Mission Inn Tour

they are not permitted to give tours to the public underground
anymore. Though that must have been a highlight, this tour really
brings history to life, with a realization of the struggles and ambitions
of those that came before us. The tour is $12 per person with those
12 and under free. Tours are given daily with two during the week
and several more on Saturday and Sunday, call for times and
reservations.

Located at 3696 Main Street in Riverside

Telephone (951) 788-9556

It's often said, "They just don't make
things like they use to.", and it's so true.
Talented craftsmen have been traded for
machines; art overshadowed by
technology. I don't know if it's the result
of laziness, impatience or
acquisitiveness, but as we were
marveling over buildings towering higher
and higher, others from only a hundred
years ago became unfamiliar artifacts
that now need to be preserved before
they become all, but extinct. It seemed
to happen so quickly, that a tour of the
Mission Inn leaves guest marveling at
the past, just as we still do at the future.
I was bewildered here at a wood carving
that hung above a door in the Hohokan
Room which took a monk his lifetime to
carve. The piano which sits at the
entrance of the lobby was frivolously
played by guests until it was discovered,
while being repaired, to be a Centennial
Steinway, a rare treasure that is over
200 years old and is now off-limits. I
thought the Presidential Lounge was just
a place to enjoy a drink and jazz music,
but in fact was once the "Presidential
Suite" where three presidents slept, one
of which honeymooned here. The
extremely wide chair that sits near the
entrance to the Presidential Lounge is
actually President Taft's chair.
Anticipating his visit to the Mission Inn in
1909, they realized they had no seating
to accommodate his 330-pound body so
they specially made this chair for him.
There are so many things I would have
missed wandering through the Mission
Inn on my own. The Mission Inn was the
first in the city of Riverside to generate
it's own electricity. Because of this
catacombs were built beneath the city
streets enabling other important
structures, such as the City Hall to have
this convenience also. Tours of the past
included the catacombs, but because of
the city's earthquake regulations