Mission Inn

After a stay at the Mission Inn (Part I, Nov. 26; View, Nov. 19) while appearing on tour in Riverside during the early 1900s, the famous international actress and brilliant wit, Mrs. Patrick Campbell, was asked to comment in the guest book on her visit. As she departed the dark, forbidding, and heavily decorated hotel, in the book above her signature she wrote: "Quoth the Raven"! JUNE LOCKHART Santa Monica

Between the brouhaha of the winter holidays and the end of the school year is that coveted halfway point known as spring break. To gear up for that last lap of the academic year, grab the kids and significant others and go recharge at some posh pools. Many Southern California hotels have cerulean gems that allow you to escape from it all without traveling too far or breaking the bank. Seeking pools outside Los Angeles? We have some destinations that may surprise you, but first, perch-worthy pools close to home.

The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside has a special offer for active and veteran members of the U.S. military this month: $159 a night for a room that includes dinner for two and valet parking. It's a good discount off the usual rates -- and might make for a nice Memorial Day getaway. The deal: A Salute to Our Heroes package includes a room, dinner for two at the hotel's Bella Trattoria Italian Bistro and free valet parking. A military ID is required for this deal.

The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside flips the switch on millions of holiday lights and animated figures for the 20th year on Friday. The Festival of Lights at the historic Riverside hotel begins each year the day after Thanksgiving with fireworks, carolers, Santa Claus and, of course, the amazing lights. For two weeks, the national historic landmark comes to life with characters dressed in 17th century costumes, carolers, Santa Claus, horse-drawn carriage rides and even a pop-up ice-skating rink near the hotel.

In 1909, when President William Howard Taft visited Riverside's Mission Inn, founder Frank Miller led him to an outsized chair specially constructed for Taft's 300-pound-plus frame. The president was not charmed. "Did you have to make the chair so large?" Taft is said to have asked. He at first refused to sit in it, but later relented with the proviso that no photos be taken. Miller meant no offense -- he just liked to do things in a big way. The 239-room inn, which has been described as a cross between a European villa and a California mission, is a block long and chock-full of artifacts from around the world.

The $31-million renovation of the historic Mission Inn in Riverside moved a step closer to reality Friday when the federal Housing and Urban Development Agency announced that it is granting $2.2 million to help finance the project. "This clears the way for the remodeling," said Bob Hill, executive director of the Riverside Redevelopment Agency, owners of the famous old hotel, which is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Faced with an 11th-hour financial snag, the developers of the restoration of Riverside's historic Mission Inn--Carley Capital Group--may be forced to postpone plans to reopen the landmark hotel. The Mission Inn's doors--opened in 1876 and closed for a multimillion-dollar face lift in 1985--were scheduled to be reopened Dec. 22 under the auspices of Omni Hotels as the Omni Mission Inn, a 240-room establishment.

You can't get a drink there yet but you can get a deal at the history-laced Mission Inn in Riverside--the place where Richard and Pat Nixon were married and where Nancy and Ronald Reagan honeymooned. The inn recently reopened after a $50-million, three-year renovation, but only about 75 of its 240 guest rooms (including 30 suites) have been finished (others open daily), and only one of its two restaurants is open.

The closets in the older rooms at Riverside's Mission Inn hint at its early grandeur. They are cavernous, built to hold travel trunks and clothing enough for weeks-long visits. From the turn of the century to World War II, the inn was a resort destination. In its earliest days, it was a two- or three-day coach ride from Los Angeles. Having made that journey, people stayed a while. The inn was worthy of visits by presidents (Theodore Roosevelt and Taft) and presidents-to-be (Nixon and Reagan).

Restoration of the historic Mission Inn in Riverside, where Theodore Roosevelt once stayed and Richard and Pat Nixon were married, was abruptly halted when financing ran out on the $40-million project begun three years ago, officials said. Carley Capital Group halted work Friday at the inn after a loan needed to finish the job was denied by Chemical Bank of New York, said Maureen McAvey, Carley's regional manager.

The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside has a special offer for active and veteran members of the U.S. military this month: $159 a night for a room that includes dinner for two and valet parking. It's a good discount off the usual rates -- and might make for a nice Memorial Day getaway. The deal: A Salute to Our Heroes package includes a room, dinner for two at the hotel's Bella Trattoria Italian Bistro and free valet parking. A military ID is required for this deal.

One of Southern California's most impressive holiday events, the Riverside Festival of Lights, kicks off at the historic Mission Inn in downtown Riverside. Get a view of millions of festive lights, more than 400 animated characters, and enjoy live entertainment, an ice-skating rink and vendors. Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, 3649 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside. 5 p.m. daily Friday through Jan. 8. (951) 543-9557.

The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside will flip the switch at sunset Friday (yes, Black Friday) on a few holiday lights -- about 3.6 million. The 19th annual Festival of Lights at the landmark hotel makes its debut with fireworks, freshly fallen snow, horse-drawn carriages, 400 animated elves, angels and other decorative figures as well as Santa and live reindeer. If you've never seen this hotel in its holiday finery, postpone the shopping, grab the kids and mingle with the carolers to begin the season in style.

On Feb. 6 California will celebrate the first Ronald Reagan Day, courtesy of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed it into law last year. That date that marks the former president's birth date and what this year would have been his 100th birthday. The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside is offering two packages during February that will honor the former president, California governor and actor who in 1952 spent the first night of his honeymoon with his wife Nancy at the historic hotel.

In 1909, when President William Howard Taft visited Riverside's Mission Inn, founder Frank Miller led him to an outsized chair specially constructed for Taft's 300-pound-plus frame. The president was not charmed. "Did you have to make the chair so large?" Taft is said to have asked. He at first refused to sit in it, but later relented with the proviso that no photos be taken. Miller meant no offense -- he just liked to do things in a big way. The 239-room inn, which has been described as a cross between a European villa and a California mission, is a block long and chock-full of artifacts from around the world.

Those who have never seen Riverside may picture it in the language of L.A. drive-time radio: Triple-digit heat. Foreclosures. Traffic. But unlike some cities on the coast, its 312,000 residents started long ago to transform their downtown rather than dismantle it. Downtown's Mission Inn Avenue speaks to their powers of imagination. The gracious former YWCA, designed by Hearst Castle architect Julia Morgan, is now the Riverside Art Museum.

George Washington never slept there--the place isn't that old--but Teddy Roosevelt did. Ron and Nancy Reagan honeymooned there, and Richard and Pat Nixon were married there. Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Judy Garland, Anthony Quinn . . . a loop of luminaries stopped by the inn to dine and doze on their way to or from somewhere else. Some even stayed for the "winter season" back when travel was a lot more leisurely, when jet was only a color.

From his threadbare barbecue eatery, outfitted with Naugahyde booths and dated video games, Bobbie Bratton looks across a busy downtown street to a dizzying, block-square architectural jumble that evokes visions of garish Spanish palaces, Gothic cathedrals and Moorish forts, for starters. "People drive by to see it all the time," said Bratton, who in his three years in business has struggled to keep the place open.

Two women who escaped from their car when it became stuck on train tracks in Riverside early Thursday were killed when the train hit the vehicle and dragged it over them as the women tried to leave the scene, apparently struggling in their high heels, authorities said today. "This was really a freak situation," said Steven Frasher, a Riverside police spokesman. "The two women seemed to just get caught in a bad situation, and we don't know how much warning they had before the collision."

Invest in a little down time for yourself with a spring spa package at Riverside's historic Mission Inn Hotel & Spa. The deal: The Inn's Spring Forward package costs $220 a night and includes accommodations, overnight valet parking, $50 credit for dining at one of the four Mission Inn restaurants and a $50 Kelly's Spa gift card, which can be used for any spa treatment or retail purchase. The package runs through June 1.