Sneaking Into The Stoneleigh

So last week I snuck into the Stoneleigh Hotel, which announced it’s opening date yeaterday, and snapped  this photo. Cool, but what IS it? Recall when I tattled that the Stoneleigh sign atop the hotel was not the authentic one of yesteryear? Busted! In 1934 Colonel Harry E. Stewart purchased the hotel and in 1938 he had a sign erected to go on top of it which read “Stoneleigh Hotel”. But as the years passed and took their toll on both the hotel and the sign,  the letters “O” and “L” just burned out so that by 1951 the letter-defrocked sign resembled what many of us recall the “Hilton/Hiltop” hotel looked like before it became the Palomar.  (God do you remember how tacky that was?) So to be creative (and likely save a few bucks) some smarty transformed  “HOTEL”  into simply “THE”. Thus “Stoneleigh Hotel” became “The Stoneleigh”.

But that’s not as clever as taking that original “T-H-E” and placing it in Bolla’s dining room, after being restored by Art Dallas on Valdinia Street. During the recent extensive hotel renovation experts found out that the original sign was just too fragile to be re-hoisted atop her perch and she was finally put to rest, after historical consultants gave the hotel their blessings to erect a replica sign. Those smart folks at Prescott decided to take the “THE” and turn it into cool authentic, historical art, not unlike the beautiful collage in the foyer by Ellen Tuchman.  So when the hotel opens and you see three giant letters that spell “THE” on the walls of Bolla restuarant, you will be looking at a genuine part of Dallas history that finally got to come inside.