Historic Hotel Won’t Give Up the Ghost : Santa Paula: Glen Tavern Inn reopens after a stint as school. Owner is hopeful about its latest incarnation.

Like the ghosts said to haunt its halls, a historic Santa Paula hotel has spent the last two decades disappearing and reappearing.

In its 83 years, the rambling, Tudor-style Glen Tavern Inn on Mill and Santa Barbara streets has served as a way station for Hollywood stars and, most recently, as a school for Japanese students studying Western culture.

Last month, in the wake of faltering enrollment that forced the school’s closure, the Japanese businessman who owns the landmark inn reopened the hotel to the public for the first time in six years. The top floor of the 41-room building, however, is reserved for the school.

This time, owner Joseph Hoang hopes he has hit upon the right combination for success, his attorney said.

“With a little good luck, we can have a good thing going up there,” said attorney Joseph Deering of Santa Monica. Hoang, who is in Japan, could not be reached for comment.

Hoang bought the troubled inn for $2.1 million five years ago. The previous owner had filed for bankruptcy and abruptly closed the hotel’s doors six months earlier. Hoang’s plan was to convert the hotel into a college as a way to overcome the previous 15 years of misfortune.

But problems continued to plague the landmark tavern, the only hotel in the county listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1992, Hoang was forced to close the school--a branch of Tokyo International College--after his manager apparently failed to get the university accredited. Then, in early 1993, financial problems prompted Hoang to put the building up for sale.

Shortly afterward, city officials ordered the property fenced because of plumbing and electrical problems. And although the tavern’s selling price of $1.5 million was $600,000 below its purchase price, there were no offers on the building.

“I think he got caught in the market downturn,” said Santa Paula Mayor Alfonso C. Urias, a real estate salesman.

Hoang then spent $50,000 to repair the building’s infrastructure and reopened the school briefly. Lack of enrollment, however, hastened its closure once again.

In November, Hoang scrapped the idea of using the entire building for the college, and opened the inn’s rooms to the public for the first time since 1989. While several rooms on the third floor will be reserved for the college, most of the 41 rooms will be for guests.

Given that the hotel’s fortunes have waxed and waned over the years, some city officials--and the hotel’s management--are cautiously optimistic about current prospects for the landmark.

“It is an important part of Santa Paula,” Urias said.

The inn opened with little fanfare early last month and little advertising has been done. While hotel business has been slow, the restaurant is bustling, said marketing manager Carolyn Bowker.

“People are hearing about it word-of-mouth,” she said. Actors Kirk Douglas and Keanu Reeves have signed the inn’s guest book after having lunch, Bowker said.

Local historian Judith Triem played a large role in getting the hotel listed on the register.

“There aren’t too many grand hotels left,” Triem said.

The reopening is the latest chapter in the Glen Tavern Inn’s illustrious and sometimes eerie past.

Built in 1911, the hotel’s construction was financed by railroad executives and other well-to-do Santa Paula residents. It was erected across the street from the train station and soon became a fashionable watering hole, serving guests from the flourishing citrus and oil industries.

In the 1920s, the burgeoning film industry descended on the town, bringing with it a host of well-known guests. Studios often shot movies in the Santa Paula and Ojai areas, historians and longtime residents said. Actors, directors and film technicians stayed at the inn, and the list of names that appeared on the roster included John Barrymore, Harry Houdini and Rin Tin Tin.

During Prohibition, the inn served as a speak-easy and casino. And during World War II, female war employees were housed at the hotel.

Then, in 1974, foreclosure proceedings were started, signaling two decades of financial turmoil for the hotel.

Through the years, rumors that ghosts wander the halls of the rambling building have persisted, adding to the tavern’s mystique. The phantoms, some said, were among the hotel’s most intriguing guests. One purportedly looks like Buffalo Bill. Another is said to resemble a long-dead perfume saleswoman, who leaves a lingering floral scent in her wake.

“Everybody knows it’s haunted,” joked Santa Paula City Manager Arnold Dowdy.

But no sightings have been reported in years.