VENTURA : Hotel Matriarch Is Honored on 100th Birthday

Proceeded by City Hall proclamations and a parade of antique automobiles, Pierpont Hotel matriarch Mattie Gleichmann was feted Sunday in celebration of her 100th birthday at a surprise party attended by about 300 friends and family members.

The festivities started with a City Hall ceremony in Ventura, where Sunday was proclaimed “Mattie G” day. Gleichmann was also awarded congratulatory proclamations from county and state officials.

The festivities then shifted to a large tent on the lawn on the hotel grounds, where the guests--many dressed in 1930s garb such as knickers and flapper dresses--feasted on gourmet hors d’oeuvres, fine wines and champagne as a 10-member big band played tunes from the late 1920s and 1930s.

Gleichmann, slightly overwhelmed by the large crowd of well-wishers, said she knew something was afoot at the seaside hotel but admitted great surprise that the event was in her honor.

“I’m just overwhelmed,” Gleichmann said. “To think that I let this sneak by me. They kept it pretty secret.”

Rod Houck, the hotel’s president and general manager, said he had been planning the event for about a year but started organizing it about five weeks ago.

“We really wanted to do something nice that would capture the feel of the era when Mrs. G took over the place,” said Houck, Gleichmann’s grandson-in-law.

The party, which featured a three-foot-tall ice sculpture of an Adirondack rocking chair amid a large circle of seaweed, saw many members of the hotel’s staff dress in period costume--some even taking on the personas of 1930s stars Mae West, Valentino and W.C. Fields.

Gleichmann and husband Gus purchased the hotel, which was closed and in bad disrepair, in 1928 for $80,000.

After Gus died in an automobile accident in 1938, Gleichmann continued to manage the hotel, which quickly developed a reputation as a favorite destination for upscale travelers and Hollywood stars alike. Celebrity guests over the years have included Babe Ruth, Charlie Chaplin, George and Barbara Bush, Betty Davis and James Garner.