Chamber, Bureau Take Up Residence in Historic Hotel

During the 125 years since the Stage Stop Hotel was built, the facility has served a variety of purposes. The community landmark was there when its location at 6601 Beach Blvd. was little more than a stretch of dusty road, and grassy fields and trees were strewn around the city that now hosts one of California’s favorite theme parks, Knott’s Berry Farm.

The 11-room Victorian-style structure was originally used as a rest stop for passengers traveling the Butterfield Stage Coach from Huntington Beach to San Bernardino. At the beginning of the century, the hotel was used as a boarding house for men working at a nearby cannery. In later years the hotel was used as a rental property, most recently by a family of 11.

Now, more than a century after it was built, the Stage Stop will become home to the city’s Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Gail Dixon, the chamber’s president and chief executive officer, were active in the structure’s renovation.

“We took more of a personal approach to dealing with the house,” Dixon said. “We were really trying to go as far back as we could to find out historical facts about the hotel then work forward to the present in finding out specific details by talking to older residents.”

Dixon, also an active member of the Buena Park Historic Society, has led the way in digging up the building’s history. One detail she and her staff found made a direct connection between the chamber and the hotel.

“The woman who ran the building when it was a boarding house in the 1930s was given a lifetime honorary membership by the chamber,” Dixon said.

The chamber and convention office moved in last week after the city agreed to give both agencies a one-year lease that will generate nearly $30,000 of revenue for the city.

The city purchased the building late last year for about $200,000 and, with the help of the chamber and convention office, spent the first six months of this year restoring it to its original condition at an estimated cost of $427,000.

Besides their usual duties, the building’s tenants will also act as tour guides at the Stage Stop. Anyone wanting a tour can simply walk through the door and ask.

“One of us will always be available to lead a tour,” Dixon said.

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Andre Briscoe can be reached at (714) 966-5848.