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From Petoskey News 1994
The last guests at the Harbour Inn ripped the place apart. It took a total of only about three and a half hours Monday and Tuesday for a voracious back-hoe to grind toothpicks out of the once-glittering hotel on Little Traverse Bay. This morning, there's a hole in the shoreline where the winter-white walls and sunset-red roof stood sentinel for more than 80 years. "An era passed," said Judy Honor, who managed the inn from 1962 to 1980 [or former owner Nick Bicking.
Honor, who now works at Stafford's Perry Hotel in Petoskey, could look from the Perry's dining room and see the old hotel across the hay. "When I came to work yesterday, I could see nothing." she said this morning. "That red roof was quite a symbol." Built in 1910, the inn was originally named the Ramona Park Hotel and stood adjacent to the lavish Ramona Park Casino. It included a tower, dining room, lobby and about 30 guest rooms. The inn was intended to attract buyers to a subdivision — to be called Ramona Park — its founders envisioned on the surrounding property and extensive lakefront.
The large east wing was added to the inn in 1929, expanding it to 104 rooms. It was renamed the Harbour Inn in 1962, when Bicking bought it from the late Ray Brown. Brown, who bought it after World War II and owned it for about 20 years, extensively remodeled the building. Brown also brought in big-name bands. The property is now owned by Richard Mooradian and family.
Citing irreparable structural damage, the family decided to raze the hotel. The building was picked clean after an auction in the fall, and it's expected to take about 2 weeks to truck out the building's remains. The owners don't plan to sell the property but say they are undecided how it will be developed. "We had so many families that came back year after year, and we watched them grow up," Honor recalled. "A lot of memories."