The Mission Inn

   

Written on the back, "Mission Inn-Riverside, Calif."  Frank Miller opened The Mission Inn in 1876.  It started out as an adobe boarding house that became a full-service hotel in 1900.  In 1903, a series of expansions were begun that finished in 1931.  Frank Miller died in 1935, after which his family ran the inn until the mid-fifties.  It changed hands a number of times and was facing a possible demolition when Duane and Kelly Roberts bought the property in the late 1980s and began a restoration that was finished in 1992.  The Mission Inn and Spa is still in business, and despite being in downtown Riverside, not exactly a tourist destination is doing quite well.  And, by the way, it isn't a cheap stay.