SLO County family is transforming World War II-era building into boutique hotel. See inside
A Central Coast family is transforming a historic Morro Bay building into a boutique hotel.
In 2023, local hoteliers John and Joan Solu bought a Quonset hut on Main Street. The 4,000-square-foot, dome-shaped building was built during World War II to house Army soldiers training in Morro Bay, he said.
Now, the couple and their business partner, general contractor Brian Harvey, are renovating the one-room hall into a 10-bedroom hotel.
They plan to preserve the metal exterior of the building, then build walls for the hotel rooms — each which will have their own bathroom, patio and fireplace.
“We’re going to build the hotel inside of it and preserve the history of Morro Bay,” he said. “I want to be able to tell a story inside.”
Solu has been in the hospitality business for more than 40 years, first working as an area vice president for the Hilton, then buying, improving and selling hotels on the Central Coast. Most recently, he bought and renovated the Embarcadero Inn, which is now called the 456 Embarcadero Inn & Suites.
This boutique hotel will be called the Q Inn, he said.
They plan to finish construction in the fall then open the hotel soon after, he said.
History of the Quonset hut
The 28-foot-tall Quonset hut was built for the Army in 1941 during World War II, Solu said.
“There’s a lot of history behind it, and it’s all related to the war,” he said.
The army trained on the beach in Morro Bay, which required the military to ship and assemble about 100 Quonset huts in San Luis Obispo County to be used as barracks for soldiers and meeting places for officers, he said.
Quonset huts were named after the location they were invented — Quonset Point in Davisville, Rhode Island, according to the Morro Bay Historical Society.
The huts were made from corrugated or galvanized steel, and they could be transported and assembled easily, according to the Historical Society.
The War Assets Administration sold the Quonset huts to veterans during the housing shortage that followed World War II on the Central Coast. Only three remain in Morro Bay, Solu said.
The Quonset hut at 1141 Main St. was first sold to the county’s 4H program for storage. Later, the building passed to an electrical company and finally to the antique mall Antiques Et Cetera before the Solus bought it in 2023.
Joan Solu works with the Morro Bay Historical Society and is passionate about protecting historical resources in the city.
“She and her group are doing everything they can to preserve all the old buildings,” he said.
This story was originally published February 18, 2025 at 12:13 PM.
