“We are finding so much history as we go through the place.” Jesse Klein reveals as we spoke with him, and owner/partner, Pam Lake, about the upcoming opening of the Hotel Columbia and the Hotel Locust. His glowing recollections about being part of this history as he grew up here in the 50s and 60s shows through; Lake and Klein love the life they are breathing into these grand old treasures in downtown Columbia.

Klein, Lake and their team are scurrying about with determination as they prepare for “soft” opening date of April 9, 2011.

They are excited about the menu of “great food” and reasonable prices. Klein chortled, “We want to be able to do what it says on this old Hotel Locust menu (it’s reproduced on the back of the new menu): ‘We wish to thank our thousands of satisfied patrons. Your constant patronage and unsolicited favorable comments have enabled us to build a good reputation for serving fine food.’”

While our prices will not be as low as the prices on the original menu, he continued, “Our guests will be thrilled with the quality and serving size of the food; the very competitive prices and the variety of the menu.”

A more elaborate grand opening is slated for sometime later in the spring or early summer.

But they paused from their hectic schedule for a few minutes to show us some of the treasures that patrons will find everywhere in the renovated hotels. We want to share some of the history with you now.

Pictures of Marilyn …

 

… and Shirley Temple

… and this guy!