Spa Rebuilds After Fire : Golden Door Back to Pampering as Usual

Guests at the Golden Door, the famous health and beauty spa, may have a hard time these days detecting any remnants of a devastating fire that closed the facility Feb. 2.

No one was injured in the fire, but it destroyed the kitchen and administrative wing of the exclusive resort, famous for its Japanese ambiance, pampering staff, fitness regime and gourmet diet cuisine.

Among business records lost in the fire was the list of Hollywood stars, political power brokers and professionals who make reservations a year or more in advance for a week at the spa to achieve the so-called Golden Door glow.

But more tragic was the loss of Japanese art work, including rare vases and two hand-painted Japanese rice-paper screens. Some of the items were irreplaceable because of current art export restrictions.

It took 150 firefighters more than two hours to extinguish the nighttime blaze. Although investigators for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the San Marcos Fire Protection District said the $1.5-million fire may have been arson, the Golden Door’s insurance investigator blamed faulty electrical wiring near the laundry room.

The spa closed for the week after the blaze and then rented the nearby Bavarian Health Resort, which had gone bankrupt, for the next month. That resort could only accommodate 18 of the Golden Door’s usual contingent of 34 guests, but some canceled their reservations. For those who came despite the inconvenience, the weekly charge of $2,500 was reduced to $2,250.

The spa then resumed business on its own grounds, bringing in breakfast and lunch from the Bavarian Health Resort’s kitchen. At dinner time, patrons were taken to the Bavarian Health Resort’s dining room. “The guests seemed to like the idea of going somewhere for dinner, because it was like breaking the rules. Usually, we don’t let people go off the premises,” laughed Rachel Caldwell, the Golden Door’s general manager.

In June, the county Health Department approved the use of a truck trailer outfitted as a kitchen, and a large, elaborately decorated tent was raised on the Golden Door’s grounds as a temporary dining room.

Reconstruction continued, and on Sept. 1 the Golden Door was back to normal with 34 guests. At the same time, it hiked its weekly rate to $3,000, an increase originally scheduled for last spring.

Caldwell said the facility is virtually as good as new. While some art pieces were destroyed by the blaze, others that were believed to have been irreparably damaged have been restored by a Japanese artisan.

Overall, the Golden Door so closely resembles its pre-fire appearance “that some of our guests call it eerie,” Caldwell said. Owner Deborah Szekely redesigned the kitchen, which had been redone just before the fire.

The Golden Door has been booked to capacity since summer, Caldwell said.

The spa is closed for about 10 days at the end of December but is open on other holidays, including this past Thanksgiving.

The menu for that day’s main meal:

Artichoke bottoms with duck liver mousse (80 calories), roast fresh turkey with chestnut stuffing, wild mushrooms, cranberry and parsnips (260 calories) and a slice of pumpkin pie (60 calories).

A 400-calorie Thanksgiving?

“The staff meal was a little bigger,” Caldwell confessed. “We added corn bread and whipped cream for the pie.”