Hotel Niles - Alturas, CA
N 41° 28.954 W 120° 32.535
10T E 705193 N 4595244
Hotel Niles is located on the corner of E Modoc and S Main Streets in downtown Alturas, CA.
Waymark Code: WMJNKX
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 12/09/2013
Views: 1
Hotel Niles is a recently renovated hotel that captures the essence of an old time western hotel in the country. Visitors to the interior are welcomes to old pictures and paintings of well-to-do locals from over 100 years ago that line the hallways and staircase leading to the second floor. On the first floor sits the original wooden bar that accompanies a small ballroom. In addition, there is a saloon, a dining room that serves lunch and dinner and a coffee shop open during the day only. This hotel has had many owners over the years and this building even remained closed for a number of years recently before being acquired and renovated by the current owners.
At night, the bright red neon sign that spells 'Hotel Niles' on the roof of the building is like a beacon in downtown Alturas, heralding passersby to stop and appreciate what this place has to offer. In addition to the large neon sign on the roof, there are two other neon signs above the entryways to both the saloon and the dining room. The saloon sign reads 'THE HOME OF ROUNDUP' and the dining room sign reads 'NILES HIGH GRADE ROOM'.
I heard from a few locals that the dining room offers a good dining fare and that the owner who purchased this historic building put a lot of money and effort into refurnishing many of the rooms. This included getting women volunteers to decorate each room with a different theme so that no two rooms were the same.
The following history of Hotel Niles comes from their website and reads:
n 1908, Jay sold his extensive holdings in the Adin area and moved his family to the growing city of Alturas. The community of Alturas was fortunate to be the recipient of this man’s attention. In partnership with Reuel Laird, Jay’s first enterprise was the construction of the original Niles Hotel, a two story stone edifice on Main Street. The ground floor was occupied by a variety of businesses, and the second floor served as a hotel. This structure, which is known today as the Laird Building, housed the Bank of America for many years. While Jay was building his hotel, a new three story structure named the Curtis Hotel was under construction down the street. In 1912 Jay purchased the Curtis Hotel, completed the interior of the upper two floors and renamed it the Niles Hotel. He operated this landmark until 1929 when, at the age of 76, he sold the hotel and retired . . . temporarily.
1904 – Construction of the hotel began and was well underway when J.E. Niles purchased the hotel before it was completed. He finished the project and named the hotel after himself.
1938 – J.MN. McCleese was the owner of the Niles Hotel.
