Artist Guild Hotels restores motor court motel in Dana Point

A bedraggled World War II-era motel overlooking Doheny State Beach in Dana Point is getting an end-to-end makeover.

The 30-room Capistrano Seaside Inn, once listed among the nation’s 10 worst motels on Yelp, is being restored after new owners bought the property at 34862 Pacific Coast Highway, the Orange County Register reported. It could reopen as early as spring.

Owners Jeff Finn and Danny Hyde, who operate as Artist Guild Hotels, bought the Capistrano Beach property in a 2021 foreclosure sale for an undisclosed sum.

They say they intend to restore the motel, built in 1940 on 1.5 acres across the sand from Doheny Beach, to its historic roots.

Finn said its design is inspired by old Doheny homes and will look like an “eclectic Spanish Hacienda” when completed.

The 80-year-old motel was once considered a sterling example of the California motor court, and a popular retreat for Hollywood celebrities. Under state law, it’s considered a historical resource.

Built as part of the Doheny development and originally called the Swallows Motel, the Capistrano Seaside Inn was also home to a popular restaurant.
But in its later years, it came to be known to locals as Capo’s Bates Motel and the Flea Side Inn.

In 2017, after repeated attempts to have the inn cleaned up, the city red-tagged the blue-and-white property, citing dozens of code and safety violations, including illegal wiring and a lack of working fire alarms.

Six months later, fearing the historic inn would be torn down for a larger development, city officials convinced a judge to put the property into receivership and a plan was made to renovate the property – while maintaining its historical character – so that it could again offer affordable rooms for people visiting the beach and Dana Point.

After four years of court delays, Artist Guild Hotels bought the property after a foreclosure, said Dana Point City Attorney Patrick Muñoz. Finn and Hyde, based in San Clemente, agreed to fix the motel’s myriad of issues and preserve the property’s historic look.

The structural work on the property is largely done, but some finishing touches have been held up by supply chain issues, city officials said.
Councilman Mike Villar, who represents the Capistrano Beach district on the south side of Dana Point, said he is excited to see the project come together.

“That area has been such an eyesore for so long,” he said. “To know that it’s been repaired and is close to the original look will be so uplifting to the community.”

In May, Artist Guild Hotels won preliminary approval to convert the century-old Palmer Building at 6360-6366 Hollywood Boulevard along the Hollywood Walk of Fame into a 57-room hotel with a rooftop restaurant.

— Dana Bartholomew