Ancha Vista Hotel
From the 1890s to the 1930s, San Anselmo was a vacation destination for many people in the Bay Area. The town’s location along the route of the North Coast Pacific Railroad (later the Northwestern Pacific) and the mild sunny weather drew people for weekend outings and longer summer vacations. San Anselmo was described by a San Anselmo Herald reporter as “one great playground adapted for young and old where it is impossible to think too much of business and where health and pleasure walk hand-in-hand.”
Many visitors found campsites along San Anselmo Creek, while others chose to stay at one of several hotels in town. The largest hotel in San Anselmo was the Ancha Vista (“Broad View”). It was situated on the eastern slope of Red Hill with a magnificent view of Bald Hill and Mt. Tamalpais. The apartment building at 88 Buena Vista, behind Chapel of the Hills Funeral Home, occupies the hotel site today.
The property was purchased by John and Pauline Richards of Sausalito in 1897. Soon after, the Richards leased it to Mrs. William F. Morris, who opened it as a boarding house. In the summer of 1900, the house was full and tents were erected on the grounds to accommodate extra guests.
Dave Davis and his wife Fannie, natives of England, took over management of the hotel and then purchased it from the Richards in 1911. Many improvements were made. The hotel advertised beautifully furnished open air bedrooms with electric lights and running water. A special feature was the availability of poultry every day in the dining room.
A large natural spring on the grounds was found to have “curative” properties with rich concentrations of lithia and magnesia. The Ancha Vista management promoted the mineral springs in advertisements as a cure for uric acid ailments.
There were rooms in the main hotel and cottages for 150 guests and expansive grounds with plenty of shade. Rates were $2 to $3 per day. In June 1915, the San Anselmo Herald reported that the Ancha Vista was doing a flourishing business; it was in close proximity to the municipal dance platform and jitney service was provided.
The hotel seems to have prospered for many years and then waned in popularity as a vacation destination. The cottages were abandoned and boarders were taken in. After Dave Davis died in 1929, Fannie defaulted on the mortgage payments and was delinquent in paying taxes. The property was sold in a trustee’s sale in 1934. The hotel and cottages may have burned to the ground sometime after the sale, but no historical record has been found to support this. The Guy W. Jenness Mortuary, the predecessor of Chapel of the Hills, moved to the Red Hill Avenue location in 1937.