Jack Tar Hotels was an international

hotel chain A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

based in the United States.

History

The chain began with a single motel in Galveston, Texas, overlooking the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

, built in 1940 by W. L. Moody III, the chairman of Affiliated National Hotels. The “Jack Tar” name (a slang term for a sailor) was chosen as the result of a naming contest. In 1949, the facility was renovated by architect

Thomas M. Price Thomas M. Price (March 17, 1916 – November 6, 1998) is an American architect who has been called "Galveston's foremost modern architect" by historian and Rice University faculty member Stephen Fox, an Adjunct Lecturer of the School of Archit ...

, who established an office in Galveston after World War II. Price graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, studying under

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...

and

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer. At the Bauhaus he designed the Wassily Chair and the Cesca Chair, which ''The New York Times'' have called some of the most i ...

. This property was purchased in 1952 by Dallas insurance executive Charles Sammons, who acquired the rights to the Jack Tar name and launched an expansion project, opening several properties nationwide. These properties were known for their modernist curtain wall architecture with most designed by Price. In 1997, the Jack Tar properties were sold to Allegro. The sale included ownership of a resort and casino in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, and assumption of two leases for resorts in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and Cancun, Mexico. Allegro also acquired management contracts for two resorts in

Guanacaste Province Guanacaste () is a province of Costa Rica located in the northwestern region of the country, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Alajuela Province to the east, and Puntarenas Province to the southeast. I ...

, Costa Rica, and a marketing and franchise agreement for a St. Kitts resort."

San Francisco, California

A 400-room Jack Tar Hotel in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

occupied a full city block at the intersection of

Geary Boulevard Geary Boulevard (designated as Geary Street east of Van Ness Avenue) is a major east–west thoroughfare in San Francisco, California, United States, beginning downtown at Market Street near Market Street's intersection with Kearny Street, an ...

and

Van Ness Avenue Van Ness Avenue is a north–south thoroughfare in San Francisco, California. Originally named Marlette Street, the street was renamed Van Ness Avenue in honor of the city's sixth mayor, James Van Ness. The main part of Van Ness Avenue runs fro ...

. When built in 1960, it was considered one of the most luxurious hotels in the city, although it was criticized by

Herb Caen Herbert Eugene Caen (; April 3, 1916 February 1, 1997) was a San Francisco humorist and journalist whose daily column of local goings-on and insider gossip, social and political happenings, and offbeat puns and anecdotes—"A continuous love le ...

and others for its modern architecture, which they considered ugly (modernist architecture did not come to dominate downtown San Francisco until the 1970s). Part of the movie ''

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Robe ...

'' takes place there. Pentecostal evangelist A.A. Allen died at this hotel in 1970. In 1973, the jury in the trial of Ruchell Magee was sequestered at the Jack Tar Hotel. In 1982, after major renovations, it became the Cathedral Hill Hotel. A major fire occurred in December 1983, causing the hotel to rebuild again. The hotel finally closed on October 30, 2009 and was demolished in November 2013 to make way for an expansion of

California Pacific Medical Center Sutter Health California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) is a general medical/surgical and teaching hospital in San Francisco, California. It was created by a merger of some of the city's longest established hospitals and currently operates three a ...

Clearwater, Florida

There once was a Jack Tar Hotel in Clearwater, Florida.

Tommy John Thomas Edward John Jr. (born May 22, 1943), nicknamed "The Bionic Man," is an American retired professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 26 seasons between 1963 and 1989. He played for the Cleveland Indians, ...

, who stayed there in 1961, described it as "then one of the classiest hotels on Florida's west coast."

Durham, North Carolina

The former Jack Tar Motor Lodge in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

was renovated and reopened as the first property in the Dream Hotel Group's new

Unscripted Hotels ''Unscripted'' is an American comedy-drama series that aired on HBO in early 2005. The series was largely improvised by its performers. It was executive produced by Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, and Grant Heslov. ''Unscripted'' is the secon ...

brand. The renovated hotel has 74 rooms, a pool deck on the third floor, and restaurants on the ground floor. Unscripted Durham opened July 20, 2017.

Galveston, Texas

There was a 225-room Jack Tar Hotel in Galveston, Texas, as described above. It was located at the intersection of Seawall Boulevard and Broadway.

Orange, Texas

There was a Jack Tar Hotel in

Orange, Texas Orange is a city and the county seat of Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 19,324. It is the easternmost city in Texas, located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, and is from Hous ...

on the corner of N 5th Street and W Division Ave in downtown. The popular hotel, built in the 1950s, featured a barbershop, ballroom, stores and a restaurant famous for its prime rib. Behind the building was a garden terrace area with shaded tables and a swimming pool. The Orange location was also base of operations for water events such as the Aqua Demons and Debs ski shows in the 1950s. The hotel eventually became home to a number of retirement centers, the last of which closed in 2006. The building was demolished in 2011.

Lansing, Michigan

Originally opened in 1926 as the Hotel Olds, built and operated by the Lansing Community Hotel Corporation which included R.E. Olds, the Jack Tar hotel chain purchased the property at 111 South Capitol Avenue in 1960 and renamed it "Jack Tar Lansing." In 1970, the hotel was renamed the Olds Plaza following a sale to an Alma, Michigan oil businessman and subsequent renovation. In 1974, however, a different Alma-based layer and entrepreneur purchased the property and renamed it again to The Plaza Hotel. Some of the hotel was converted to offices and meeting space was reduced. It became part of the TravelLodge chain in 1983 when the number of hotel rooms was at 100, down from 400 at its peak. The now-debt-ridden hotel was foreclosed on in 1985, long-term residents were evicted and the hotel closed. The building was sold to the State of Michigan in 1988, completely gutted and renovated by Hobbs & Black Associates into state offices as the George W. Romney Building and now houses the Office of the Governor and other state offices.

Greenville, South Carolina

There was a Jack Tar Hotel in Greenville, South Carolina. It was originally called "Poinsett Hotel" and was changed to "Jack Tar Poinsett" when it became part of the chain.

References

{{Hotel chains Defunct hotel chains Defunct companies based in Texas