National treasure
Iconic hotel and restaurant in Jamestown sells for $1.25M
The historic National Hotel and Restaurant, a Jamestown icon that dates to 1859, restored and refurbished by owner Stephen Willey over the course of 47 years, has sold for $1.25 million to Edy Lee Bouza Headley, of San Luis Obispo.
Willey, 80, said this week he’s looking forward to retirement. Headley,
52, a veteran business owner whose success includes Fiala’s Gourmet Deli in the Edna Valley wine region of San Luis Obispo County, said she’s excited, she’s grateful for the community welcome she’s received so far, and she intends to focus on the National’s long-standing loyal customers in Tuolumne County and from the Central Valley.
Willey and Headley both believe the National’s reputation as an authentic, historic hotel, restaurant, and saloon will continue into the future because Willey’s two longtime managers, Heather Parkhurst, 47, of Soulsbyville, and Mary Lewis, 56, of Jamestown, intend to stay on to run the National under Headley’s on-site ownership.
“Absolutely,” Headley said Tuesday when asked if she intends to keep Parkhurst and Lewis at the National. “Those two are irreplaceable.”
Parkhurst and Lewis have worked at the National for 24 and 21 years, respectively.
Willey says the National, which opened with a hotel, bar and restaurant in two wooden buildings in 1859, was among the first substantial, permanent structures in post-gold Rush era Jamestown. Up until then, the town was home to lots of tents and ramshackle miners’ cabins.
Historians say the National has been in continuous operation since 1859, surviving two damaging fires in 1901 and 1927, and it is one of the oldest continuously operated hotels in California. A website for the National boasts the nine-room hotel’s upper floor is visited from time-to-time by a friendly ghost spirit who oldtimers know as Flo.
Headley is ideal to take over where Willey has left off, Willey said, because “she loves history and she likes the fact that this place is a quality operation. She likes the fact we have a dedicated clientele, including people who drive 90 minutes each way from to have dinner here. A lot of people from the Valley, from Merced to Lodi and all places in between.”
Headley said she is energized by her new opportunity with the National, and her aims include carrying on the history of the establishment. She said she already feels right at home, she feels fortunate that Willey chose her from multiple prospective buyers, she does not plan to change anything architecturally because Willey has restored and maintained the building so well, and she hopes to equal Willey by owning the National for 47 years herself.
“I have had an incredible welcoming to Jamestown with all the locals who have come in,” Headley texted Tuesday from San Luis Obispo, where she was taking a day to spend time with her parents and her youngest son. “I look forward to meeting every
single one of them as they come in and enjoy the experience of the National Hotel and Restaurant.”
Headley said that before she purchased the National and came to Jamestown, she’d been in San Luis Obispo since 1991. She has three children, ages 19 to 32, and three grandchildren, and she worked in dentistry more than 25 years before retiring from dentistry. While running Fiala’s Gourmet Deli and getting it featured in the March 2005 issue of Sunset Magazine, she did catering jobs, winemakers’ dinners, weddings, receptions, retirement parties, and birthday parties with a focus on locals and businesses.
For the National, Headley said, “I’m excited to build a seven-day-a-week business focusing on locals and fun with consistent hours.” She praised the National’s amazing staff she has inherited and said she intends to continue to grow the National. She thanked Willey “so much for all that he’s given me and for all the support that’s been behind me.”
She said her intent to be known as an on-site owner means she plans to oversee all aspects of the hotel, restaurant, and saloon, located 18183 Main St.
Willey, who came to the National and Jamestown from the San Francisco area in 1974, said he plans to spend some time at his condo in Puerto Vallarta, and then travel to the Polish border with Ukraine to try to work with the nonprofit World Central Kitchen, founded by Chef José Andrés to empower communities and strengthen local economies after disasters.