Walter Raymond (1851-1934) was a high-end travel agent from Boston who arrived in SoCal in 1883 with the intent of establishing the Raymond Hotel, a luxury resort, in South Pasadena. (Bacon Hill, upon which the hotel was constructed, was soon rechristened Raymond Hill.) The project was bankrolled by Raymond’s dad Emmons (1806-1892), a wealthy railroad man, and other investors; indeed, when the hotel finally opened in 1886 – Raymond Avenue was named around that time – both father and son shared credit, although it was really Walter’s baby. On Easter Sunday, 1895, an ember from one of the Raymond’s eighty chimneys burned the building down, but Walter had it rebuilt by 1901, even bigger and better. Years later, the Raymond was knocked out by the one-two punch of the popular Huntington Hotel (now the Langham) and the less-popular Great Depression; it was demolished in 1934 to make room for apartment buildings. Walter Raymond, weakened by a stroke, died in his cottage on the Raymond’s grounds while his majestic hotel was being torn down around him.
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