Saratoga Stereopticon
Two inns are joined in both history and mood
By Willys Peck
There was the Saratoga Inn and there is the Inn at Saratoga, one to the east and one to the west, and ne'er the twain did meet. In fact, well over 20 years passed between closing of the one and opening of the other in the summer of 1987.
What these hostelries did have in common was an idyllic setting along Saratoga Creek, the present Inn on Fourth Street being about a quarter-mile upstream from its predecessor on Saratoga Avenue, the name there being preserved in the Saratoga Inn Place condominiums.
A brochure from the original Inn, which I would guess was printed about 1920, has a certain resonance: "The Saratoga Inn is unique, in that it combines the comforts and conveniences one expects to find in a large first-class hotel, with the atmosphere and quiet of home. ... The rooms are large, light and are furnished most attractively. There are ample grounds, with native oaks, redwoods, sycamore and other forest trees."
From the current Inn at Saratoga brochure: "Situated in picturesque and historic Saratoga Village, the Inn's guest rooms overlook serene Saratoga Creek and Wildwood Park. The Santa Cruz Mountains provide a majestic backdrop to this tranquil setting. The Inn's beautifully furnished, oversized guest rooms combine old-fashioned comfort with the modern conveniences that travelers require."
There is a certain variance in prices, however. The early brochure listed daily rates "from $4.00 to $5.50; breakfast and luncheon 75 cents; dinner $1.00; Sunday Dinner, at 1 o'clock, $1.50." The current Inn at Saratoga schedule lists daily rates from $175 to $250, the latter deluxe lodgings containing a whirlpool bath. The Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland suites go for $445.
I never had occasion to spend a night at the Saratoga Inn, although my wife and I have had many Sunday dinners there, highlighted by the Inn's famous bread pudding dessert. The present Inn does not have meal service, although it does provide a sumptuous continental breakfast for guests. However, its brochure does emphasize the proximity to "Saratoga's Restaurant Row."
Thanks to general manager Jack Hickling, who kept open an offer of a night's lodging made over a dozen years ago when my wife and I were named Citizens of the Year, the two of us, along with my daughter and her two children, recently spent a night in the Inn at Saratoga. In the Joan Fontaine suite, no less. Call me a name-dropper, but the last time we spent a night in a Joan Fontaine suite was several years ago at the actress' home in Carmel Highlands.
At the risk of having this sound like a commercial, I'll say that the Inn lives up to its advance billing; it's a simply great place to stay. That was also the opinion of the late San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Herb Caen, who spent Presidents' Day weekend there in 1989. Caen, who also occupied the Joan Fontaine Suite, wrote about phoning Sir Yehudi Menuhin, who was staying in the Olivia de Havilland suite. Ever the purveyor of gossip, Caen told the well-known story of how the two sisters, who grew up in Saratoga, "haven't spoken to each other in years ... The suites named after them are three floors apart and seem to be getting along well enough." Caen said he asked the famed violinist how he heard of the place. "From Olivia de Havilland, who told me about it in London," was the reply. "Rather amazing, to be staying in a suite named after her, wouldn't you say?" Caen had to agree that it was amazing.
In talking with Jack Hickling about my memories of the old Inn, I pointed out that these centered mainly on the Theatre of the Glade, which Dorothea Johnston, daughter of then-owner Elizabeth Johnston, created against the hillside and along the creek just behind the Inn buildings. It was here that she staged Shakespeare plays, beginning in 1934 with A Midsummer Night's Dream in which the aforementioned Olivia appeared. As a youngster, I appeared in walk-on parts in some of these productions.
On the brow of the hill just above the theater were several small cottages, part of the Inn accommodations. I told Jack about how, in late-night rehearsals, some of the shouted Shakespearean lines prompted equally shouted protests from guests in the cottages.
Nothing, it seems, changes. Sometimes when there are concerts with amplified music in Wildwood Park across the creek, the Inn gets similar, although not shouted, complaints, he said.
Tradition dies hard in Saratoga.
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Saratoga, California Since 1975
