Ramona Valley Inn acquiring a $500,000 facelift to renovate it into a boutique resort

Ramona’s only resort on Major Avenue, the Ramona Valley Inn, is in the midst of a 50 percent-million-dollar renovation to transform the assets into a boutique-type inn that the new house owners hope will bring in people and leisure travelers.

Karan Mody, a director of San Diego-centered Lotus Signature Lodges, mentioned his mothers and fathers and proprietors Heena Mody and Nitin Mody, purchased the lodge in October 2019 with designs to entirely reposition and renovate the two-building elaborate. Even so, the coronavirus pandemic set people objectives on keep and the renovation began in January 2021.

“The Ramona Valley Inn will be 100 percent renovated, turning it from a roadside motel into a boutique inn,” reported Mody, the director of operations of the lodge. “We look forward to being aspect of the Ramona group in a superior way.”

The exterior of the lodge at 416 Most important St. has been revamped with refreshing paint, new signage, a repaved parking lot and new drought-resistance landscaping. Electric powered motor vehicle charging stations are are planned for set up by May possibly, he mentioned.

The interiors of the 39 visitor rooms are being upgraded with decor and amenities in a state farmhouse style, Mody mentioned. Updates incorporate new hardwood flooring in the course of, new bedding, customized-made home furnishings and new 55-inch TVs.

Stage 1 of the first creating is expected to be completed by May 31 and the 2nd section is planned for September through November. The believed charge of the undertaking is $500,000, he said.

The “Kenilworth Inn Vignette” mural is yet another addition to the exterior advancements. The three-panel artwork illustrates the former Kenilworth Inn that opened in Ramona in 1887 and catered to friends right up until it was wrecked in a hearth in 1943, explained Elaine Lyttleton, president of the Ramona H.E.A.R.T. Mural Project, which commissioned the challenge.

The two-tale inn was just one of the oldest and most widely acknowledged hostelries of Southern California, in accordance to revealed experiences.

A rededication ceremony for the “Kenilworth Inn Vignette” mural, put in on Feb. 12, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 27 at the Ramona Valley Inn.

The vignette was painted in 2012 by Linda Luisi of Carlsbad for the site the place the Kenilworth Inn was at first found. The constructing at 773 Major St. now homes the Ramona Foodstuff & Apparel Closet. And which is where by the mural was exhibited for nine many years — right up until it was moved to the hotel house.

The Ramona H.E.A.R.T. Mural undertaking experienced always envisioned changing the small Kenilworth Inn mural with a more substantial a single, they just didn’t have the resources for it in 2012, Lyttleton mentioned. All of their murals, apart from the Ramona Songs Centre mural, are painted on aluminum panels so they can be taken out and relocated if important, she extra.

Luisi, a muralist and fine art teacher, analyzed Aged Grasp painting methods at the College of The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She has a bachelor’s of great arts from Tufts University, and her do the job is recognised for its depth and dimension.

Her young children, Ian Foster and Alexi Foster, had been styles for the two classic figures shown in the mural. Ian, who was 22 several years outdated at the time, is depicted selling the original Kenilworth Inn Supervisor Ida M. Kearney’s well known 1-dollar chicken dinners, and Alexi, who was 21, is demonstrated sitting down on a ledge.

The artist said she was aiming for a present-day, believed-provoking piece that requires the viewer with the making and era itself. She visualized the two characters as time travelers from the earlier stepping into today’s Ramona and drawing viewers back into their entire world.

“I’m so delighted the mural fits in the new area and the truth that it is on the inn is proper,” reported Luisi, whose artwork can be observed on the internet at https://lindaluisi.com.

“I hope the new house owners of Ramona Valley Inn never get customers requesting $1 rooster dinners,” she extra with a laugh.

When cash grew to become readily available to have artist Beata Wojcik paint what is dubbed the “Grand Kenilworth Inn” on the Ramona Foods & Clothing Closet wall, Luisi’s “Kenilworth Inn Vignette” was set aside to await a long term dwelling. The “Grand Kenilworth Inn” was devoted on July 18, 2020.

After a search, the H.E.A.R.T. Mural Undertaking found a new residence for the vignette at the Ramona Valley Inn.

Mody stated when his spouse and children took above the home they noticed attractive murals on buildings during Ramona and descriptive plaques beside them.

“This is when I approached the Ramona H.E.A.R.T. Mural Venture and Elaine Lyttleton designed an present to identify the ‘Kenilworth Inn Vignette’ mural on my home,” Mody mentioned. “I saw the possibility to place my hotel on the map with the Ramona group. I was looking for an opportunity to mix into the group and the mural is a superb gateway. With this mural we can mix in with a piece of history about the Kenilworth Inn that used to be there yrs in the past.”

The March 27 rededication ceremony is open up to the public. Light-weight refreshments will be served and there will be dwell songs by Frank Lucio and H.E.A.R.T. Mural board member Rob Lewallen. Luisi will be on hand to signal memento photographs of the mural.

For a lot more information or to donate to the mural assignments, take a look at the web page http://ramonamurals.com.