Hotel Marysville knocked down while the city bids ‘good riddance’ to troubled landmark

Yuba County residents would have once lamented the sight of Hotel Marysville, their downtown centerpiece, falling from its skyline.

But for many of the onlookers and commuters in eyesight of the demolition scene Wednesday morning, that was not the case.

“When you go a few decades where it’s a major stain on the city, it’s hard to resurrect those feelings,” said Marysville Mayor Chris Branscum. “Good riddance.”

Demolition of the historic landmark, the culmination of a months-long battle between city officials and the hotel’s former owners, officially began not long after 8 a.m. Wednesday as the high-reach excavator tugged at a free-standing brick wall on the top floor, knocking debris to the ground.

The tear-down process, led by J&M Environmental Inc., has been estimated to take about a month, meaning that the hotel itself won’t fall all at once, but slowly over the next several weeks.

With demolition underway, city officials hope to clear the building and reopen Highway 70 by sometime in January.

June fire

After a June 15 fire destroyed the building and left a hollowed-out and possibly asbestos-ridden shell in its place, traffic lanes were closed surrounding the property, blocking northbound lanes of Highway 70 alongside the hotel and a block of Fifth Street in front of the building.

The road closure has caused slowdowns for drivers ever since, leading to inconvenient detours through the city and backed up lines of traffic on Highway 70 at busy times of the day.

Before demolition began Wednesday, a man driving a truck north on D Street voiced the frustrations many commuters have felt for the past six months.

“Are they finally tearing this down?” he shouted. “Thank God.”

Another man also passing by on D Street, sometime after demolition began, looked to the crumbling hotel, said nothing and loudly clapped his hands out the window of the sedan he drove, despite the cold morning temperatures — and operating a vehicle.

Remembering Hotel Marysville

People came and went from the demolition site throughout the morning, but the groups forming along D Street were relatively small.

Among the first to the area was John “Singing John” Dowden.

Dowden, 80, has washed windows — inside and out — in downtown Marysville for about 60 years, including the windows of several businesses that had lined the hotel’s ground floor decades ago.

“I used to wash the whole bottom floor back in the ‘60s, ‘70s, until they all closed down,” he said.

Dowden still washes windows downtown about once a week and had his window-washing cart with him Wednesday. He’s seen many businesses and buildings come and go through his decades working in Marysville.

“A lot changes here,” he said.

The hotel, first opened in 1926, had its heyday long ago, a time of card rooms, country singers and occasional celebrity sightings. Over time, those trappings were replaced with boarded up windows and faded brick walls.

The hotel has been closed since the late ‘80s, with efforts to revitalize it wavering in the decades between its closure and its insurmountable fire damage in June.

“It had its days,” Dowden said. “It had its days.”

Not everyone was without sadness watching a demolition crew prepare to take down the old hotel.

“I feel some tears in the background, you know, down deep,” Joan Ybarra said. “But it’s progress and it has to go.”

She and her husband Modesto Ybarra drove from nearby Olivehurst. Modesto, who has lived in the area for about 45 years, has been taking photos of the hotel since the fire.

“Sorry to see it going but you can’t do anything with it but just let it go,” he said. “The Marysville big baby is going away. It’s our big baby but it won’t be much after a while.”

This story was originally published December 11, 2024 at 12:36 PM.