The Madrone Hotel is a 32-unit Single Room Occupancy building at 477 - 8th St. owned by EBALDC. The 4-story building was constructed in 1911 as a hotel with 2 ground floor commercial spaces.
The building was designed by Benjamin Geer McDougall. 1 When it opened, it was next door to the Gem Theatre which opened in 1908.
The immediate neighborhood became less desirable in the 1940s when the Gem re-opened as Moulin Rouge, and started showing adult films. The hotel became rundown over the years with an increasingly bad reputation. In 1979 it was closed by health authorities and the police; an article says there had been 3 murders in the "past couple of years." 2
In the 1980s, EBALDC purchased the building, and in 1988 began rehabbing it into affordable housing. 3
CC SA-BY NAParish
1912 Sanborn excerpt
1988 3
Links and References
- Madrone Hotel ebaldc.org
- Asian development group notes 25th year by Annalee Allen Oakland Tribune October 29, 2000
- Councilwoman surveys the hookers' beat Oakland Tribune November 9, 1979
- Low-income housing Oakland Tribune February 6, 1988
