Ahwahnee Hotel

The Ahwahnee is a grand hotel in Yosemite National Park, California, on the floor of Yosemite Valley. It was built by the Yosemite Park and Curry Company and opened for business in 1927. The hotel is constructed of steel, stone, concrete, wood, and glass, and is a premier example of National Park Service rustic architecture. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

The Ahwahnee was temporarily renamed the Majestic Yosemite Hotel in 2016 due to a legal dispute between the U.S. government, which owns the property, and the outgoing concessionaire, Delaware North, which claimed rights to the trademarked name. The name was restored in 2019 upon settlement of the dispute.

Since 1980, The Ahwahnee is also known for being the inspiration for the interior scene design of the fictional Overlook Hotel in the Stanley Kubrick film The Shining.

History

The Currys

thumb|left|David and Jennie Curry's ad for the "Firefall"

David and Jennie Curry were schoolteachers who arrived in Yosemite Valley in 1899. The Curry Company went on to dominate the politics of the park for decades, and David wrote the Secretary of the Interior, Franklin Lane, in an effort to extend the park's tourist season so as to expand his business. In the Currys' opinion, national parks were for recreational use, and the couple marketed the park with attractions like the Firefall. The camp still exists today as Curry Village.

Yosemite National Park Company

thumb|left|Share of the Yosemite National Park Company, issued 29 January 1930

In 1915, Stephen T. Mather convinced D. J. Desmond to convert an old army barracks into the Yosemite Lodge. Desmond also began a hotel at Glacier Point the following year, while buying out a number of businesses to improve D. J. Desmond Park Company's position in upcoming park leasing contracts. A congressional act permitted this efficient supervision of the park for the enjoyment of the public. However, prominent tourists were refusing to stay at the park due to the poor conditions of the facilities Under the direction of Mather, whose greatest desire was to build a luxury hotel in Yosemite, an attempt was made to build accommodations near Yosemite Falls but it failed due to a lack of funds.

Yosemite Park and Curry Company

In 1925, the Park Service, unhappy with the declining concessions situation within the parks, decided to grant a monopoly to single entities to run the hotel and food services in each park. In response, the Curry Company and The Yosemite National Park Company (successor to D. J. Desmond Park Company) were merged to create one larger concessions company, with Donald Tresidder from the Curry Company as the new head. As part of this reorganization, the newly formed Yosemite Park and Curry Company proposed a new luxury hotel. Given the Curry Company's enormous success in the park, it was hoped that their involvement would help realize Mather's hotel. What began as a simple campsite run by two Indiana schoolteachers ended up as the sole concessionaire for the park, and Yosemite Park and Curry Company went on to build much of the park's service structures.

Early years

Donald Tresidder, as president of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company, oversaw the building of the Ahwahnee Hotel and several other major structures within the park. The name originally selected for the new hotel was "Yosemite All-Year-Round Hotel", but Tresidder changed it just prior to opening to reflect the site's native name. Park officials became concerned and suggested closing the hotel for the winter. To avoid this and to keep guests and income flowing, Tresidder centered the hotel around skiing and other winter activities. In order to keep the hotel filled throughout the holiday period, Tresidder also proposed Christmas entertainment. A banquet event was planned based on a story by Washington Irving about an eighteenth-century English Christmas at the home of the Squire of Bracebridge. The cast was filled with locals from the park, including photographer Ansel Adams.

Trademark and intellectual property disputes

In 1993 the National Park Service required a new concessioner to purchase the Yosemite Park and Curry Company from MCA Inc. and rename the business as a new company. The new concession contract was awarded to Delaware North and required that it assume all the assets and liabilities of the previous operator and deed the real property to the National Park Service.

In 2014, Delaware North lost a bid to renew its contract with the U.S. government to Yosemite Hospitality, LLC, a division of Aramark. When it originally took over the concessionaries in 1993, Delaware North was contractually required to purchase, at fair market value, "the assets of the previous concessionaire, including its intellectual property, at a cost of $115 million in today's dollars." This property included trademarks registered by both Delaware North and its predecessors, including place names such as Ahwahnee, Badger Pass, Curry Village, Yosemite Lodge, the slogan "Go climb a rock," and even "Yosemite National Park" itself. but the National Park Service estimated the value of the intangible assets at $3.5 million. The dispute gained national attention after it was publicized in an issue of Outside magazine, which led to the Sierra Club issuing a petition requesting that Delaware North drop the lawsuit.

Concept and build

Architecture and interior design

thumb|350px|Underwood's concept art shows a megalithic structure much grander in scale than what was finally built

The Ahwahnee is a Y-shaped building The hotel was designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood, who also designed Zion Lodge, Bryce Canyon Lodge, and Grand Canyon North Rim Lodge. It was made to feel rustic and match its surroundings, and the hotel is considered a masterpiece of "parkitecture".

thumb|200px|The original concept for the interior design by artist Henry Lovins was described as "Mayan revival" and incorporated Hispano-Moresque stylings. Lovins was replaced in 1926 by the husband and wife team of Ackerman and Pope.

The original concept art for the hotel depicted a building that was far grander than what would eventually be constructed. Underwood's original design called for a massive six story structure, Drawing on their experience as art historians, Ackerman and Pope created a style that mixed Art Deco, Native American, Middle Eastern, and Arts and Crafts styles. The interior work was carried out by a number of artisans under their supervision. Much of the decoration originally used was Persian, and Ackerman and Pope would go on to become art consultants in Iran.

Construction

The hotel was constructed from of rough-cut granite, of steel, and of timber.

Grand Dining Room and kitchen

300px|thumb|The Grand Dining Room of the Ahwahnee Hotel

thumb|Two people eating in the Grand Dining Room

The Grand Dining Room is 130 feet long and 51 feet wide, with a 34-foot ceiling supported by rock columns, creating a cathedral-like atmosphere. For fire safety reasons, the wood beams in the dining room are actually hollow and contain steel beams. The alcove window at the end of the room perfectly framed Yosemite Falls when the hotel was completed.

The Grand Dining Room was originally designed to accommodate 1,000 guests, but it was eventually scaled down to seat 350. However, the enormous kitchen still reflects the original design concept and includes separate stations for baking and pastries.

Bracebridge Dinner tradition

The Bracebridge Dinner is a seven-course formal gathering held in the Grand Dining Room and presented as a feast given by a Renaissance-era lord. This tradition began in 1927, the Ahwahnee's first year of operation, and was inspired by the fictional Squire Bracebridge's Yule celebration in a story from The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. by Washington Irving. Music and theatrical performances based on Irving's story accompany the introduction of each course. Donald Tresidder conceived the idea for the event with his wife Mary Curry, their friends, and park staff.

Tresidder hired Garnet Holme for the event's first year to write the script and produce the event, and Tresidder and his wife played the squire and his lady until Tresidder's death in 1948. Photographer Ansel Adams, who was working for the Yosemite Park and Curry Company and was well known in Yosemite for his eccentricities, was asked to be a part of Tresidder's new winter celebrations in the elaborate, theatrical Christmas dinner with friends from the nearby Bohemian Club. Cast as the "Jester", Adams had asked the director for suggestions but was told to just act like a jester. Adams fortified himself with a few drinks and went on to climb the granite pillars to the rafters.

In 2011, the Bracebridge dinner celebrated its 85th anniversary. Travel + Leisure magazine named Yosemite's Ahwahnee Hotel as one of the best hotels in the United States for the holidays for two consecutive years (2011 and 2012). For much of its history, tickets to the event were difficult to obtain. In prior years, the scarce tickets were awarded to applicants by lottery. In 1992, there were a reported 60,000 applications for the coveted 1,650 seats. In 1995, the organizers of the traditional dinner accepted ticket cancellations because the park could have been shut down due to the national budget impasse. After a five year absence, the Bracebridge Dinner returned to the Ahwahnee Hotel in 2024, with ticket prices set at over $500 per person.

Great Lounge

The Great Lounge is one of the main public spaces in the hotel. The large space spans the full width of the wing and nearly its full length (minus the solarium). There are two large fireplaces on either end of the room made from cut sandstone. On either side of the lounge is a series of floor-to-ceiling plate-glass picture windows ornamented at their tops with stained glass. The individual border designs in the beams of the Great Lounge are by artist Jeanette Dryer Spencer.

In popular culture

Film

Scenes of the 1940 classic My Favorite Wife starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne and were set and filmed in the Ahwahnee Hotel.

Both the film The Caine Mutiny (1954) and Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day (1996) include footage of the Ahwahnee Hotel. Stanley Kubrick used some Ahwahnee interiors as templates for the fictional Overlook Hotel's interior in The Shining.

Radio

The Ahwahnee Hotel features in the February 18, 1940, and February 25, 1940, episodes of The Jell-O Program Starring Jack Benny. In the script, the entire cast visit and stay in a fictionalized, comedic version of the hotel during a ski vacation to Badger Pass.

Notable guests

The hotel and dining room have hosted many notable figures including artists, royalty, heads of state, film and television stars, writers, business executives, and other celebrities. business moguls Walt Disney and Steve Jobs; entertainers Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland, Leonard Nimoy, Will Rogers and William Shatner; and writer Gertrude Stein.

References

External links

The Ahwahnee Hotel official website
Architecture in the Parks: A National Historic Landmark Theme Study: The Ahwahnee Hotel, by Laura Soullière Harrison, 1986, at National Park Service.
The Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite. Virtual photo tour, history, more. Many photos.
National Historic Landmarks Program Official website
A History of the NHL Program
List of NHLs