Ghost Stories Of San Diego
The Stories We Tell Downtown
A sample of the Gaslamp Quarter's residents, the ones who never checked out. Watch a few before you book, then come and stand where it happened.
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The Gaslamp Walk, In About A Minute
Downtown after dark, the Stingaree years, and the buildings we take you inside. This is the tour, not a trailer for a different one.
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The Horton Grand Hotel
The hotel takes its name from Alonzo Horton, whose New Town became the Gaslamp Quarter. It began as two separate nineteenth century hotels in different parts of downtown, the Grand Horton and the Brooklyn-Kahle Saddlery, both dismantled and rebuilt brick by brick in 1986 as one building on Fourth and Island.
Ever since that reconstruction, the Brooklyn-Kahle side is said to have kept two permanent residents, in rooms 209 and 309.
Room 209
Ida Bailey
The fiery red haired madam who ran the Canary Cottage, the finest gentlemen's parlour in the Stingaree, which stood on Island Ave where the Horton Grand stands today.
High officials, the chief of police and the mayor among them, were regulars. Not for the average woman of the night, but for girls dressed like aristocracy who spoke with eloquence and class. Ida made quite a name for herself in life, and by the telling she is still waiting on gentleman callers.
Guests in 209 report knocking at the door. It is said that if a woman answers she sees nothing, and if a man answers he may catch the madam herself in her crimson dress before she thins away in front of him. Others have simply found her friendly company.
Room 309
Roger Whitacre
A gambler, a drunk and an all round fiend of the Stingaree. Roger had run up a serious debt and tried cheating at cards in the roughest saloon in town, the Seven Buckets of Blood, which stood on Island Ave where the Horton Grand stands today.
It went about as well as you would expect. He was shot, though only in the flesh, and he ran and hid in a hotel armoire, not knowing about the trail of blood behind him. He was found and shot a second time, which was the end of one of the district's more colourful characters.
Guests in 309 report a man in cowboy regalia who thins away as they watch, along with the door locking from the inside, lights that flicker, and bed frames that move themselves in the small hours.
To Be Clear
What We Actually Do At The Horton Grand
We go inside the lobby, and the bar too if it is not busy. We do not take groups up to the guest rooms. Those are somebody's rooms for the night, and the hotel has been good to us for twenty years. If you want to stay in 209 or 309, book the room yourself and tell us how it went.
These are the stories the city tells about these rooms, gathered from guests, staff and two decades of walking this block. We tell them as stories, and we say plainly which parts are documented and which parts are rumour.
Hear The Rest
More Than 25 Stops, One Night
Wyatt Earp's old watering hole, San Diego's most infamous brothel, two real serial killers and the Dead Zone. A little over 1.5 miles, about two hours, meeting at the Gaslamp Quarter Arch, 215 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92101.
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