Mission Inn Museum

We took the tour hosted by Edward around downtown Riverside. This tour took about an hour and covered much of the historic parts of downtown. Edward was a wealth of knowledge. He made the tour an interesting and fun adventure. With a start of 4:00pm we beat the hordes of people that would later take over downtown. The tour was defiantly worth the price and a good way to start your festival of lights evening.

We enjoyed a wonderful stay at the Mission Inn. We stayed on the 4th floor. We had spectacular breakfast, lunch and dinners at the Mission Inn Restaurant. Johannes waited on us for a few of our meals and he was very helpful with the surrounding area and enjoyable to talk to. We tried our darnedest to see all the different areas of the inn but we sadly missed a lot. We will just have to visit again.

The Mission Inn Museum is run by the Mission Inn Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1976 to help restore and preserve the then decrepit Mission Inn. It is a separate entity from the hotel itself, which has been owned since 1992 by Duane and Kelly Roberts. The hotel first opened in 1876 as the Glenwood Hotel by Christopher Columbus Miller, but it was his son Frank Miller who greatly expanded the hotel, then called the Glenwood Mission Inn, which eventually added 3 wings between 1903 and 1931, all done by different architects, contributing to the many different styles of the hotel, all under the Mission Revival umbrella. The docent-led tours are an essential way to learn about the Inn's history, plus provide access to parts of the hotel not always open to the public. I was fortunate to tour on a day when no events were planned, so we were able to see rooms sometimes closed for weddings and private events/parties/meetings/banquets, etc. The one caveat for tours is that photos are not allowed. However, since I was staying at the hotel, I did see at least one tour later on where the docent had a blind eye to photo-taking. Also, it seems all docents are accompanied by another docent on the tour who is the key-holder and runs ahead or stays behind to open/close/lock rooms as they are entered and exited. The rooms were saw that are sometimes inaccessible/locked were the Grand Parisian Ballroom, the Spanish Art Gallery, the Galleria, Ho-O-Kan and the Oriental Courtyard, St. Cecelia Chapel and St. Francis of Assisi Chapel. The Inn is a warren of corridors, stairways and levels, so it is very easy to get confused as to your whereabouts. We also saw the entrance to the "hotel room where macaws Napoleon and Josephine stay when not in their cage at the Inn's entrance. Overall an essential experience to learn about this fascinating Inn. I would consider taking more than one tour, since docents have such a wealth of knowledge and facts that tours surely are not exactly the same.

I hate to do it, but I left a bit meh here. It wasn't the worst, but not the best either. The museum itself felt more like a gift shop to me. So many items for purchase. Souvenirs galore. While they did have some really cool items on display I left fast and bored. They do have some tours for purchase that can get you into the Inn, but no photography is allowed on the tour. I did not go in the tour so I can't review that part, but I myself was in and out of the museum in under 20 minutes. I was greeted on entry, but other than that the employees just sat and talked amongst themselves.

My husband and I have visited this museum and gift shop many times, and taken their fascinating walking tour of the Mission Inn hotel. The exhibits are enlightening, plus I bought a beautiful pint glass, stickers, and etched highball glass at a reasonable price in the gift shop. I loved the story about the elf now on display that was stolen in the 40's and returned to the museum in 2012 after the thief's death as required in his will. Great bits of Americana and very entertaining, I hope it survives its lease dispute with the Mission Inn. It is an integral part of the Mission Inn experience.

The museum carries a lot of great Mission Inn items. The books were what I came for, as I was researching a book of my own that will contain Mission Inn content. They had quite a few! Also, the requisite coffee mugs, jewelry, postcards, etc. and a cool model of the hotel. The docents were quite friendly and asked about my project. I shared information with them, and one was quite enthusiastic and is now following me through social media. I took the tour and was blown away by the property itself. I'm assuming there have been policy changes over the years because we took plenty of photographs and we were lucky enough to be able to see the inside of the chapel (which is truly incredible). When I returned to my Air B n B in Burbank and raved about the tour, my host mentioned that he had taken it too. When I mentioned my subjects spending their wedding night there, he said his docent had told them which one. My complaint was that they did not mention the research centre to me, and I could really have used it. Unfortunately, I didn't find out about it until I got back to Burbank, and when I tried emailing the contact number, the email was returned. Perhaps it has shut down?

The one hour tour is not to be missed. Takes you into the Mission Inn with full history and access to spaces not normally available to visitors. Our tour guide was so helpful and we saw some stunning things.

After our stay at the Mission Inn, we made sure to check out this museum for souvenirs. It's free to enter and there are some old artifacts and many interesting pictures. It doesn't take long to check out this place. There's a neat looking model of the Mission Inn that you should check out as well.Thankfully, they had a magnet that I wanted to purchase. BTW, this is also the place where you can purchase tickets for the tour of the Mission Inn. You also meet here for the tour.

I posted a review last week and it isn't visible. Is it because I wouldn't recommend this hotel? The rooms are old and musty. The outdoor light shined into my room all night for 3 nights straight. The front desk was not helpful when I needed directions to Riverside Community Hospital where my husband was having surgery. (It's literally 6 minutes away, thank goodness for GPS). The main restaurant is overpriced with limited food selections. The only reasonable priced eatery is the Mexican restaurant. Beautiful property, but the rooms are horrible. The shower was disgusting and the mat had mold. I did not get housekeeping service after 2nd night and the tv was inoperable on my 3rd night. I was truly looking for a comfortable hotel to rest while my husband was in the hospital. This hotel only made my week more stressful. Never again.

Downtown tour a MUST!I learned so much on this walking tour! I didn't know that the Mission Inn isn't one of the California Missions. The architecture of Mission Inn is in the style of the California Missions, but it is a historic hotel. The docent was knowledgeable and had a lot of information about the downtown buildings and knew the difference of architectural styles. It was my first time hearing about Brutalist architecture!Be prepared with comfortable walking shoes.