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Crystal Hotel (Portland, OR)

The Crystal Hotel (formerly Hotel Alma) is a hotel located in downtown Portland, Oregon. Originally named the Hotel Alma, the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The property is operated by McMenamins.

History

The Crystal Hotel is directly adjacent to the well-known event venue, the Crystal Ballroom. The building that was originally constructed in 1911 called the Hotel Alma, was mainly utilized for an auto parts shop in the lower level, with apartment-style residences above that. In 1946 it was renamed the Majestic and was run by a Japanese family named the Zokojis. The Zokojis had recently spent the past several years in Japanese Internment Camps, during the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and WWII. The Zokojis are known to have developed a familial atmosphere that transformed parts of the hotel into long-term residences.

The portion of the hotel that was previously used for auto supply, however, was a stark contrast to the homeyness of the upstairs. It became one of the most notorious nightclubs Portland has ever known. Originally called Club Mecca, and then the Desert Room, Nate Zusman, one of Portland’s most notorious gangsters and pimps, ran the whole downstairs portion of the hotel, allowing for an ‘anything goes’ atmosphere. He took over after Al Winter, who was originally dubbed ‘The Vice Overlord of Portland’ fled for Las Vegas to open the Sahara, The Lucky Strike and the Mint casinos and collude with the mobsters of Nevada. The Desert Room was the sort of place you could go to get anything you wanted. It was in fact, the notoriety of the Desert Room as a crime hub that attracted the federal government to Portland to conduct a city-wide investigation into racketeering in 1957. This is commonly referred to as the peak of the Crystal Hotel involvement in crime.  The most famous incident during this Robert F. Kennedy investigation was when Nate Zusman was summoned to Washington to testify, and made a mockery of the entire proceedings, talking circles around Robert F. Kennedy publicly on live, nationally aired television.

Portland Pride Parade

The Desert Room transformed part of its operation into a head shop called the Free People’s Touching Company in the 1970s and then eventually changed entirely into a place called the ‘Pied Piper’ as the rest of the block became known as Portland’s Gay district. This area of Portland was then known for several decades as the ‘Pink Triangle’ and included many gay bars and nightclubs. The Crystal Hotel was instrumental in Portland’s Gay movement, and the regular crowds that frequented the bath houses, the hotel and the bar, worked with the manager, 'Flossie' of the club to establish Portland’s first ever Gay Pride Parade in the early 1970s. The Silverado was the final iteration of the gay bars that were housed in the Crystal Hotel.

It is now owned by the McMenamins brothers, who have worked to preserve the history of the hotel through its art, photos, stories, and music memorabilia in each of the rooms.

Purchase and Renovation

Brothers Michael and Brian McMenamin are the current owners of the Crystal Hotel. The building was bought in June of 2008 for three million dollars. While it was intended for the building to reopen shortly after it's purchase, the recession set these plans back. In December of 2010, the McMenamin brothers enlisted Ankrom Moisan, an architecture firm local to the Portland area, to execute the extensive renovation of the hotel. On May 3, 2011, the Crystal Hotel officially opened.

Accommodations

Each of the Crystal Hotel’s 51 guest rooms are named and decorated after songs or performances during the last 100 years at the nearby Crystal Ballroom. Of the 51 guest rooms, nine are king suites with private bathrooms, 39 are queen rooms, and three are double twin rooms. The queen and double twin rooms offer access to shared bathrooms.

Amenities

Crystal Hotel

The Crystal Hotel offers two cafes; the Zeus Café and Ringler’s Annex. Located on the first floor of the Crystal Hotel is the Zeus Café. The Zeus Café offers Northwest-inspired breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts and a variety of spirits, wines, and cocktails. Ringlers Annex is a two-story speakeasy-style café located next door to the Crystal Hotel that offers year-round outdoor dining service. The menu at Ringlers Annex features local ingredients, specialty cocktails, and affordable wines. The Cellar Bar can be found downstairs in Ringlers Annex, and connects to Al’s Den.

Al’s Den, named after 1940s crime boss and head of Portland gambling, Al Winter, is a small music venue that hosts live music and art.

The Crystal Hotel is home to a subterranean saltwater soaking pool - one of six saltwater soaking pools that McMenamin’s offers.

Crystal Ballroom

The Crystal Hotel is a diverse building containing multiple entertainment venues for their guests, and for the city of Portland. One of the main attractions for the guests staying at the Crystal Hotel includes the Crystal Ballroom. It is located on the same block as the hotel in an area that could be named “rock n roll row”. This historic venue is now over a century old. Originally being introduced as a ballroom in 1914, it is home to a long legacy of diverse music .

Famous Artists

When the ballroom first opened its doors in the early 1900’s it was to a population suffering from the effects of World War I. During this time there were organized old dance revivals being done in the ballroom to lift American citizen’s spirits In the 1960s, the Ballroom exploded on the music scene hosting artists such as the Grateful Dead, Tina Turner, Neil Young, and supposedly a urban legend concerning Jimi Hendrix. In 1968 the Ballroom was shut down to public events for almost 30 years before a revival in the 90’s where artists such as Billy Idol, Michael McDonald, James Brown, George Clinton and more.

See Also

• McMenamins
• Crystal Ballroom