Scrutiny Builds Over What To Do With Historic Hotel Marhsall In Downtown Sacramento

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) —There is new scrutiny over a plan to rebuild a downtown hotel listed on Sacramento's historic registry.

The owners want the 100-year-old building to get a new look.

CBS13's Steve Large spoke to a couple—92 and 89 years old—who remember the building in its hey day.

An old photo of the Hotel Marshall from long before it became rundown shows it was the place to be for music and dancing.

Tony and Anne were there. It was a place called the Clayton Club then, and Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong headlined it.

"Some clean fun, and have a cocktail," Tony said. "Most of the time, we wore a coat and tie."

They were a young couple then, going out on the town.

"I wanted to look better than the girl standing next to me," Anne said.

But in the 66 years Tony and Anne have kept their home cozy, the hotel's turned into a blight. Now its owners want to build something fresh and new. The vision is to gut the historic building, leaving only the facade.

Pushback is coming from the city's preservation committee with one commissioner likening it to a disinfection of history.

It's Sacramento's history up against Sacramento's future. Only time will tell the outcome for how to honor a bygone era.