There are so many bars in this northern California town that brag about rooftop bars or visiting the top floor lounge, that this hotel, which does also have a top floor bar is lost in the shuffle. It is not that it is not spectacular, because it is, but when someone who belongs to a certain group of people mention the top floor, it is not the current top floor, but the previous top floor.
It is confusing for a reason. Way back in the day, this mansion was home to normal society events and then also hosted debauched events which often consisted of hundreds of women brought over from Asia on ships. Prior to being handed out to manual laborers from the same country, they were first offered to male members of the elite. Often, they would keep one or two for their own or perhaps they would just sample the wares and then pass them along to the laborers.
When they did decide to keep them, they paid room and board at the mansion for their mistresses. The women were kept one level below the main level of the house. When they were summoned by their owner, they would use one of the bedrooms on the upper levels of the house.
Everything was great until a little over 100 years ago, the mansion burned to the ground and with the exception of the women that were spending time with owners in an upper floor, every other woman perished. The whole building was destroyed. When a hotel was built in the same place, they used the floor where all the women died as the base. It was the top floor of what had been left of the mansion. So, the basement of the hotel, is actually the "top floor" club. It is this club that decides who gets invited to the woods in the summer. At this club, there are many rooms which people can use for meeting their lovers. No wives allowed. Each of the rooms is named after one of the dead mistresses from the turn of the century.
Stanford Court Hotel/The Bohemian Club
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