ENCINITAS, Calif. — CBS 8 continues to celebrate our '75th Anniversary' by digging deep into our archive library.
In this Zevely Zone, I visited a historic hotel in Olivenhain.
At CBS 8, we are very proud of our archive footage that can sometimes even surprise local historians.
"We are walking into the Germania Hotel," said Twink and Richard Bumann. The couple has spent a lifetime preserving Olivenhain's history.
"These stairs are real steep," said Richard as we toured the two-story hotel built in 1885. "This is a photograph of the Baecht Family," said Richard.
Herman and Katherine Baecht lived in the house with their ten children.
"The first thing they built was the kitchen," said Richard who told us the entire family lived in the kitchen until the nearly 1,600-square-foot house was completed.
Richard's wife, Twink, is the Olivenhain Town Council Historian. She spent 20 years of her life overseeing the restoration of this building that was in shambles.
"There was no glass in the windows. It needed to be reroofed, repainted," said Twink about the project which was a real fixer.
I asked her if the old hotel was haunted.
"No," she said with a straight face.
But every year around Halloween it becomes a Haunted Hotel.
When I asked where the ghost hides, Twink told me again, "There isn't one."
But the Germania was indeed a hotel and they can prove it because during its restoration. "A rat's nest fell out and in the rat's nest was a Germania Hotel business card. It had been there for 125 years and it survived all of that time," said Richard.
So did the Germania Hotel, thanks to the good people of Olivenhain.
"This is when they were moving it in 1982," said Richard while showing me a picture of the day the hotel was moved to where it sits today.
Twink and Richard were only aware a few precious pictures taken on the day the hotel was moved to its final location. I then told them, "What if a legendary local television station was here that day and had footage of the hotel on the move?" They looked at me with total shock and said, "Really? Oh, really? No way! Oh my gosh."
I showed them a story CBS 8 aired in 1982.
CBS 8 reporter Bridget Asaro covered the historic day. "The Germania Hotel may not look too impressive by 1982 standards but it was one of the first buildings to go up in Olivenhain back in 1885," said Bridget. "For the people of Olivenhain, it's a matter of community pride and a labor of love."
"I didn't know! I was there but I didn't remember Channel 8 being there," said Twink with a big smile.
In 1982, when the historic hotel was on wheels and rolling, so was our camera. "Wow, that is awesome, I didn't remember that. Wonderful, thank you," said Twink and Richard.
You can visit the Germania Hotel leading up to Halloween when it become a haunted house or during the Olivenhain Craft Fair on November 9th.
WATCH THROWBACK: Inside the 'Germania Hotel' in Olivenhain back in 1982