before & after: granada hotel & bistro
The Hotel Granada was originally built in 1922. It was either an enclave for traveling artists, or a seedy brothel. It depends on who you ask. When we purchased the property in 2012, it was a halfway house covered in purple & yellow painted stucco. There were 22 rooms, all rented for about $250 a month with just two common bathrooms, and a few retail spaces on the first floor. I had opened a small restaurant called ‘Granada Bistro’ in one of those spaces.
When we purchased the building, our original idea was to expand the bistro and convert the current 22 rooms into 10 studio apartments with bathrooms and kitchens. Once we started the planning process, we quickly pivoted to reviving the original concept of a boutique hotel. The development process was excruciating. We had no money and no expertise in hotel renovations, so we made a lot of mistakes and shed a lot tears. It was my first real journey into interior design, and I quickly realized how much I loved it. Two years later we opened Granada Hotel & Bistro as the first downtown hotel in San Luis Obispo. Opening night was a milestone I will cherish for the rest of my life.
