Pierpont Inn Transfer Marks End of an Era, but Not Tradition

Since the day in 1928 when Gus and Mattie Gleichmann purchased Ventura’s Pierpont Inn, the Sanjon Road lodge with the ocean view has been attached to the Gleichmann family name.

But that long-standing connection is expected to end at the start of the new year.

Pending escrow closing, the inn will become the property of the owners of the neighboring Pierpont Racquet Club, a limited partnership headed by brothers Spencer and Scott Garrett, cousins of the Gleichmann descendants. The racquet club partnership is in line to acquire the inn after enacting its right of first refusal to the sale of the property and matching a bid made by a prospective buyer.

“I think the transition will be bittersweet after 70 years of owning the inn,” said Rod Houck, the fourth and current general manager of the Pierpont Inn. “We’ve had a terrific opportunity and a great deal of fun, but I think the family decided they didn’t want to put in the money to bring it to the next level.”

Houck will remain with the inn through the period of ownership transition, while the rest of the family moves on.

Although patrons and staff may have been surprised by the announcement of the sale and the departure of the Gleichmanns, it was an alternative the family had considered for some time.

Eight years ago, the inn was within three days of closing escrow before the potential buyer pulled out, Houck said. With business very slow and the inn decor outdated, the family opted to regroup and invest in upgrading the look and accommodations at the site.

“We spent about $750,000 in renovations--we painted the exterior, we put in the wedding gazebo, we built a new banquet room, we went out into the community,” said Houck, who was named general manager at that time. “We really restored our image. We really turned the place around.”

When Houck took over in 1990, occupancy was at 40%, and banquet sales were at $38,000 annually. In 1997, occupancy was up to nearly 70% and banquet business was bringing in $700,000 a year.

But to keep pace with the increasingly competitive Ventura hotel industry--anchored by the Holiday Inn, the Doubletree Hotel and the Harbortown Marina Resort--Houck said more investment is imperative.

“We need to take all the charm of the Craftsman-style era of the ‘30s, and add modern-day amenities,” Houck said.

“Now is the time to bring in serious capital--we are looking at a couple of million dollars easily, and the family decided not to take the risk,” he said. “We need larger bathrooms, the noise of the freeway is an issue, the banquet rooms are dated and need to be redone. What we’ve done here is all through service. While the product is charming and historical, it isn’t exactly a four-star resort.”

The new owners said they are prepared to spend the money to create a competitive establishment.

“You’ve got to keep their tradition, but you can’t not change--you definitely have to make improvements, always,” said Spencer Garrett, general partner of the racquet club.

“I can’t say I’ve been spending the last six years or six months of my life deciding what to do with the Pierpont Inn,” he said. “There have to be further improvements made to the inn. We’re going to draw on what the [inn] employees know to help shape what the inn will be in the future.”

Whatever the results, Garrett said, it is inevitable that the inn and racquet club, which sit on adjoining properties, will feed off each other.

“The Pierpont Inn and the Pierpont Racquet Club, when operated together, will be greater than when operated separately,” he said.

“We will do whatever we can to become well known throughout Southern California,” he said. “It’s going to mean raising the bar at the racquet club and raising the bar at the inn. We have had an excellent business at the racquet club for 21 years by catering to the members. We have to keep members a top priority, and at the same time we want to integrate some of the people from the inn into our business.”

Sally Gleichmann, whose father and brother ran the inn from the 1940s to the 1970s, said the most important part of the transition will be to maintain the community image that has supported the inn for the last seven decades.

“The Pierpont Inn has been a place of tradition for a lot of county residents and L.A. residents--with weddings, anniversaries, birthdays here,” Gleichmann said. “It’s not the inn so much as it is a place for the community to come and interact with each other. I think the Garretts are going to build on that.”