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Yosemite under Orion's gaze

Sunday, July 28, 2013

El Real Building, Fallbrook, CA

I saw this sign outside of Magee's Tavern yesterday evening and had to laugh.

Magee's is one a long line of restaurants that have called the El Real home.

The El Real is a spanish revival building that was built in the twenties by Lee Ellis, son of one of the original Fallbrook homesteaders, William Ellis, the man who built the now torn down Naples (later called the Ellis) Hotel.

Naples Hotel, Fallbrook
I snapped the picture of the El Real this morning on my phone. It was the site of the now defunct but much loved Packing House restaurant. The town lore says that the El Real was once famous for something else, being a bordello. There are a lot of small rooms upstairs, suitable for a brief reconnoiter.

The manager of the place tells me of a time not long ago when an old man walked in and wistfully asked to see a specific room, having been introduced to life's carnal pleasures on that very same spot, so long ago.


2 comments:

hobo_beans said...

Walking in the second floor feels strangely like the building is about to collapse and smells terrible. It all makes sense now

grumpy said...

the second floor is for sure, well, from another era; my tax guys had their offices there for a couple years, which was weird; other rooms housed a yoga studio, etc...there's a door at the end of the corridor, where you can exit down the back stairs, to the parking lot...for sure i can see this as a former house of ill repute...what a great fuckin' story, literally!