Graduate Berkeley | |
---|---|
Former names | Hotel Durant/Durant Hotel (1928-2017) |
General information | |
Location | Berkeley, California, United States |
Address | 2600 Durant Avenue |
Coordinates | 37.8679420, -122.2563050 Coordinates: 37°52′05″N122°15′23″W / 37.8680°N 122.2563°W |
Opening | 1928 |
Owner | Graduate Hotels |
Management | Graduate Hotels |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 6 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | W. H. Weeks |
Other information | |
Number of rooms | 144 |
Number of restaurants | 1 |
Parking | Onsite |
Website | |
Official website | |
[1] [2] [3] [4] |
The Graduate Berkeley (Originally called the Hotel Durant or the Durant Hotel) is a historic boutique hotel located in Berkeley, California in the United States. It is located in downtown Berkeley, just off campus of the University of California, Berkeley. The hotel is listed on the Berkeley register of historic places.
The hotel was built, in Spanish Colonial style, in 1928. [1] It was designed by W. H. Weeks. [5] It had 140 rooms and was both fire and earthquake resistant. [1] It also had one of the first basement garages in the area. [6]
It was named for Henry Durant. [7] The bar, Henry's Publick House, is also a tribute to him. When the hotel opened it was described as a "modern luxury hotel". Harry Truman stayed at the hotel once. [1]
In 1990, 33 hostages were held at gun point at Henry's for seven hours by University of California, Berkeley student, Mehrdad Dashti, who had schizophrenia. The hotel bar was raided by police during the hold up. Dashti killed one hostage and an additional seven people were wounded. [8]
As of 2006, the hotel was owned and managed by Creative Hospitality. In 2007, the property was purchased by Joie de Vivre Hospitality for $14 million. [9] Joie de Vivre invested $9 million in renovating the property. [7] The hotel was in default in 2011 and the Royal Bank of Scotland took over as owner. Joie de Vivre continued to manage the property. [10] In September 2012 it was put up for sale. [7] The property was marketed by HVS Capital Corporation. In early 2013, they sold the hotel for approximately $27.3 million to Gemstone Hotels & Resorts. [10] Upon the purchase, 98% of the staff remained from the previous ownership. The hotel is frequented by visitors to the University. [6] In September 2015 it was purchased from Gemstone Hotels and Elliott Management Co. by Chicago-based Graduate Hotels for $47.5 million and renovated extensively, particularly the lobby and restaurant. [2] Upon completion of renovations, the hotel was reopened with its present theme and name in May 2017. [3] [4]
The hotel's theme is based on the University of California, Berkeley. Lonely Planet describes it as "cheekily" in style. A mobile made of books hangs from the lobby ceiling. The walls of the lobby are decorated in yearbook photos from the university. Hotel rooms feature "dictionary-covered shower curtains and bongs repurposed as bedside lamps." [11]
The gastropub inside the hotel is Henry's Publick House. [10] In 2009, Henry's "Everything but the Kitchen Sink Bloody Mary" Bloody Mary was voted the best in the East Bay by East Bay Express . The bloody mary features tomato juice made in-house and is topped off with a splash of Guinness. [12]
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay Area and the eighth most populated city in California. With a population of 440,646 as of 2020, it serves as the Bay Area's trade center and economic engine: the Port of Oakland is the busiest port in Northern California, and the fifth busiest in the United States of America. An act to incorporate the city was passed on May 4, 1852, and incorporation was later approved on March 25, 1854. Oakland is a charter city.
Albany is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in northwestern Alameda County, California. The population was 20,271 at the 2020 census.
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacation properties. Hyatt Hotels & Resorts is one of the businesses managed by the Pritzker family.
Downtown Berkeley is a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) subway station located in Downtown Berkeley of Berkeley, California, United States, one of three stations in the city.
Claremont Club & Spa, A Fairmont Hotel is a historic hotel situated at the foot of Claremont Canyon in the Berkeley Hills and located in the Claremont district which straddles the city limits of Berkeley and Oakland. At its elevation, the location provides scenic views of San Francisco Bay. The hotel building is entirely in Oakland, as are the spa, the gardens and parking area. However, two small portions of the property, one just east of the Berkeley Tennis Club and the other near the intersection of Claremont Avenue and Russell Street, are within the city limits of Berkeley, and the resort has a Berkeley mailing address.
John Galen Howard was an American architect and educator who began his career in New York before moving to California. He was the principal architect at in several firms in both states and employed Julia Morgan early in her architectural career.
Oakland City Center is an office, shopping and hotel complex in Downtown Oakland, Oakland, California. The complex is the product of a redevelopment project begun in the late 1950s. It covers twelve city blocks between Broadway on the east, Martin Luther King Jr. Way on the west, Frank H. Ogawa Plaza on 14th Street on the north side of the complex and the Oakland Convention Center and Marriott Hotel extend south to 10th Street. An hourly parking garage is located beneath the complex's shopping mall. The mall features an upscale fitness and racquet club, in addition to numerous take-out restaurants and other stores. The complex is served by the 12th Street/Oakland City Center BART station.
Belden Place is a narrow alley in the Financial District of San Francisco, California that serves as the hub of the city's small French American community.
Rasputin Music is the largest independent chain of record stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. It was founded as "Rasputin Records" in 1971 in Berkeley, California by entrepreneur Ken Sarachan. It is named after an early 20th century Russian political/religious figure Grigori Rasputin.
Nora May French was an American poet and member of the bohemian literary circles of the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club which flourished after the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906.
The San Francisco Marriott Marquis is a 133 m (436 ft) 39-story skyscraper in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Situated at the intersection of Fourth and Mission Streets, across from the Metreon and Moscone Convention Center, the building is recognizable by the distinctive postmodern appearance of its high-rise tower. The building was completed in 1989, and contains 1,500 hotel rooms. The original architectural firm Zeidler Partnership Architects was replaced by DMJM architect Anthony J Lumsden, who gave the building its overall architectural style. The San Francisco Marriott is the second tallest hotel in San Francisco, after Hilton San Francisco Tower I.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Alameda County, California.
Mark Cavagnero Associates is a San Francisco, California-based architecture firm, founded by Mark Cavagnero, FAIA in 1988. The Firm's portfolio is of various public-serving projects for public, non-profit and institutional clients.
Chip Conley is an American hotelier, hospitality entrepreneur, author, and speaker.
Joie de Vivre Hospitality is a hotel and restaurant company based in San Francisco, California, and the second-largest operator of boutique hotels in the United States.
The history of Oakland, a city in the county of Alameda, California, can be traced back to the founding of a settlement by Horace Carpentier, Edson Adams, and Andrew Moon in the 19th century. The area now known as Oakland had seen human occupation for thousands of years, but significant growth in the settlements that are now incorporated into the city did not occur until the Industrial Revolution. Oakland was first incorporated as a town in 1852.
The Henry's Pub hostage incident was a hostage crisis that occurred on September 28, 1990, at Henry's Pub inside the Hotel Durant in Berkeley, California, United States. Mehrdad Dashti, who had schizophrenia, held 33 hostages for seven hours, terrorizing them and sexually degrading some of them. Dashti and a hostage were killed when police entered the premises.
Mark Cavagnero, FAIA is an American architect and the founder of Mark Cavagnero Associates established in 1988.
The Spero Hotel, originally the Hotel Californian and later the Serrano Hotel, is a historic hotel building in San Francisco, California. It was designed by Edward E. Young and built in 1923. A four story addition designed by Alfred Henry Jacobs was completed in 1929. The 12-story hotel is at 405 Taylor Street. It underwent a $16 million renovation and became the Spero Hotel in 2018. It is listed on the listed on the National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco, California.
The Ambassador Chicago, known for many decades as the Ambassador East, is a historic hotel in Chicago, established in 1926. In their heyday, both the hotel and its iconic restaurant, The Pump Room, were frequented by celebrities.