Rather than fix Ahwahnee Hotel, Park Service should let Yosemite return to nature

The National Park Service plans to spend $32 million to make structural repairs and upgrades to the luxury Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park.

But, why spend that kind of money to upgrade accommodations for the rich and famous when the typical park visitors can’t afford the $500-a-night room? Or even to obtain a campsite when the veteran campers know how to “game” the campground reservation system?

I know the historic hotel is a status symbol and money maker and won’t be removed, as some critics suggest.

What do the Vitner’s Holiday, Musicans Holiday, Bracebridge Dinner and a half dozen other revenue-generating promotions have to do with interpreting the natural scene?

The historic hotel plans to close from Jan. 2 to March 2 for a round of repairs.

Joe Boland of Mariposa, long associated with Friends of Yosemite, said the hotel needs to be removed.

“The Ahwahnee should be dismantled, the pieces numbered, and the whole monster could then be re-erected at Lake Havasu next to the re-located London Bridge.”

The Park Service says the 95-year old building has numerous structural problems that need to be addressed. But it appears that the Park Service is loading its concerns with upgrades, windows, kitchen and fire-safe improvements.

The Ahwahnee, which opened in 1927, was built in the mid-1920s, utilizing unconventional construction techniques. For instance, exterior beams that appeared to be wooden are actually simulated colored concrete.

While the proposed work is expected to take only two months, some Yosemite veterans think the 121 room hotel and accompanying 24 “guest cottages” should be removed because they are out of place in today’s Yosemite. The collective footprint is too large.

Yosemite has more pressing problems. The Tuolumne Meadows campground is closed for two years. Residents of the El Portal residential area need to have their cases heard.

The NPS no longer needs to attract visitors as it did a century ago, when Park Service Director Stephen Mather sought to build support for the young agency. In the early 1900s there were valid reasons to build luxury hotels to attract year-round visitation to the parks.

Admittedly, several of the old line parks still have classic hotels, including Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Glacier national parks.

Newer units, such as Rocky Mountain National Park. have relocated overnight lodging outside the park.

The intent of the 1980 Yosemite General Management Plan sought to “de-urbanize” the valley, and have new overnight lodging diverted to private business at the gateway sites.

At last count, Yosemite Valley had over 1,200 buildings — a far cry from a natural national park..

The management plan was never implemented in Yosemite Valley. A succession of inept superintendents claimed there was no consensus or money. What was truly lacking was their will to implement the visionary plan in stages.

The final blow came after President Reagan and his cabal of Hollywood pals conspired with the-then concessionaire, MCA, to scuttle the plan by firing Superintendent Robert Binnewies, the driving force behind the GMP.

Through the years the hotel has generated El Cap-sized “love-hate” emotions.

During World War II, against a background of gas rationing and reduced use, the hotel was converted into a naval hospital. The government thought the salubrious setting would aid in the sailor’s recovery; but what they wanted was wine, women and song.

In 1983, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip occupied of the hotel’s Tresidder penthouse apartment, prompting a name change as the “Queen’s Suite.”

The royal visit prompted then Bee reporter Jim Steinberg to write that “Elizabeth is the first English monarch to visit but kings, queens and presidents are nothing new to the park. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Kennedy as well as kings, queens, prime ministers, presidents and emperors from Belgium, Ethopia, Pakistan, Iran and South Korea have made stops.”

The passions and memories over the hotel run deep.

Some critics, past and present, believe luxury hotels are out of place in the natural environment of the national parks.

The 1917 mission charter of the Park Service was to preserve the parks “unimpaired” while allowing reasonable public use.

Former Fresnan Gene Rose of Oakland is a retired Bee reporter who covered the region’s national parks for decades. Connect with him at ugene.rose@gmail.com.