The Lafayette Hotel, Swim Club & Bungalows

The Lafayette Hotel, Swim Club & Bungalows is a hotel in San Diego, California, United States that opened July 1, 1946. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 31, 2012.[1]

The Lafayette Hotel, Swim Club & Bungalows
Location within California
General information
Location	2223 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92104
Coordinates	32°45′18″N 117°8′26″W
Opening	1 July 1946
Management	R.A. Rauch & Associates, Inc.
Technical details
Floor count	5
Other information
Number of rooms	131
Number of suites	32
Number of restaurants	2
Parking	Covered Garage and Exterior Parking Available
Website
Official Website
The Lafayette Hotel, Swim Club & Bungalows
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
NRHP reference No.	12000443
Added to NRHP	July 31, 2012[1]

The Lafayette's original name was Imig Manor, owned by local entrepreneur Larry Imig. The LaFayette was originally built at a cost of $2 million on El Cajon Boulevard. When Imig Manor opened in 1946, its first guest was Bob Hope; other celebrities followed.[2] “The buildings and the pool are steeped in the history of Hollywood’s heyday, the 1940s and ’50s,” according to the developer.[3]

By 1960, Interstate 8 replaced El Cajon Boulevard as the main east-west connector of San Diego, and hotel operations ceased due to the loss of through traffic on El Cajon Boulevard. The building was passed through several owners, until Hampstead Lafayette Partners purchased 2.6 acres (11,000 m²) in North Park, including the Lafayette Hotel, for $11.5 million in March 2004. Hampstead Partners is restoring the Lafayette as a boutique hotel. In 2010 a year-long, $4 million facelift was announced, aided by a $2.4 million loan from the city's Redevelopment Agency.[4] District 3 City Councilmember Todd Gloria said the revitalization is a return to the hotel's “glamour and opulence.”[3]

The hotel has an swimming pool designed by Johnny Weissmuller,[4] a ballroom, and 131 guest suites, each named for a great name in film history.