Executive Reflects Ambiance of Arnholt Smith Heyday

The Executive Hotel block, built in 1963 by financier C. Arnholt Smith, reflects the aristocratic ambiance that Smith and his wife typified in their heyday.

The complex was sold at auction by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 1977 to millionaire businessman Charles Woods, four years after Smith’s financial empire collapsed amid fraud and mismanagement.

Since then, the complex has been beset by a series of business controversies.

Woods tried to sell the complex for $50 million in the summer of 1981 to a group of French investors, but they backed out at the last minute.

In the fall of 1981, San Francisco hotel owner A. Cal Rossi Jr. tried to secure a long-term lease of the hotel and the Cuyamaca Club, but that deal was never consummated.

Woods finally sold the complex to a limited partnership that was part of Orange County developer William Crowder’s Bretcourt Financial.

The Executive Hotel complex is still open for business, albeit in a limited way. The Cuyamaca Club’s restaurant is still serving patrons but the accompanying health club and spa--with its marbled hot tubs and wood-paneled weight room--remains closed.

The hotel is open for business but the downstairs First Avenue Grille remains closed.

Fees from the club’s 400 active members haven’t been collected since March 1 because of the closure and renovation, according to Mary Wayne, the club’s membership director.

More than 550 people are actually members, although 150 of them are not considered active, said Wayne.

The club’s current fee structure of $65 per month for area residents, $50 for corporate members (minimum three members from one organization) and $40 per month for out-of-town members is now being reevaluated, according to officials.

Wayne said she won’t have “any problem” bringing the spa’s members back when the facility opens.

In its heyday in the 1960s and early 1970s, the club boasted 1,500 members. Many of those were non-paying, however--financier Smith gave free memberships to local attorneys and judges.