Walter Raymond

Walter Raymond (1848–1934) was a prominent entrepreneur and hotelier who became a central figure in the development of Pasadena, South Pasadena and the Los Angeles region.

Originally a travel agent from Boston (owner of Raymond & Whitcomb), offering extended tours by steamship and train to China, Japan, Mexico and the American West, he is most noted for building the Hotel Raymond, the first major resort hotel in the San Gabriel Valley. In fact, he built it twice. (When the popular resort hotel burned to the ground in 1895, he upgraded and constructed it as the Mediterranean Revival masterpiece, reopening in 1901. Sadly, that one was also lost — later torn down in 1935, a victim of the Great Depression.

Today it reemerges a third time as the inspiration for the design of The Raymond Luxury Senior Living Community. The original hotel’s registry was filled with names of moguls from the East: Pullman, Schwab, Harriman, Swift, Armour, Rockefeller, Morgan, Carnegie, and others whose fame has now faded. In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt visited Pasadena and the Raymond on his Panama Canal campaign. However, the crowd was not near the size of the one who came to see Charlie Chaplin as he appeared for lunch with opera singer Nellie Melba. The dining room was the largest room in the house able to seat 400 people. Pasadena City, which boasted of being a “dry” town, had an ordinance disallowing the sales of alcohol — except to the hotel guests.

In 2026 people in South Pasadena can still dine at a restaurant in what was once the Caretaker’s Cottage for his opulent resort hotel, complete with stables and a golf course. Now, across Fair Oaks Ave. and just a stone's through southward, within sight of Raymond Hill, everyone can experience the grandeur of his famous resort once again in the creation of The Raymond Luxury Senior Living Community.