A family's quest for a piece of paradise : the Benbow Hotel as a symbol of the first modern era

The 1920s was truly the first modern decade with the advent of new technology and wealth. Humboldt County had its own version of the prosperity of the 1920s and challenges of the '30s in the building and running of the Benbow Hotel. It became a regional symbol of the decade. The decade of the 1920s is often characterized as a period of American prosperity and optimism. It was the "Roaring Twenties," the decade of bathtub gin, the Model T, the first transatlantic flight, mass media, electricity, and the $5 work day. It was a period of great advancement as the nation became urban and commercial. America became the wealthiest country in the world without a rival. Industry created wealth for many individuals through the sales of goods from coast to coast. The automobile was one of those goods that changed America forever, enabling people to do things they had never done before, like travel. With all of these changes occurring in America, the Benbow family, a group of nine brothers and sisters, decided to try and capitalize on the nation's new wealth and technology. They started by purchasing a 1288-acre sheep ranch in Humboldt County and then building a Resort Hotel. Not just any hotel for the middle class traveler, but a luxury Hotel for the rich and famous. One gets the feeling that the Benbow Hotel was a playground for the wealthy during the 1920s. The hotel also felt the hard hit of the depression and almost lost the dream and hard work that made a vision a reality. The Benbow experiment will tell a great story about the modern era. This project will provide local educators with classroom ready resources to help tell the story of the 1920s and '30s locally as well as nationally. This project will develop an appreciation and understanding of what people across America, as well as locally, experienced during the first true modern era. I will be using articles from local and national papers, diary entries from Helen and Eva Benbow, letters and personal accounts of life within the Benbow family during the '20s and '30s. I will also refer to a variety of books to account for the history and culture of this era.