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Vacant resort destroyed by fire

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Sonoma Valley Sun


Charred redwood, smoke on the wind and memories are all that remain of Paul’s Resort after an intense fire destroyed the long-vacant lodge and dance hall early Thursday morning.

The 10,000-square-foot wood building, boarded-up and run down, was a fire waiting to happen, fire officials acknowledged. The West Verano Avenue structure, across from Maxwell Farms Park, was in flames when the first crews arrived at about 2:30 a.m.

The firefighters were still on the scene some 10 hours later. There were no injuries, and no other structures were threatened by the blaze.

The original lodge was built about 100 years ago. It had been closed and vacant since the early 1980’s, when a 40-year run as a successful lodge, restaurant and dance hall –- spanning the big band to disco eras – came to an end.

Read an archive piece by Donna Hays.
Read historian George McKale’s column about the property.

Photos by Melania Mahoney.




Sonoma Sun | Sonoma, CA