| The Palo Alto History Project |
| Rickey's Garden Hotel 4219 El Camino Real |
| Rickey's: Gone Without a Trace The hotel known in various forms as Rickey’s is no longer with us. Driving past its old location on El Camino Real, one now finds the beams and scaffolds that indicate that new housing is on the way. And while few saw Rickey’s as particularly “historic,” there is something a bit haunting in how structures are so easily swept away in California. Back east, a city block might have four or five buildings that predate your great- grandfather, but here it seems that everything, especially in retail, must always be sparkling new. Rickey’s never got its due. It passed from new to rundown to extinct without ever reaching a distinguished old-age. And how utterly Rickey’s has disappeared. Just a year and half since the wrecking ball, the hotel seems to have vanished completely. To be sure, the structure itself is long gone--the whole site was completely leveled---but an online search for the hotel’s history proves to be pretty fruitless as well. Sure there are a few out-of-date Expedia reviews, but not much on the six decade experience that was Rickey’s. And yet this Palo Alto institution had a rich and truly historic sixty year run as one of the foremost hotels in the region. As the area’s major venue for weddings, class reunions, Rotary Club meetings and all gatherings local, the percentage of Palo Altans who spent at least one important day of their life at Rickey’s is probably pretty high. Its rich history began with the gregarious and daring John Rickey. Swiss-born, Rickey came to America when he was 14, got work as a delivery boy in Jersey, skimped $600 in salary and tips and opened his own deli. He bought, sold, consolidated and bought and sold again until he made some $60,000 in the deli and restaurant business. He threw himself headlong into Wall Street, quadrupled his money and then---just as fast---lost it all. Starting over, he came west with nothing, worked in lumber, logging, and later construction, then set up commissaries at Tonopah, Alameda Air Base and Moffett Field. In 1945 he started a Palo Alto restaurant---Rickey’s Studio Club, which became known for its impressive collection of local paintings, high-end cuisine and Mrs. Rickey’s secret recipe cheesecake. When Rickey’s opened an inn next door, it became a trend-setter in its garden style. Dreaming of an inn that would rival the traditional enclosed hotels of the East and San Francisco, Rickey sought to take advantage of the California climate. He imagined his guests stepping out of their rooms into luxurious gardens, topped with wooden overhangs. Rickey’s Garden Hotel, as it became known, featured green lawns, beautiful gardens, lots of trees, expensive statues and an enormous swimming pool. It also became famous for its distinguished black and white swans. There were also specialty shops including exclusively designed clothes and expensive candies, croquet lawns and putting greens---everything that was synonymous with luxury in the 1950s. In later years after John Rickey sold the hotel to the Hyatt in 1962, its glamour began to fade. But even in the 1970s and early 80s, Rickey’s took on a new role as host to the meetings and conferences of the burgeoning Silicon Valley that would grow up around it. -Matt Bowling (Note: This article ran in the Palo Alto Daily News on March 25th, 2007) |
| A postcard during Rickey's years as "Rickey's Studio Inn" |
| By the pool at Rickey's |
| John Rickey: A western pioneer |
| Palo Alto: Then & Now |
| 2007 |
| Rickey's Studio Club shortly after opening on El Camino Real. Notice the Rickey's sign on the top of the roof that lit up at night. A few '40s-era cars are parked out front. The scene today is very different as lumber waits to be turned into a new apartment complex. |
| The map below shows the El Camino Strip |
| circa 1945 |
| The scaffolding of the Arbor Real Apartments to come |
| Rickey's Studio Club |
| Hyatt Rickey's in the final years |
| Rickey's in its glamour days |
| A computer drawing of the future Arbor Real Apartments |
| Rickey's: gone forever |
| The trees remain to be part of Arbor Real |
| "We moved to Palo Alto in Nov. 1955. It was hard to find a house and we lived at Rickey's for 2 months. I used to love to stroll back from dinner and see all the beautiful statues and paintings. John Rickey was an avid art collector. Through our long stay at Rickey's he and my dad became friends." -Celeste |
| Sources: Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Historical Association, Palo Alto Times |
| Memories added by our readers: |
| "The garden hotel concept was very pretty. It was quite sad to see it erased. My family used to drive down here from San Mateo on warm nights and stroll the property. We also used to enjoy eating in the restaurant, Dinah's Shack, L'Omelet, and the Red Barn (I think it was called.) It became Ming's later. Ooh, yes, and Stickney's was also a treat. Great ribs and pies." -Carol |
| "I Googled this story because I wanted to see if Rickey's Studio Inn Hotel was still around. I became the proud owner of an old wooden hanger with the name and location of this hotel stamped on it. It belonged to Grandpa Curtis and was brought back as a souvenir, no doubt. I have no idea when he was in Palo Alto, and sadly, Grandpa died in 1978 so I can no longer ask him." -"Catlady" |
| "I look forward to the next column on Palo Alto Then and Now. I celebrated my wedding at Rickey's in 1971, it is a shame that it is gone now. It used to be really something." -Sarah |
| "Many years ago, back in the 1950s, when my father was a marketing representative for Hewlett Packard (he was located in North Carolina), he would attend product seminars at HP which were usually held in July, and he would stay at Rickey's Studio Inn. I remember receiving post cards from Rickey's. Later, in 1995, I had the chance to stay at what was by then the Hyatt Rickey's. While the landscaping was quite beautiful, shady and quaint, I most remember the wonderful rooms which were built in a sort of California bungalow style, very cozy with exposed beams, beautiful bay windows with shutters, and pleasant paneling on the walls. The removal of Rickey's is indeed quite sad. It epitomized California in the late 40s/early 50s and was a very pleasant place to stay." -William |
| "When my dad got a job at Lockheed in 1960, we moved to Palo Alto in December, and spent the first couple of nights at Rickey's Studio Inn. I remember all the yellow neon hissing and buzzing on the cold foggy nights as being particularly eerie. We were in the two-story part and our room had a fireplace. I was 9 and my brother was 7. We got in trouble riding up and down the elevator in the tower." -Bill |