Markham, Ardys Hanson and Marlene Johnson. Photo taken Feb. 24, 1955, one week before the Hacienda Hotel opened. (USC Digital Library)
The Hacienda Hotel in San Pedro in 1955. (ResearchGate website, Creative Commons)
Mayor Norris Poulson (left) praised the San Pedro Hacienda last night at a stockholders’ preview dinner at the million-dollar hotel which opens tomorrow. With him are Mrs. Henry Soto and Charles Soderstrom, president of the hotel corporation. San Pedro News Pilot, Feb. 28, 1955, Page 1. (San Pedro News Pilot archives)
Richard Neutra in 1935. (Wikimedia Commons)
An ad for the Hacienda Hotel and its Day and Night Public Golf Course. San Pedro News Pilot ad, Feb. 14, 1957, Page 2. (San Pedro News Pilot archives)
Postcard shows women golfers at the Hacienda Hotel’s 9-hole golf course in San Pedro. Undated, circa late 1950s. Hacienda Hotel in background. (Courtesy)
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Seated at table under umbrella with pool and main public Hacienda Hotel building in background are, left to right: Molly Markham, Ardys Hanson and Marlene Johnson. Photo taken Feb. 24, 1955, one week before the Hacienda Hotel opened. (USC Digital Library)
Well, what if a large group of residents could be persuaded to fill the need by kicking in smaller donations toward making it happen?
If the term had been around in the early 1950s, we’d call the resulting financing plan adopted for the Hacienda Hotel construction in San Pedro “crowdsourcing.” Or more accurately, “crowdfunding.” Except, in this case, the investors became stakeholders in the enterprise.
Businessmen Charles Soderstrom and Al Atchison were put in charge of managing the project. Atchison told the News Pilot years later that the California Hotel Association trade group said to the duo at the time that “anyone who would build a hotel in San Pedro would have to have a hole in his head.” The duo were undaunted.
After a professional study determined that the plan might actually work, 54 acres of land in the Miraleste area west of Western Avenue were acquired. A team of 150 volunteers was formed, and charged with the task of convincing San Pedrans to contribute $100 (or more) to become partners in the newly formed San Pedro Community Hotel Corp.
Some 1,500 people signed up, raising $540,000 in the process, and the San Pedro Hacienda Hotel project was off and running. The impressive fundraising total persuaded the Bank of America to loan an additional $360,000 for the Hacienda.
Noted architect Richard Neutra was enlisted to design the buildings in the distinctive style that would later become known as mid-20th century modernism. Better known for his Los Angeles-area buildings, Neutra had also designed the Channel Heights housing project in San Pedro in the early 1940s.
Los Angeles City Councilmember John Gibson officially broke ground for the hotel during a ceremony on March 7, 1954, and the Hacienda officially opened to the public on March 1, 1955.
Another fundraising drive held in 1954 brought in $40,000 for the construction of a nine-hole golf course near the Western Avenue end of the property. It opened to the public in February 1957. A swimming pool and tennis courts were also added.
The response was everything Soderstrom and Atchison had hoped for. Not only did the hotel become a popular destination, but real estate in the area became much in demand for housing subdivisions as a result.
The hotel hosted all kinds of events over the next decade, including political gatherings, area business meetings and community gatherings.
But by the late 1960s, the Hacienda was becoming a victim of its own success. The appreciation of the area’s real estate values thanks to the hotel’s presence resulted in ever-higher property taxes on the hotel, which put a financial strain on its continued operation.
In December 1969, Soderstrom, now president of the Hacienda Hotel corporation, announced that a Torrance firm had made an offer to buy the hotel property. Torino & Collins planned to build garden apartments around the hotel, saying at the time that it would leave Neutra’s original central hotel buildings intact.
In late October 1971, the 517-unit Miraleste Village townhouse and apartment complex held its gala grand opening on the former hotel site.
Among its recreational facilities were separate men’s and women’s fitness gyms outfitted with exercise equipment from local television fitness guru Jack LaLanne, who made a personal promotional appearance at the grand opening.
Sadly, the promise to preserve Neutra’s original community buildings from the Hacienda was not kept. Everything was razed to make room for the new development, with Neutra’s legacy living on only in photos.
Now named Miraleste Canyon Estates, the townhouse development still occupies the former hotel site. In 1972, the golf course land was sold, with the links being replaced by 101 single-family residences.
As for those original investors who helped bankroll the Hacienda, they received $250 for every $100 they had originally invested when the San Pedro Community Hotel Corp. was liquidated in 1973.
Sources: “San Pedro: A Pictorial History,” by Henry Silka, San Pedro Bay Historical Society, 1984; San Pedro News Pilot archives.