The Ryde Hotel

The first Ryde Hotel and Saloon was built in 1886 by the four Giusti brothers from Lucca, Italy. In 1911, a kitchen fire destroyed the hotel and most of town. The hotel was rebuilt with a speakeasy, which was raided twice in 1923, and authorities posted a misspelled closure sign for its illegal operation during "prohobition." In 1927, owner Mrs. Severina Gianette reconstructed the hotel in an art deco style. It offered 50 rooms, a barber shop, beauty salon, and a dock for guests traveling the scenic Sacramento River. The basement housed the speakeasy with illicit liquor, gambling, dancing girls, and cabaret jazz, and a 150 foot secret tunnel was dug to move bootleg liquor from outbuildings that included a distillery and a bordello. According to many, it was the perfect hideout for the "Hollywood types." The original peephole for the speakeasy door can still be seen in the lobby today.

California · United States