Oceanside: A City Built on Tourism

This seaside town is a crossroad, and a place we pass for almost all our destinations. Its history continues to delight, so we detoured to share a bit of its long hospitality story.

Oceanside's tourism slogans have varied over the years from 1913's Twixt Vale and Tide to 1953's Where the mercury never goes crazy. However it's promoted, O'side is a pretty cool place to just relax or explore. The options are endless.

Tourism began as early as September of 1883, just a few months after a townsite was laid out. Andrew Jackson Myers, the city’s founder, began marketing the town as a seaside resort. Oceanside’s wide beaches provided ample room for recreation and camping. The Oceanside Blade claimed that at low tide that one could drive for 10 miles along the beach.

Tents weren't for everyone. So in 1928, A.J. Clark built 24 cottages on the 700 block of North Strand.

They were designed by the Whiting-Mead Company and built at a cost of $25,000.

In 1941, Harry and Virginia Roberts acquired the cottages and gave them their present name. The iconic double row of quaint homes continues to be a favorite vacation spot.

We loved the feeling of the good ol days Robert's Cottages evoked.

We moved inland to see the offerings there. The Keisker Hotel was built by Julius E. Keisker and opened in 1927. It was one of the first hotels in Oceanside and the only one left of its era on the road that was once called Hill Street. In 1936, it was sold and renamed the Hotel DeWitt.

During World War II, it became the regional headquarters of Pacific Telephone Co. The building was turned back to a hotel after the war and renamed the Dolphin Hotel. In the decades that followed, the hotel lost its charm and got a bad reputation as being “seedy”. Well that is no longer the case.

The Fin Hotel (paying homage to the previous name) is now an upscale, quaint boutique hotel. It's history has been rewritten in a very good way.

Unfortunately, the same can not be said about the MiraMar Motor Inn and Restaurant.

Built in 1887, this was the home of the famous Couts family. Over the decades, it would morph into so much more.

In the 1930s, it became the very popular M & M Barbecue.

Glamour came in 1942 when Ollie Morris, the owner of LA's Bel-Air Hotel, purchased it and transformed it into the high end dinner house known as The MiraMar. Hollywood celebrities and politicians, such as Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Pierre Salinger and then Gov. Ronald Reagan, were frequent guests.

The MiraMar Motor Inn opened in 1959.

Somewhere along the way, the Miramar became the Budget 6. The restaurant was transformed several times and now is just a boarded up reminder of what used to me. It's sad, as this is the first introduction many have to Oceanside, right off the 76 exit on to 101.

The newest kid on the block was TraveLodge (c. 1960), now Harbor Inn & Suites.

A great deal can be said of a town based on its hospitality. The Redlands Citrograph wrote in 1903, "Oceanside has always seemed to us to be one of the finest seaside resorts. We have known Oceanside ever since before there was an Oceanside, when it was simply Jack Myers’ homestead. We like the location, then. We like it still.” I wholeheartedly agree!