Historic Boulder Dam Hotel reopens

Helen Bagstad and Lyn Lutz were greeted with mixed news at the Boulder Dam Hotel on Wednesday afternoon.

They were excited to see the hotel's restaurant bustling in its first day open since financial woes forced the hotel to close July 11.

But the restaurant was so busy that they had to wait for a table.

Not that they minded the delay. Like many Southern Nevadans, Bagstad and Lutz were excited to see the restaurant up and running again.

"It's just a lovely place. It's wonderful to come here," said Lutz, who appreciates the small-town feel of the hotel. "It's a whole different atmosphere from Las Vegas."

Innkeepers Roger and Roseanne Shoaff were able to reopen the restaurant after an anonymous donor gave $260,000 to help revive the hotel, which features a lounge, history museum and art gallery.

They had to close the 76-year-old hotel July 11 after falling three months behind on mortgage payments.

But the $260,000 donation has allowed operations to resume. The Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum, which documents the Boulder Canyon Project to build Hoover Dam, reopened Tuesday. Diners returned to the restaurant Wednesday.

The Dutch Colonial-style boutique hotel, which has hosted dignitaries such as Bette Davis, Shirley Temple and Howard Hughes, will reopen its rooms Friday night.

In the current recession, the Shoaffs said, the donation should last about a year and a half.

"It can last longer if the industry gets better," Roger Shoaff said.

He said the hotel board hopes to use some of the money to create and fund a foundation, find other donors and secure sponsorships to support the hotel. "We want to use this money as sort of a catalyst for our fundraising efforts in the future," he said.

He said the board would work out details at a meeting Wednesday night.

The donation will help the hotel cope with the costs of closing and reopening its doors. Roger Shoaff said the hotel has lost tens of thousands of dollars because of the closure, which will have lasted 13 nights. The hotel faces additional revenue loss because it canceled July's remaining reservations when it closed.

"Now we're starting to re-book, but we'll never get booked up," he said.

Also, the 20-room hotel stopped taking online reservations for 11 days after the shutdown, Roger Shoaff said, costing it 10 to 12 new bookings per day. The hotel is accepting online reservations again, and rooms are available for Friday night.

The Boulder Dam Hotel opened in 1933, two years before the completion of the Hoover Dam -- then known at Boulder Dam -- which is about eight miles away on U.S. Highway 93.

The hotel was built to accommodate government officials checking in on dam construction, a tour guide at the hotel said.

More than 75 years later, Boulder City residents and tourists alike are thrilled to have the hotel back in business.

"I love it here," said Connie Ferraro, a Boulder City resident of 15 years. "It's the hub of Boulder City."

Ferraro was sharing lunch with Margie Clothier, a 33-year resident of the city, who said she was delighted to see the hotel open again.

"It's kind of like the heartbeat of the community," Clothier said. "Anybody that has been in Boulder City for a while must have done something here."

Ferraro has painted two murals displayed in the hotel's art gallery.

Her husband, Bob, served six terms as the city's mayor and was the first president of the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association, the nonprofit group that now owns the hotel. In his 20 years as association president, he led the charge to establish the hotel's museum.

Kay Storey, who ate lunch at the restaurant Wednesday, said the hotel appeals to tourists as well as locals.

"I can't imagine anyone coming to Boulder City without coming here," Storey said.

Which is part of why locals were upset when the landmark institution shut down.

Clothier and Ferraro said they were devastated when they heard the hotel had to close its doors.

"I really cried. It was so sad," Ferraro said.

Hotel employee Sandi Turner, though, said she never got too upset about the closure. In fact, she told guests she was confident the hotel would be open again soon.

"I just said, 'You know what, before I get my first unemployment check, the place is gonna reopen.' I just knew it," Turner said. "It's too important a place to the city and to just everybody."

Sure enough, Turner was right. Within just two weeks, the Boulder Dam Hotel is back again.

Contact reporter Dan Everson at 702-383-0245.