08/05/2026
The Pagan Room (1959-1964) was a short-lived tiki restaurant and bar in the Town House Hotel near Birdrock and Windansea beaches, La Jolla, California.
Originally called the “La Jollan,” it was intended as a 252-room luxury hotel, developed in 1952 by Larry Imig (Lafayette Hotel), Grandvell Schumaker and D.E. Evans. The hotel restaurant was first called Imig’s Den.
Local residents fought against a hotel being built in the neighborhood, and actively campaigned against any zoning changes. The development ended up being more of a residential hotel. Imig was frustrated at the pushback he received, from locals and the city. He was refused variances for traffic speeds, new stop signs, and installation of a large neon sign. The property almost went into foreclosure several years after it opened.
The property was purchased by Bill Beacom of Pasadena, California. Allan Witwer of the Hotel Del Charro in La Jolla, accepted a “fabulous deal” to manage the hotel as vice president of Beacom’s investment group. Under Witwer’s management, the La Jollan’s name was changed to The Town House and the restaurant remodeled into the Pagan Room. The Town House also had the Harlequin Bar and Down South Room under the direction of chef Bill “Scotty” Thomson (Bahia Hotel), who, it was written, ‘cooks in ten languages.’
Witwer and his wife hosted many cocktail parties for visitors summering in La Jolla, and the exotic restaurant was the perfect seaside venue…
Witwer had been earlier terminated as manager of Hotel Del Charro for disagreements with its owners, Texan oilmen Clinton Williams Murchison and Sid Richardson. Witwer sued for breach of contract and penned a tell-all about his time there entitled Hell of a Way to Run a Hotel. Senator Joseph McCarthy, Vice Presient Richard Nixon, J Edgar Hoover and his companion Clyde Tolson, regularly vacationed at the discreet Del Charro as guests of Murchison, who happened to own the Texas Schoolbook Depository in Dallas. “McCarthy was virtually on Murchison’s payroll,” Witwer related. “He’d get drunk and jump in the pool, sometimes naked. He urinated outside his cabana, flew everywhere in Murchison’s plane.” Witwer’s book never made it to press.
Adjacent to the pool, the Pagan Room invited one into its dark, mysterious interior. The entrance was dominated by a large, hand-carved date palm ʻaumakua by Andres Bumatay. This and other carvings were purchased from Hawaiian Garden House nurseries in Long Beach. Tropical murals inside were painted by Del Mar artist Jon Helland, known for his Hawaiian work and murals for the Copper Kettle, Del Mar Racetrack, Garden of Allah (The Flame), and Peter Pan restaurants.
Cantonese food by chef Wing Hom was served to comfortable guests relaxing in cozy nooks furnished with rattan furniture and tiki lamps. Witwer had supposedly poached the chef and staff from Don the Beachcomber’s. The piano bar served up exotic drinks to La Jolla socialites and beach-weary vacationists.
Through his enterprising management, Witwer helped to reduce the hotel’s debt by $250,000. But the new owners reportedly reneged on some promises, and he left to reopen the Cuyamaca club for Conrad Arnholt Smith (Westgate Hotel). The Town House sold in 1962, and was converted into rental apartments. The property is now the La Jolla Villa Condominiums.
Bird Rock
Town House Hotel
6363 La Jolla Boulevard
La Jolla, CA 92037
