Last tour planned of Downtown Hotel in Port Angeles

PORT ANGELES — Soroptimist International of Port Angeles-Jet Set will host a final look at the inside of the Downtown Hotel from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday.

The Downtown Hotel, at 101½ E. Front St., will close Monday in preparation for demolition later this fall.

Admission to the tour will be by donation. Proceeds will support the Soroptimist Scholarship Fund.

The D.W. Morse Building, which houses the Downtown Hotel, was built in 1913, according to historian John McNutt.

It also housed the Cornerhouse Restaurant, which closed Aug. 23 in anticipation of demolition.

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe plans a $24 million, four-story, 100-room hotel in the block.

The tribe purchased a 0.65-acre parcel from the City of Port Angeles and also bought the buildings housing Necessities & Temptations gift shop at Laurel Street and Railroad Avenue, the Cornerhouse Restaurant and the Downtown Hotel.

Businesses displaced by the tribe’s plans also include Cock-A-Doodle Doughnuts, which closed, as well as Budget car rental and Harbor Art Gallery, both of which moved.

Soroptimist Jean Hordyk said that the top two floors originally housed offices, followed by the Hotel Pershing and then the Pershing Rooming House before the Downtown Hotel opened in 2003.

“For the curious who ever wondered what it looked like inside, here’s your chance to see a bit of Downtown Port Angeles history,” Hordyk said.

Tim Chamberlain, manager of the Downtown Hotel for 15 years, said Thursday that Sunday is the last day for overnight guests and that he will shut down the hotel for good Monday after they leave.

Chamberlain, 58 and a lifelong area resident, said he expects to stay in the area.

He said he received compensation from the owners of the building when they sold it to the tribe that will help tide him over until he finds another job.

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