Opened May 26, 1910 as a 252-room Mission Revival grand hotel, now converted to apartments — three named spirits still reportedly occupy the building.
133 E Weber Ave, Stockton, CA 95202
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
The building is now residential apartments; public access to lobby and exterior only. Ghost tours and paranormal investigations may be available through the Downtown Stockton Alliance's tour series.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat urban setting. Ground-floor exterior access.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1910 · National Register of Historic Places (1981) · Mission Revival architecture · Former Stockton City Hall (1912–1926) · Former San Joaquin County Courthouse (1960–1964)
Construction on the Hotel Stockton began in 1907 but was interrupted by floods in 1907 and 1909, delaying the opening until May 26, 1910. The building, designed by architect Edgar B. Brown in the Mission Revival style, offered 252 rooms and quickly became central to Stockton's civic and entertainment life, hosting traveling performers and prominent visitors.
The city government's presence inside the hotel was an unusual arrangement: in 1912, the City of Stockton relocated its City Hall offices into the building, where they operated until 1926. The dual function of a working hotel and municipal offices gave the building an unusual position in the city's history.
The hotel closed on November 26, 1960. San Joaquin County then relocated its courthouse into the building while a new courthouse was under construction, using it from 1960 to 1964. The county subsequently purchased the building as office space for its Public Administration Department.
The Hotel Stockton was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 1, 1981 (Reference No. 81000174) for its architectural significance and its association with Stockton and San Joaquin County governmental history. After years of vacancy and limited use, a $7.5 million restoration project converted the upper floors to 156 apartments for low- and fixed-income residents; the restored building reopened on March 17, 2005.
Sources
The three spirits associated with Hotel Stockton are among the most specifically named in Stockton's documented paranormal tradition. Their accounts come primarily from staff members and have been corroborated by the Downtown Stockton Alliance's Spirits of Downtown investigation series, which filmed in the building.
The White Suit Smoker is described as a man in a white suit, seen smoking while standing on a stool near the back stairs of the building. The description is consistent across multiple accounts — specific enough in detail that it doesn't read as a generic apparition claim. Staff from different eras of the building's various occupancies have reported the figure.
The 4th-floor wandering ghost is linked to a reported killing: a man said to have defrauded the hotel's ownership was killed in one of the fourth-floor rooms during the 1960s, during the building's county-office period. The story is not corroborated by court or police records in available sources, but the account has circulated among building staff for decades.
The Ghostly Pianist is the most theatrically compelling of the three: piano music reportedly heard at night from the 6th-floor ballroom, where no piano is currently located. Whether the sound represents a residual impression of the ballroom's active years or a misidentification of ambient building noise is a matter of interpretation. Paranormal investigators from the Downtown Stockton Alliance's Episode 4 documented what they described as potential paranormal energy on multiple floors.
Notable Entities
The Hotel Stockton's Mission Revival facade stands at 133 E. Weber Avenue near Janet Leigh Plaza. The building, now residential, is viewable from the street and is part of the Downtown Stockton Alliance's walking tour map of historic and haunted sites.
The Downtown Stockton Alliance produced a paranormal investigation video series featuring Hotel Stockton (Episode 4) and other downtown buildings. The Stockton Ghost Tour operated by US Ghost Adventures includes Hotel Stockton as a stop.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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