Part 42 here
In the evening Andrey tried to book a room for the next night in the Tonopah’s Best Western where we’ve stayed during our winter vacation. We liked that place, but today all rooms were booked. And I thought – what if we will stay in the famous Mizpah Hotel? I learned about that building when I wrote the blog about winter vacation and was intriqued by it’s history.
Hotel Mizpah was built in 1908 during the gold rush in Nevada, it was financed by George Wingfield, George Nixon, Cal Brouger and Bob Govan, and cost was $200,000. The hotel stood on the former Mizpah saloon that was the first permanent building in Tonopah. By the way, do you remember the Tombstone movie and Wyatt Earp? The real Wyatt Earp owned a saloon in Tonopah, but I’m not sure which one.
I made this picture during our winter vacation in 2015. Not the best angle for shooting.
The reinforced concrete 5-story building was the tallest in Nevada at the time. It was faced with stone on front and bricks on the sides and rear. It has the first Electrical elevator in the West and the vault of Tonopah Banking Corporation. Mizpah Hotel was the social hub of Tonopah. There are legends about the hotel – for example, once three men made an underground tunnel to the vault to steal the gold. The were able to get inside, but when they took the treasure one of them killed the other two and disappered with the gold.
In the lobby
The bar
Old vault, there is a gift shop inside now
Hallway of the forth floor
Chars with handmade cross stitching
The lights
Ceiling decoration
Hotel is known for having ghosts. One of the famous ghosts is Lady in Red. There are several legends how that ghost had appeared – according to the first, Lady in Red was the lady of the night and one of her jealous ex-lovers spotted her leaving the room of another man. Other legend has it that she was a wife of a man who had missed the train and when he came to the hotel he found out that she was cheating on him. Both legends have the same ending – the young woman was brutally murdered in the hallway of the fifth floor.
Lady in Red
The third legend, hovewer, is completely different. It is about mother of three, who fell in love with a married man and followed him to Tonopah. She died from broken heart in the Mizpah Saloon in 1903, before the hotel was built.
Rumor has it that Lady in Red likes single men. Every now and then she wispers at their ears ‘Hey, you’ when the man is riding the elevator alone.
Old elevator
The hotel changed hands quite a few times. In 1985 the owner issued whole bunch of bad checks and owed the IRS $110,000. The Nevada Gaming Control Board shut down the casino. Without the casino, the hotel didn’t stay open for a long time and was closed in 1999. The beautiful bulding was bought in early 2011 by Fred and Nancy Cline that renovated and reopened the Mizpah Hotel in August 2011. They spent a lot of money to keep the victorian style, there are a lot of original elements remain at the property today. One of them is 108 year old elevator and the vault in the hotel lobby. The history can be seen in every corner inside the building. The ghost hunters can spend the night in the Lady in Red Suite.
We didn’t know that we were sitting near the murder site – she was found outside of the room #502
In the evening
In the morning
Stairs to the fifth floor
Late in the evening I was walking in the hallways making photos. There is a table in the every floor where guest can have free coffee each morning. I saw the book shelves and cozy chairs and sofa in the elevator lobby. Guests can read books before the bedtime. So cool! In the ground level there is a restaurant, so we had a nice dinner there with Mizpah beer.
Free coffee in the morning
The hallway of the third floor
Between second and third floor
Near the entrance to the restaurant
Bar in the restaurant
Stocks and certificates of the mining companies
Our room
I think the fixtures are old too
The walls in the bathroom
Night view of the lights above the casino
In the morning all the guests who we’ve met asked us if we saw any ghosts. No, we said, our room is on forth floor and Lady in Red lives on fifth. But what about the kids, they asked us – Did you see the boy and girl playing in the hallway? How interesting! I didn’t know about those two.
Sometimes playing kids can be seen here
Oh, and by the way. The Mizpah Hotel welcomed famous people in the past.
There is a photo gallery in the lobby of the well-known people. I found Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett. Kids loved to watch her in the hillarious ‘Noises Off’ movie.
I liked that hotel so much and can’t wait to stay there again. This time we stayed in Cal Brougher’s room, who was co-investor of the hotel. And I would like to see the Belvada building too – the couple owned the Mizpah Hotel bought Belvada building and going to renovate it too and open as an addition to the Mizpah.
Part 44 here