Larry H. Imig

Larry H. Imig was born in 1913 in Nebraska. In 1935 he got married to Verda Love in Yuma, Arizona. By 1937 he appeared in the San Diego Directory as a salesman at Campbell Chevrolet Company. In 1939 he is listed as a carpenter in the San Diego phonebook. In the 1940 Census he is listed as a building contractor. By 1942, Imig was president of Larry H. Imig Inc. located at 4320 30thStreet. Going from a carpenter to a building contractor was a common route for many of our TPEHD homebuilders.

Imig built 5 houses within TPEHD. They were built between 1939 and 1941. By the mid-1940s, Imig had moved on to much bigger projects.

In 1943, Imig built Imig Park at 47th Street and Federal Boulevard. The homes had 2 car garages and were specifically built for War Workers. They were promoted as only 3.5 miles from downtown.

In 1946, Imig built the Imig Manor at 2223 El Cajon Blvd., in North Park. The Master Architect was Frank L. Hope, Jr. Today the property is called the Lafayette Hotel and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

There is a Facebook page dedicated to Larry H. Imig and The Imig Manor. It has many wonderful vintage pictures from the hotel’s early days.

On June 3, 2019, Sarah Pfledderer wrote an article in San Diego Magazine about the history of the Lafayette Hotel. The article, “Inside the Icon: The Lafayette Hotel” talks about how a car dealer became the contractor of a major hotel named after himself.

The Imig Manor was where celebrities would congregate in San Diego in the 1940s and 1950s. According to the article, Bob Hope was the first guest to stay at the hotel. Other notable guests were Bing Crosby, Ava Gardner, and Katherine Hepburn. It is even rumored that Marilyn Monroe had a tryst with President Kennedy at the Imig Manor…off the books, of course.

According to the Historical Resources Board Report of 2012, the front of the Lafayette is done in the Colonial Revival Style. It was strategically situated on Highway 80 (El Cajon Blvd.) Highway 80 was the main east-west automobile corridor, until Interstate 8 was built in 1965. The report also states that the Manor was the “first Post WWII Suburban Resort Hotel Established in San Diego…”