A sad thing. A sign of the times.

I just got off the phone with Bill Laube, manager and previous owner of the Pleasanton Hotel. I was trying to schedule a 40th wedding anniversary dinner for my parents on the 3rd of January; Mare and Gare LOVE the Pleasanton Hotel. The building is such a fixture in Pleasanton, and while the old fashioned yellow was much more appealing to me, it remains a historic part of the town complete with that renowned underground tunnel to Gay Nineties Pizza.

The hotel is closing. The news made me want to cry. If his voice on the phone was any giveaway, Bill Laube is pretty distraught as well -- he has been at the hotel for 25 years. As of Janurary 1st, in her quest to sell the business and building in the declining market, the current landlord is closing it's doors. Permanently.

I know a lot of us don't go to the Pleasanton Hotel. There are many more "hip" places in Pleasanton to have a drink. I just ask you, at some point before 2008 bids adieu, to pop in, have a drink, and give a kind word to Bill and the staff. This really is a sad thing.

(for more info on the history of the Pleasanton hotel and current staff, go here.)