Cosmopolitan Hotel and Restaurant

The Cosmopolitan Hotel and Restaurant in Old Town San Diego is a registered national historic landmark, built in the early 19th century by Don Juan Bandini and later purchased by Albert Seeley to serve as a stagecoach hotel. In 2010, restorations and added fine dining restaurant revived the hotel to its 1870s charm, making it again a focal point of the original downtown area.

History

The Cosmopolitan Hotel and Restaurant was originally built between 1827 and 1829 as a one floor Spanish colonial style home for cattle rancher Don Juan Bandini. In the 1850s Bandini sold his home, and by 1869 it was restored and extended with a second floor into a stagecoach stop and hotel under the direction of Albert Seeley. The hotel prospered as a stagecoach stop offering 20 rooms for a layover between Los Angeles and San Diego. By 1888, Seeley sold the hotel due to a major shift in railroad use and a rising downtown Gaslamp District. In the following years it was an olive factory, motel and restaurant. In 1968, the state of California acquired the building as part of Old Town San Diego. Chuck Ross and his family took ownership of the hotel and began massive restorations to revitalize it to its 1870s grandeur, reopening in 2010 as a 10-12 room hotel and restaurant for guests.

Hauntings

The Cosmopolitan Hotel is reportedly haunted with multiple friendly spirits in its guestrooms, including a cat who roams, Ysidora Bandini’s ghost (daughter of original proprietor) in room 11 and the spirit of a Lady in Red in room 4/5, to name a few.

Restaurant

The restaurant offers fine dining with American and Mexican dishes and is open daily with seating in the historic adobe and interior garden. Flamenco dancing is every Saturday night.