Twin Inns, Carlsbad

This elegant old Victorian mansion (over 100 years old) stands on the right side of the main highway San Diego ---> Los Angeles (S-21). It houses Neiman's Restaurant now and look really very, very beautiful. No wonder - the building was renovated by its new owners a few years ago.

Address:
300 Carlsbad Village Dr
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Email: neimans@pacbell.net

In 1918 Baron Long closed his famous Ship Café on the canal in Venice, California. His specialty chef, Eddie Kentner, drove south seeking a likely place to relocate. Attracted to the Twin Inns, he acquired the business on November 5, 1919.

Travel between Los Angeles and San Diego by automobile was arduous in the 1920s. The Twin Inns soon became a favorite stopping place for travelers, enhanced, perhaps, by Mr. Kentner's willingness to prepare meals at all hours of the night for "victims" of the automobile technology of the '20s. Prohibition drove many fun-seekers south, attracted to Baron Long's newest venture, which he built south of the border, the Caliente Race Track and Gambling Spa in Tijuana.
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About the turn of the century the land boom was over. The original Carlsbad Hotel, a giant five-story wooden structure with a rooftop gazebo located further inland, had burned to the ground. Within a few years the Carlsbad Land and Water Company was reorganized. The homes of its two principal officers had been leased for commercial purposes, and were now renting rooms and serving meals under the name of the Twin Inns. They were owned and operated by Mesdames Whiting and Reedy, who established many traditions such as the Blue Willow China, buffet and Sunday brunch family-style service, and the name "Twin Inns."

The Carlsbad area was still being promoted, but now by the South Coast Land Company as the Avocado Capitol of the World!
I tasted REED AVOCADO in San Diego. They are the biggest and best tasting of any avocado I’ve ever had :-).
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Promotion of Carlsbad was begun by the California Southern Railway (Santa Fe), and by the Carlsbad Land and Water Company. A large hotel was erected near the well, and railway waiting rooms across the country featured posters of the new Carlsbad Spa and its miraculous waters.

The president of the land company, Gerhard Schutte, erected a large home nearby (the place on my pisture), and his business partner, D. D. Wadsworth, built a mirror image of the president's house on the same block 200 feet to the north. The two homes, visible for miles across the coastal plain, became landmarks in the Carlsbad area.
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The increased traffic made it necessary to enlarge the Twin Inns. The Rotunda Salon was added in 1922. In 1936 the lobby and front rooms were remodeled to provide more space. By 1950 the combination of increased business and local street widening projects had made parking a major problem. The old Wadsworth House was razed to provide parking in what is now the north lot. In February 1961, Art and D.D. Morgan, son-in-law Eddie Kentner, Sr., took over the management of the family restaurant. They were succeeded in November 1969, by Bonnie and Eddie Kentner, Jr. In April 1984 the Kentner family sold the historic Twin Inns building and all its land. The new owners changed the name from the Twin Inns to Neimans upon completion of an extensive restoration in 1985.

The new and present owner acquired Neimans in August of 1996. Another extensive renovation was completed in November when a stage was erected and entertainment was offered. The elegant old Victorian mansion is now ready to offer a second hundred years of fine dining and service to San Diego's North County.