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| An early view of the Brunswick/Rossmore Hotel, Santa Ana |
The Hotel Rossmore, which stood at the northwest corner of 4th and Sycamore streets in Santa Ana, opened in about 1887 as the Hotel Brunswick: a "boom era" tourist hotel financed in part by city father William "Uncle Billy" Spurgeon and operated by W. W. Ward.
Of course, the railroad boom went bust, and by the early 1900s, it was redubbed the Hotel Rossmore. It eventually became known for catering to traveling salesman.
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| The Woolworth's building, on the same location, as of Sept. 2025. |
The Rossmore was badly damaged in the so-called "Long Beach Earthquake" of March 10, 1933. In fact, two people were killed as they exited the hotel onto 4th Street and were immediately buried by falling rubble. In the quake's aftermath, the hotel was largely demolished and only partly rebuilt. The new iteration, called the New Rossmore Hotel, had 32 room -- half its original number.
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| Postcard image of the destruction at the Rossmore Hotel in 1933. Arrow over the door shows where two people were killed by falling debris. |
Having finally become unprofitable, the hotel closed on May 1, 1950 and plans were made for a new Woolworth's "five-and-dime" store to be built in its place. Woolworth's had previously been in another building on 4th Street, which had also been badly damaged in the 1933 quake.
The leases for the last tenants in the hotel building were up in 1952 and demolition began promptly thereafter, followed by the construction of Woolworth's. The new store opened in February 1953.
Woolworth's was a fixture and a staple for locals in the years before shopping malls took over the retail landscape. But the times did change, and in 1992 Woolworth's closed. In the decades since, the building has housed other businesses, including Fallas Paredes and now the El Vaquero clothing store.
