CB1100 Monthly Photo Challenge

[Gone in 60]

Gone, that reminds me of my college days in Miami, Florida. There was an Italian restaurant near my apartment named Carmela's and it was adjacent to a funeral home. Fantastic food and the atmosphere was pure Sopranos. I doubt any of that is still around, but I think I can find a nice cemetery around here somewhere.
Someone is bound to know where the bodies are buried . . .

GO, I'll take you up on that drink, just make your way out here!

The Shannon Funeral Home conversion to a boutique hotel is interesting. In its original configuration, there was a reception area in front, and the main room shown here to the left is where funeral services were held. A porte cochere down the left side of the main room typically held two white Cadillac hearses. The buildings to the right, one would assume, is where embalmings and cremations took place.

Chapman College is one block north of the funeral home, and has expanded in downtown Orange like a weed over the past few years. The sleepy Old Town area, once filled with antique shops, has given way to trendy restaurants to cater to the students, whose numbers continue to expand. A funeral home was probably no longer the ideal town centerpiece, and there are no nearby hotels for those visiting students.

During the conversion, the front reception room was demolished to form a courtyard, exposing a previously hidden and quite beautiful craftsman style home, which is where the Shannon family apparently resided. Its living room is now the lobby and bar. The side buildings are now the hotel rooms... not at all creepy, right? The large funeral room is now an event space available for rental, and with the hearses gone, the porte cochere is now a fenced in activity area for guests.

It looks very nice... but still...