As the Bayview Hotel changes hands, its memories — and its ghosts — will live on in its next life

Nestled in quaint Aptos Village, and adjacent to the lush greenery of the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, sits the former Bayview Hotel, one of the oldest buildings in Aptos and likely in all of Santa Cruz County at more than 150 years old. The landmark has reached the end of an era, with the family that owns the property moving toward closing on a sale.

The current owner, Cristina Locke, 70, has seen her health decline in recent years, according to her daughter, Andre’a Hicks. Locke, along with her husband and Hicks’ stepfather, Giovanni Guerisoli, purchased the 14-room, 10,000-square-foot hotel in 2002. Guerisoli opened an Italian restaurant in the hotel named Ristorante Barolo, which was featured on a 2012 episode of Food Network’s “Restaurant Impossible”. Guerisoli died in 2017, and the historic property has not been a functioning hotel or restaurant since.

“That was where [my mother] decided that she didn’t really want to return there,” said Hicks, who is Locke’s daughter from her first marriage. “I came there every summer as a teenager from when I was 14 years old until I was 19 years old. So my life has been that Bayview Hotel.”

Hicks said that she and her five siblings have tried to figure out what to do with the property, but ultimately could not come to an agreement, resulting in the family parting with the hotel. She said that it will be sold to Joe Appenrodt, a developer who played a big role in the development of Aptos Village. The goal, said Hicks, is to bring the Bayview back into a fully operational hotel.

John Hibble, an Aptos historian and co-executive director of the Aptos Chamber of Commerce, said the Parisian-style, late Victorian-Italianate hotel was originally built in 1878 by Joseph Arano of France, after he leased the land from Rafael Castro, who was the original grantee of the Aptos Rancho Mexican land grant. It was named a California Historic Monument in 1974 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.

“Most of the really old Aptos historical stuff has burned up and gone away, so it’s a really important part, and the fact it has not been operating as a hotel for quite some time is unfortunate,” Hibble said. “It is the jewel in the crown, and it’s going to be really exciting to have the potential to turn it back into the jewel that it has been in the past.”

Hicks said the strong memories of her adolescence — parties, sunsets from the third-story awning, her stepfather cooking Thanksgiving dinner — will stay a part of her family forever, as will Guerisoli’s generous nature.

“He used to invite people off of the street to come eat with us, because he was not very well off when he was a kid — he was very giving,” said Hicks. “It could be kind of uncomfortable, but now I think about it, and it’s like, that’s a really nice thing to do.”

In addition to Hicks’ fond memories of summers in Aptos Village, she remembers one of the Bayview’s most unique and curious features: its ghosts.

“There was some sort of entity there that certainly protected my mother,” said Hicks. 

She tells a story of a rude hotel guest that mistreated her mother during his stay. The following morning, he was at the bottom of the stairs by the time Locke was awake, covered in plaster. A portion of the ceiling above his bed had collapsed around him the night prior.

“It was only that portion near where he was, and it fell right on him. It was the weirdest thing,” said Hicks. “It didn’t hurt him, but it was enough to scare him.”

Hicks believes her own family has become part of the hotel’s cosmic fabric, too. During the moving out process, someone helping them said he smelled a strong scent of lasagna — one of Guerisoli’s signature dishes.

“In my head, I was like, that had to have been Giovanni,” she said. “I told my mom that I’d like to go back there and maybe do a Thanksgiving dinner there, because like I said, she hasn’t been back there since Giovanni passed.”

Hibble said that reports of paranormal activity go back to at least 1989, specifically singling out the kitchen area. However, Bayview’s ghosts are more of a local legend than a widespread attraction.

“There’s a lady who has written a book about hauntings in Santa Cruz County, but [the Bayview] isn’t one of those things where a bunch of people come out just for that reason,” he said.

Hicks said that this weekend, she will host a yard sale and farewell event from Friday through Sunday. It will take place between 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. There, locals can purchase vintage hotel memorabilia, including antique headboards, houseware, utensils, restaurant items and more.

“I think that place harbors so many memories for so many people, and to me, it signifies the longevity of life and how just one building can hold so many memories from literally all over the world,” said Hicks. “I will forever be able to look at that building and feel the life that I had with my family within it, because that will forever be there.”

And Hibble said he looks forward to the hotel becoming an active business once again.

“It’s the center of town, and it always has been since the time the railroad has been here. It’s really special, and it’s what gives Aptos its character,” he said. “Sure, the new town will ultimately be part of that character, but in our historical town, it’s the Bayview that shines.”

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.