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Hollenbeck Hotel, Restaurant and Saloon Ledgers (5), Wyatt Earp Tie [135833]

Currency:USD Category:Books Start Price:1,000.00 USD Estimated At:2,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD
Hollenbeck Hotel, Restaurant and Saloon Ledgers (5), Wyatt Earp Tie  [135833]
SOLD
1,600.00USDto b***********s+ buyer's premium (400.00)
This item SOLD at 2021 Aug 05 @ 09:02UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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Three ledgers for parts of the calendar year 1902 (April 19-May 12; Sept. 22 to Oct. 19; Dec. 12-Dec.31), a single ledger for the Hotel saloon, 1895-6; and a single ledger for the Hotel restaurant, 1896.

The Hollenbeck hotel was built by John E. Hollenbeck and his wife in 1884. Hollenbeck was born on Ohio in 1829. He was off to the California gold fields during the Gold Rush, but got delayed min Nicaragua, and ended up staying there with a hotel business, which is where he met his wife Elizabeth, a German widow who was also in the Hotel business. After surviving serious political conflicts, the Hollenbecks were back in the USA. They started buying land in Los Angeles in 1874 and moved there by 1876. By that time, they had acquired 27 properties comprised on 6,738 acres, including land in the business district, and large parcels just outside the business district, a gamble that was a sure-fire win. In 1884, the pair created the Hollenbeck Block, a major and central location in the main business district of Los Angeles.

With the Hollenbeck’s large real estate holdings, they were major players in Los Angeles. Hollenbeck owned the first street rail line there, invested in the new street lines, and organized the First National Bank of Los Angeles in 1881. The hotel was completed in 1884 as a modern two story hotel. Within a year of opening, Hollenbeck died suddenly of a stroke. Elizabeth, every bit as good at business as her husband, expanded the hotel to four stories, and it became the centerpiece in Los Angeles for years to come. Indeed, the street railways that Hollenbeck controlled or invested in, flanked both sides of the Hotel and brought visitors straight from the Los Angeles Southern Pacific and other railroad stations in Los Angeles right to the front door.

The Hollenbeck routinely listed the new hotel arrivals in the Los Angeles Times. Regular too, were articles of some of their visitors. As the “go-to” hotel in Los Angeles, visitors came from all over America. Additionally, the hotel advertised in geographic regions that garnered many guests, such as Arizona Territory.

Guests included political figures, business figures, travelers stopping in Los Angeles going from place to place, and the hotel hosted large meetings. Stanford University, who had an exceptionally active alumni with the Stanford Club, regularly hosted meetings and students at the hotel. Arizona businessmen also routinely stayed at the hotel, particularly from the mining regions of the state. Indeed, the Hollenbeck had a close tie to Arizona business, as the architect of the hotel also built important hotels and buildings in Arizona. Important businessmen from across the country, inclusive of the Vanderbilt family also stayed there. One notable visitor to western aficionados was Death Valley Scotty in 1905.

The three hotel registers contain about 200 pages (including front and back) of signatures of visitors over the year 1902, ultimately containing the names of several thousand visitors. The register originally had ink blotter pages between the signature pages containing brightly printed, and multi-colored advertisements of important Los Angeles businesses. Most of the blotter pages have been removed, most probably as the pages were completed and ink had dried. Many are still retained.

The Hotel Saloon registry is labeled “Bar Daily” and includes daily tallies of goods consumed and price per bottle. The ledger contains 200pp. Popular items included Humboldt Mineral Water, champagne, zinfandel, beers and ales, Cutter whiskey. The Hotel restaurant ledger contains about 200pp also with pre-printed lists of foods with prices and amounts used. Expensive items included beef loin, potatoes, coffee etc.

The saloon and hotel ledgers are important as the first of the ledgers under the new ownership of Albert Bilicke. Bilicke was the son of Chris Bilicke, owner of the well-known Cosmopolitan Hotel in Tombstone, a popular hotel during the Earp years and the hotel where Virgil and Morgan Earp recuperated from their wounds sustained during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. At some point, Albert became manager of the Cosmopolitan, and after managing a hotel in San Francisco , he moved to Los Angeles, became friends with the widow Hollenbeck (also from Germany) and bought the hotel. Chris Bilicke was a partner of Wyatt Earp in a mine venture, and testified at Earp's trial. Albert died aboard the Lusitania when it was sunk by German submarines in 1915.

Date:
Country (if not USA):
State: California
City: Los Angeles
Provenance: