As a boy, Mat Fogarty found an old brass door handle. He enjoyed taking the time to clean and polish it, restoring it to prime condition. Making old things look like new again has always been a passion for him, Fogarty said.
Today, he’s engaged in a much more ambitious restoration project: The Crescent Hotel and Kingdon General Store in Crescent Mills. Fogarty aims to turn Crescent Mills into a must-stop roadside attraction for travelers on State Route 89, offering a coffee shop and convenience store stocked with local goods, a dispensary and, within the hotel, a bar, event space and restaurant.
Renovating the Crescent Hotel and store
Fogarty purchased the multibuilding property in 2016, but it’s only in the past year that he’s been able to pursue the restoration. He had help through a loan from Ivan Coffman, owner of the Belden Town Resort and Lodge.
Both the hotel and store were constructed in 1926 following a fire that devastated downtown Crescent Mills. The property “really needed its 100-year makeover,” Fogarty said.
Several fundamental principles have guided the renovations. First was the challenge of bringing the buildings up to modern standards of safety, accessibility, efficiency and building code, while preserving the historic aspects that make these buildings so special. Second, Fogarty prioritizes making use of repurposed, upcycled material wherever possible. He has already succeeded in getting the Crescent Hotel added to the California Register of Historic Places. The application with the National Register is still pending.
The work has been executed by contractors half local and half from the Bay Area. New technology and up-to-date building standards undergird the historic facade. In the lobby bar, the walls are down to the studs so new wiring and insulation can be installed. Soon, the original floorboards will be relayed atop new joists and subflooring. Still to come are the acoustic ceilings designed to keep the sounds of downstairs revelry from disturbing the hotel guests upstairs.
Fogarty paints a picture of the future: A check-in desk just inside the door, surrounded by a full bar with seating. In the back pub, games like pool, shuffleboard and darts. In the smaller adjacent front room, a small restaurant (three booths and three tables) serving breakfast and lunch, akin to Patti’s Thunder Cafe in Quincy or the much-missed Anna’s Cafe in Greenville.
In 1930, a considerable addition was added to the back of the hotel, enclosing its formerly free-standing ice house. That extension will now form the new indoor event space, with the ice house in the rear serving as a second walk-in. The large sunken room boasts a 40-foot window wall with views of the garden and Mount Hough beyond. The windows themselves are left over from a construction project at the Northstar California (previously Northstar-at-Tahoe) ski resort. Plans for the space include a second bar, a small stage and a wheelchair lift, making it accessible from lobby level.
The fenced hotel garden doubles as a second event space, with a small pavilion planned for the southeast corner perfectly positioned for photos against the mountainscape. Fogarty envisions a diagonal walkway (or aisle) leading from a Chinese moon gate in the opposite corner of the yard. Other planned outdoor features include lawn games, firepits and string lights, with the entire area irrigated by a graywater system.
Sleeping spaces and a store
The property offers a total of 15 guest rooms: 10 upstairs, each modernized to include its own en suite bath, plus three cabins. The original redwood floors will remain, but otherwise Fogarty plans entirely modern facilities with decorative touches hearkening back to the 1920s. The site also includes two small apartments, which Fogarty plans to make available to key staff, such as a chef.
Next door, at the newly renamed Crescent Store, similar updates are underway. New heat pumps and solar panels have already been installed. There’s fresh tile on the floor, and work on a tiled sandwich counter is in process. The space will offer coffee and sandwiches, plus a small convenience store favoring local goods. Fogarty hopes to host a meat case from Indian Valley Butchers, fruit and vegetables from the Dawn Institute and Rugged Roots Farm, and gifts from Heaven Sent Goat Milk Soap and Bath Products. In the second storefront, he’d like to open a dispensary, if he can obtain permission. Fogarty’s previous professional background includes technology and cannabis startups.
Between the two buildings lies a paved covered walkway. Fogarty aims to transform it into a small museum with interpretive signage and occasional artifacts chronicling Crescent Mills’ history from modern times backward. The chronology will start with rebuilding following the Dixie Fire, and cover the boom and bust of the timber industry, copper mining at the turn of the last century, early settlement in the 1850s, and the Indigenous Maidu culture.
A network of interdependent businesses
The newly renovated complex will be a place for everyone, Fogarty said: a diverse range of businesses under one brand, supported by a diverse customer base. Passersby can stop for coffee, a sandwich and a short stroll down a literal memory lane; locals can enjoy a new breakfast destination; wedding parties can come for the rustic charm and stunning views of Mount Hough. Each business will create opportunities for the others, he said.
The same is true for other specialized businesses, Fogarty said, citing the Genesee Store. The area is “beginning to have enough different things to do that people will make the drive,” he said.
Accessibility is a key part of Fogarty’s business plan. All told, the property can accommodate about 40 cars. He plans high-speed vehicle charging stations. He also plans a crosswalk, linking the Crescent complex with Crescent Country Antique and Gift Shop across the street, and a pair of bus shelters. California Department of Public Transportation Public Information Officer Kurt Villavicencio confirmed the proposal via email. The entire roadway project is on a 180-day schedule beginning this spring or summer, weather permitting, he said.
Fogarty said the store could open as soon as May or June, with the hotel to follow late in the year. He aims to remain open seven days a week. “The first year will be all about getting things set up, getting standards up, getting consistency,” he said. He hopes that, combined with eye-catching social-media marketing, the project will begin to spark interest and draw in his three key audiences.
“It’s so beautiful here,” Fogarty said, adding that he’d like to rebrand Crescent Mills as “the best views in California.”
