Los Angeles daily herald., 1873-11-19
OUR BUSINESS HOUSES.
The Clarendon Hotel.

The old Bella Union is no more, and
in it's place is bright new house to be
known in future as the Clarendon
Hotel. Additions, alterations and inn
provements are the order of the day,
and as one walks through the bright
and softly carpeted halls and offices,
it is hard to replace even in the minds
eye the old land marks of the former
establishment. A new office has been
added to the hotel. 1t was formerly
the cigar and fancy store of Mr.. Shep-
pard and the headquarters of the
Western Union Telegraph Company.
No one could recognize it now. 1t has
been entirely refitted and painted, and
serves the purpose of an elegant loung-
ing room as well as the business office
of the hotel. A dozen antique Eliza
bethian chairs, from the California
Theater i'm San Francisco, have been
purchased to adorn it; lounges and
easy chairs, reading tables and chess
tables, constitute the balance of the
furniture. An elegant advertising
mirror and bureau of information, set
in gold and black walnut, fills up the
background. The Office desks, safes,
etc., are new and of the latest style,
while tapestry Brussels carpet of a
flower pattern in crimson and gold
covers the floor. The gas fittings are
new and in entire accordance with the
rest of the furniture. From the office
we proceed to the dining room, where
great alterations are going on. A
staircase is in course of construction
to lead from the story above as sepa-
rate entrance for ladies. The spacious
room has been repainted and the walls
and ceiling tinted warm French gray.
The gas fixtures have been replaced,
and additional lights added. Elegant
pictures are hung on the walls, and
more will shortly be added. There are
ten tables for guests, exclusive of those
for the use of families, and hundred
guests can dine at the same time with
out inconvenience. From the dining
room to the kitchen is but short dis
tance, and We enter the realms of Mon
sieur Charles Rosseau, now the chief
cook at the Clarendon, and formerly
chef at the Union Club in San Fran
cisco. Mr.. Jones is head of the pastry
department, also especially engaged
for the hotel. Both these gentlemen
enjoy high reputation in their sew
eral lines. The range has been re-
modelled and reconstructed, and pipes
pass from the steam-chest entirely
through the dining-room, keeping it
at an even and pleasant temperature.
The great hotel bane of semi-cold
dinners is avoided by an apparatus
heated by steam, in which everything
is placed after being cooked. A carver
stands in the center, ready to attend to
the orders.
There is also an apparatus for coffee,
tea, chocolate, hot water and hot milk.
This is placed in the dining room, but
connects with pipes with the steam
chest. All vegetables are also cooked
by steam, and our reporter was captus
rid0re culinOe. In the same depart
ment is an apparatus for washing dish
es. The hot water here as throughout
is produced from steam. The furnaces
are underneath in the cellars, and
pipes run in all directions to bath
rooms, and every place where hot
water is necessary or can be utilized.
At the back of the hotel is building
Immediately connected with the main
building, containing sixteen rooms.
This the proprietors have leased and
rejuvinated, and thus added greatly to
the extent of their accommodations.
The premises of the Clarendon, there
fore, run all the way now from Main
street to Los Angeles street. From
the culinary department we go to the
laundry and drying rooms. Here hot
steam pipes again come into play, so
that linen can be washed and dried in
ihe wettest weather, in twenty min
utes. On the right hand side of the
courtyard behind the house, are six
solid stone cellars. They are adapted
and used for the storage Of vegetables,
meat, wine, etc.
The bar room is exquisitely fitted
up and has been repainted and reno
waited. 1t is carpeted with rich GRIM
son, green and blue Brussels tapestry,
and differs only from the adjoining
reading room from the fact that the
latter is carpeted with white, green
and crimson. Elegant pictures and
sporting scenes adorn the walls of both
bar and reading room, and in the lat
ter are four card tables. An air of
luxury pervades the whole. A bronze
chandelier with eight crystal globes in
two tiers is suspended from the cell
ing, and the fillagre work is edged
with gold. Three mirrors light up one
side of the bar and reflect the bright
rays of silver and glassware hung on
the racks. Every day at IL A. NJ.
recherche hot lunch is served up, fol-
lowed by a cold collation. at l p. NJ.
and second hot lunch in the evening
at 8. The billiard room, like that in
the Grand Hotel at San Francisco, is
under the bar room, and contains