|
Black History Preservation Success!
By Amie K. Hayes
 Black History Month marks achievements as well as unfortunate losses. Karen Huff-Willis, a prominent local historian and advocate, explains in SOHO's 2002 issue of Reflections article "Redevelopment & Black Historic Preservation", that black history in San Diego traces back to the Mexican period. She discusses how the black population flourished after California entered the union as a free state. Leading jazz artists performed here from the 1920s on, so much so that part of downtown became known as Harlem of the West. Demolition of the segregated Douglas Hotel and Creole Palace in 1985 eliminated significant portions of this important narrative from San Diego's cultural landscape, leaving only the Clermont Hotel at 501 Seventh Avenue. However, in 2001, the black community, with support from SOHO, was successful in the historical designation of the 1887 building once known as a "Hotel for Colored People."
Fifteen years later, the Clermont is again in the spotlight. Now housing single-room-occupancy apartments (SRO), the hotel will be rehabilitated and incorporated into Cisterra Partners' mixed-use, high-rise redevelopment, an entire block. The project, which is going through the city's approval process, also includes a Ritz Carlton Hotel, an office and residential tower, and a Whole Foods store. As a benefit of historic preservation, the three-story Clermont will remain an SRO, a severely needed type of affordable housing. SOHO and the San Diego Black Historical Society have been collaborating with Cisterra on the Clermont's rehabilitation, which includes restoring the façade back to the original Victorian-era exterior. In a fitting tribute, the Black Historical Society's new museum will be housed in the Hotel and an interpretive mural will depict its history.
February 2016
|
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
|
