In 1988, Doris Day bought a 1929 California hotel; she turned it into one of America's best-known pet-friendly retreats

When Doris Day became a co-owner of the Cypress Inn in Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1988, she was not simply investing in a historic California hotel. The Hollywood star and lifelong animal advocate saw an opportunity to create a place where people could travel without leaving their pets behind. Built in 1929 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, the hotel already had a distinctive character when Day and local businessman Dennis LeVett became its owners. One of the biggest changes under its new management would be welcoming guests’ dogs. The Cypress Inn's own history now credits Day's vision with helping transform the property into one of America's best-known pet-friendly boutique hotels. More than three decades later, the hotel continues to carry the imprint of the actress whose second act became deeply connected with animal welfare.Doris Day and the 1929 Cypress Inn hotel in CaliforniaThe building that became Cypress Inn had already been standing for nearly six decades when Doris Day entered its story. The hotel was constructed in 1929 in Carmel, California, in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, a design that gave it the distinctive character it retains today. In its own history of the property, Cypress Inn says the building originally opened as Hotel La Ribera before later becoming Cypress West. By the mid-1980s, Day and local businessman Dennis LeVett had become co-owners. The Los Angeles Times, reporting on the new ownership in March 1988, described the hotel as a historic property and highlighted the arrival of a very different kind of guest policy, dogs would be welcome. The decision reflected Day's long-standing affection for animals and would eventually become central to the hotel's identity.How Doris Day turned the California hotel into a pet-friendly retreatFor Doris Day, making Cypress Inn pet-friendly was closely tied to her own relationship with animals. The hotel's account of her legacy says her vision was to create a welcoming escape where guests and their four-legged companions could be treated equally. The idea was unusual enough in the 1980s to distinguish Cypress Inn from conventional hotels, where travelling with a dog could be difficult. The Los Angeles Times captured that change soon after Day's arrival, reporting that guests' dogs would be welcomed under the new management and observing that Day could hardly have chosen another policy given her passion for animals. Over time, the concept became more than a rule at the hotel. It became its defining character, helping establish Cypress Inn as a destination specifically associated with pet-friendly hospitality in Carmel-by-the-Sea.Doris Day's animal advocacy shaped the Cypress Inn legacyThe Cypress Inn was only one part of Doris Day's commitment to animals. After her Hollywood career, she devoted much of her later life to animal welfare and established organisations including the Doris Day Animal Foundation and Doris Day Animal League. The Cypress Inn says her work focused on rescuing, healing and finding homes for animals, particularly those that were often overlooked. That philosophy naturally found an expression at the hotel, where animals were not treated as an inconvenience to human travellers but welcomed as part of the experience. The hotel's history describes Day's involvement as helping create a place where elegance and compassion could coexist. Her influence therefore extended beyond the practical decision to allow pets inside a hotel. She helped give pet-friendly travel a distinctive identity at Cypress Inn, turning her personal love of animals into part of the property's public character.Why Cypress Inn remains one of America's best-known pet-friendly hotelsMore than 30 years after Doris Day became a co-owner, Cypress Inn continues to preserve the vision that made the property unusual in the first place. The hotel describes itself as one of the country's most iconic boutique hotels and says Day's influence remains visible in its approach to guests and their pets. Its history traces the property from its 1929 origins through its transformation under Day and LeVett into a pioneering pet-friendly hotel. The significance of the story is not simply that a famous actress owned a historic California hotel. It is that Day used the property to make an idea, that people should not have to leave beloved pets behind when travelling, part of the hotel's identity. Today, Cypress Inn remains a living piece of her legacy, combining its historic Carmel setting with the pet-friendly philosophy that she helped establish decades ago.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.