The Pierpont Inn is a Craftsman bungalow-style Inn in Ventura, California on a bluff overlooking the Santa Barbara Channel. Built in 1910 for motoring tourists, the complex is City of San Buenaventura Historic Landmark Number 80. The Pierpont Inn and Spa became a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in 2002. History In 1908, Josephine Pierpont bought land on a bluff overlooking the ocean in Ventura, California for development as a site for an inn. She felt the inn could serve the increasing number of automobile enthusiasts who would travel along the Pacific Coast looking for a place to rest and enjoy a home-cooked meal. She hired Sumner P. Hunt to build a Craftsman Style bungalow inn on the site. It opened in September 1910, originally as "The Wayside Inn", later changed to "The Pierpont Inn" Josephine's son Austen Pierpont ran the Inn for the first many years, expanding it in 1925 by adding two English Tudor-style cottages surrounded by a lush, garden setting. He also developed the idea of turning the inn into a country club, but the idea never came to fruition. The inn changed hands several times and fell into disrepair until it was rescued by Mrs. Mattie Vickers Gleichmann in 1928. After Mattie's husband, professional baseball player Gus Gleichmann, was forced to leave the sport after being injured, they decided to pursue a career in hospitality. Mattie borrowed $80,000 from her father Ashby Christian Vickers, a prominent Ventura farmer, to purchase and renovate the inn. It reopened in 1929 as a family affair, as her husband, mother, sister, brother-in-law and children all worked on and around the property. In 1938, Gus Gleichmann was killed in an automobile accident and Mattie decided to continue operation of the Inn without him to fulfill the dream of being able to provide a future for their children. This dream became a reality when her son Ted returned from World War II and embraced the role of general manager. Ted Gleichmann brought modernization to the Inn and added an East Wing with 12 guestrooms including fireplaces in 1954. Later he added the Bluff House and West Wing to bring the total number of rooms to 72. In addition to his duties at the Inn, Ted was a championship-winning, amateur PGA golfer. Among his victories was the 1963 Bing Crosby Invitational Tournament