An 1820s Mexican-era adobe converted in 1869 by Albert Seeley into a stagecoach hotel — restored and reopened in 2010, with persistent reports of Ysidora Bandini as a 'Lady in Red' in room 11.
2660 Calhoun Street, San Diego, CA 92110
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Overnight room rates vary by season; restaurant operates separately for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Tours of Old Town State Historic Park surrounding the hotel are free.
Access
Limited Access
Historic adobe with second-floor guest rooms accessed by stairs; ground floor restaurant accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1827 · 1820s Mexican-California adobe of the Juan Bandini family · 1869 stagecoach hotel conversion by Albert Seeley · Only operating hotel inside Old Town San Diego State Historic Park · Restored and reopened to guests July 2010
Juan Bandini, a prominent Mexican-California ranchero, built his family's adobe residence in Old Town San Diego between 1827 and 1829. The single-story adobe was a center of Mexican-era social life and hosted figures including Commodore Robert F. Stockton during the American occupation in 1846. Bandini had three daughters from his first marriage — Josefa, Arcadia, and Ysidora — who were celebrated in California society for their beauty.
In the early 1850s, after Bandini's death and the family's relocation, the property passed through several owners before being acquired by Albert Lewis Seeley, a stagecoach operator who saw commercial potential at the intersection of the San Diego-Los Angeles route. By 1869, Seeley had remodeled and extended the original adobe with a second wood-frame floor, transforming the building into a 20-room Greek Revival-style stagecoach hotel he named the Cosmopolitan. The hotel served stagecoach passengers, traveling salesmen, and emigrants for roughly two decades before the railroad bypassed Old Town and the building declined.
In 1928 Ysidora's son, Cave J. Couts Jr., purchased the property and began restoring it as a memorial to his mother, Ysidora Bandini de Couts (1829-1897). The building passed in and out of various uses across the 20th century, including periods as a Mexican restaurant.
A multi-year California State Parks restoration in the 2000s peeled away later renovations to expose the original 1869 hotel layout and surviving 1820s adobe walls. The Cosmopolitan reopened as an operating hotel and restaurant on July 21, 2010, with ten guest rooms restored to 1870s appearance — no televisions, gas-lamp-style lighting, and period furnishings. It is the only operating hotel inside Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.
Sources
Although Ysidora Bandini de Couts did not die in the building — she lived to age 67 and died in San Diego in 1897 — the Cosmopolitan's haunted lore centers on her as the 'Lady in Red.' Per San Diego Ghosts and other long-standing local tour operators, the identification stems from Ysidora's son Cave J. Couts Jr.'s 1928 purchase of the property as a memorial to his mother, which placed her name in continuous association with the building through the rest of the 20th century.
Room 11 is the most-reported guest room. Visitors describe waking to a woman in a long red dress standing at the foot of the bed, footsteps in the hallway when the upper floor is empty, and the door to room 11 opening on its own. A persistent perfume scent — variously described as roses or lavender — is reported in the upstairs corridor with no source.
Rooms 4 and 5 receive similar but less frequent reports: lights turning on after being switched off, a sense of being watched, and cold spots that move with the witness. Staff have reported items in the restaurant being moved overnight, particularly silverware and small decorative pieces in the formal dining room.
The most striking reports involve the upstairs balcony, where multiple witnesses have described a woman in period dress walking the balcony's length and passing through a closed door without opening it. Hotel staff acknowledge the reports without endorsing them, and the Cosmopolitan accepts the haunted reputation as part of its identity — though management emphasizes that no organized ghost hunts are run on the property.
A second presence, occasionally reported but less consistently identified, is described as a male figure on the ground floor near the bar area, possibly tied to Albert Seeley himself.
Notable Entities
The Cosmopolitan offers 10 restored 1870s-style guest rooms with period furnishings and no televisions. Room 11 is the most-requested room for paranormal reports tied to the 'Lady in Red' (associated with Ysidora Bandini). Rooms 4 and 5 are also frequently mentioned.
Full restaurant in the restored 1869 hotel building serving California-Mexican cuisine. Diners regularly visit specifically for the paranormal history, and staff are receptive to questions.
Free self-guided walking access to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, which surrounds the hotel and includes the Casa de Estudillo, Casa de Bandini history exhibits, El Campo Santo Cemetery, and dozens of other historic adobes.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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