Ultimately the hotel showed signs of fatigue and it was clear that a significant remodeling and refurbishing was in order and at about that time (1982) the present owner group took over the hotel. We understand that the extent of the market research undertaken was to identify among the hotel's regular guests, three members of Stanford's Board of Trustees, two senior partner's of a major New York law firm, who used the hotel as a base for interviewing Law School students as their perspective associates, a Chicago based CEO of a fortune 500 company with a branch in the Research Park, and a brace of national sports writers in town to cover major Stanford sports events. Clearly the hotel is the preferred stop for Stanford¹s family, including of course, visiting parents of students who found they could stroll back and forth from the hotel to campus.

So, the Tiki passed into history, filed perhaps under Camp, and was reborn as the much more modern and amiable Stanford Terrace Inn, a name seeking to locate it in the public mind at Stanford (avenue and University) and in College Terrace, the small strip of residences strung along this southern border of Stanford. We are told that some found the name an affront to the patient and beautiful herons who might have been considered for recognition. After all, they have been spectacular and consistent neighbors for a long, long time.

Written by Ryland Kelly