Cosmopolitan Hotel and Restaurant

The Cosmopolitan Hotel and Restaurant were originally built between 1827 and 1829{{cite web |url=https://tanamatales.com/a-cosmopolitan-ghosts-and-old-san-diego/ |title=A Cosmopolitan, Ghosts and Old San Diego |publisher=Tanama Tales |date= |accessdate=2018-05-02 |archive-date=2018-05-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180503042706/https://tanamatales.com/a-cosmopolitan-ghosts-and-old-san-diego/ |url-status=live }} as a one floor Spanish colonial style home for cattle rancher Don Juan Bandini. In the 1850s Bandini sold his home, and by 1869 it was restored and extended with a second floor into a stagecoach stop and hotel under the direction of Albert Seeley.

Seeley a stage master, converted the old adobe into an L-shaped Greek Revival hotel. He renovated the original first story and added a wood-framed second story and balconies. The hotel prospered as a stagecoach stop offering 20 rooms for a layover between Los Angeles and San Diego. By 1888, Seeley sold the hotel due to a major shift in railroad use and a rising downtown Gaslamp Quarter. In the following years, it was used as an olive factory.

In 1928 Don Juan Bandini's grandson, Cave J. Couts Jr., son of Lieutenant Cave J. Couts, bought the property in order to restore it as a memorial to his mother Ysidora Bandini de Couts. Couts remodeled the residence in Steamboat Revival architecture style. By 1930 the building was wired for electricity and gas. Cave J. Couts Jr. renames the building as, "The Miramar," a hotel and restaurant.

In 1945 James H. and Nora Cardwell purchased the Bandini property. During the 1950s their son Frank renovated the building into an upscale tourist motel. The Cardwells eventually sold the property to the state of California in 1968, the same year Old Town became a state historic park. The State of California and concessionaire Chef and restaurant owner Joseph Melluso came to an operating agreement. Under the agreement the Hotel would receive necessary historical excavation, and restoration to the period of the Cosmopolitan Hotel.union tribune "Casa de Bandini still under fire repair"Jim Okerblom Staff Writer

Publish Date: April 22, 1989

The Cosmopolitan reopened for business as a Hotel and Restaurant on July 21, 2010, after massive restorations to revitalize it to its 1870s grandeur. By August 2011 Owner Joseph Melluso had sold a majority of ownership over to Catherine Miller. In July 2013, the Cosmo was taken over by Old Town Family Hospitality Corp. Owner and President Chuck Ross, who also operates two restaurants in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park – Casa de Reyes and Barra Barra Saloon.{{Cite web|url=http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2010/may/05/san-diegos-frontier-past-recaptured|title=San Diego's frontier past recaptured|accessdate=Aug 23, 2019|archive-date=October 20, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020065929/http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2010/may/05/san-diegos-frontier-past-recaptured/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.oldtowncosmopolitan.com/history/|title=Old Town San Diego's Cosmopolitan – San Diego's Earliest Hotel — Cosmopolitan Hotel and Restaurant.|website=www.oldtowncosmopolitan.com|accessdate=Aug 23, 2019|archive-date=December 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230050759/https://www.oldtowncosmopolitan.com/history/|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://www.kusi.com/family-business-cosmopolitan-hotel-fiesta-del-reyes/ |title=Family Business: Cosmopolitan Hotel & Fiesta del Reyes |publisher=Kusi.com |date=2018-01-18 |accessdate=2018-05-02 |archive-date=2021-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714042254/https://www.kusi.com/family-business-cosmopolitan-hotel-fiesta-del-reyes/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.fiestadereyes.com/the-cosmopolitan-hotel-and-restaurant/|title=The Cosmopolitan Hotel and Restaurant — Fiesta de Reyes|accessdate=Aug 23, 2019|archive-date=May 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502133049/https://www.fiestadereyes.com/the-cosmopolitan-hotel-and-restaurant/|url-status=live}}

Don Juan Bandini built his single-story, thatched roof adobe between 1827 and 1829 on Old Town, San Diego, plaza's southeast corner. The original structure had seven rooms, an entranceway, and enclosed courtyard, a corral, and several sheds. The Casa de Juan Bandini had features of Spanish Colonial architecture usually found only in California missions. During the 1840s, he added several enhancements such as pane-glass windows, a brick-lined patio with a well, and a small, bathhouse to entice his daughters to visit his wife Refugio and him more frequently.{{Cite web |url=http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/ListedResources/Detail.aspx?num=72 |title=Casa de Bandini |access-date=2018-05-02 |archive-date=2018-05-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180503042239/http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/ListedResources/Detail.aspx?num=72 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/663/files/1935%20--%2004-24%20-%20casa%20de%20bandini%20-%20social%20center.pdf |title=Casa de Bandini |access-date=2018-05-02 |archive-date=2017-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203111514/https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/663/files/1935%20--%2004-24%20-%20casa%20de%20bandini%20-%20social%20center.pdf |url-status=live }}[http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/v57-1/v57-1walsh.pdf The Casa and The Don: Juan Bandini’s Quest for Homeland in Early San Diego]

The Cosmopolitan Hotel was featured on Episode 56 of Ghost Adventures which aired October 7, 2011.{{Cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/21/ghost-adventures-cosmopolitan-hotel-and-restaurant_n_903689.html |title='Ghost Adventures' Crew Goes On Ghost Hunt Of San Diego |website=HuffPost |date=21 July 2011 |access-date=2018-05-02 |archive-date=2017-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170927222717/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/21/ghost-adventures-cosmopolitan-hotel-and-restaurant_n_903689.html |url-status=live }}

• {{cite book |last=Herzog |first=Lawrence A. |date=2001 |title=From Aztec to High Tech: Architecture and Landscape Across the Mexico-United States Border |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wbBFO11V0IkC&pg=PA115 |publisher=JHU Press |pages=115–116 |isbn=978-0-8018-6643-2}}

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• History of San Diego

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Cosmopolitan Hotel (San Diego)}}

• {{official website|url=https://www.oldtowncosmopolitan.com}}
• [http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=663 Official Old Town San Diego State Historic Park website]
• [http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=24983 Cosmopolitan Hotel & Restaurant / La Casa de Bandini Restoration]
• [http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/663/files/cosmopolitan%20chronicle%2034.pdf 1930s Balustrade Uncovered]

{{Protected areas of California|SP}}

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Category:American West museums in California

Category:History of San Diego

Category:Houses in San Diego

Category:National Register of Historic Places in San Diego

Category:1829 establishments in Alta California

Category:Buildings and structures in San Diego

Category:Historic district contributing properties in California

Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California

Category:Reportedly haunted locations in California