RANCHO MIRAGE — Inside the fire-ravaged landmark are the wreckage of what was once a restaurant and the bones of what was once a remarkable structure.
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Only a few things are untouched by soot — the dinner knife tossed aside, some overturned tables, the two bottles of liquor still on the bar.
The sound equipment near the entrance is melted. The bar above the kitchen caved in, crashing down to the counter.
The ceiling beams somehow survived the flames that destroyed the roof, leaving behind a faux skylight that casts an eerie glow inside.
“The building is still intact in the most crude but biblical fashion. It looks like Noah’s ark to me,” said Karan Kler, attorney for the building’s last tenant, GG’s Island.
On Wednesday — the day after a fire destroyed the distinctive stone-and-timber building in Rancho Mirage — Kler invited three Desert Sun journalists inside.
Private fire investigators were surveying the building, which was designed by Kendrick Bangs Kellogg in 1977 and earned national acclaim for its unique design.
More than 50 firefighters fought the blaze for nearly nine hours early Tuesday.
“A building with that kind of extensive heat and fire damage would normally fall down, but it was so fantastically built — architecturally and structurally,” Kler said.
It could be days or weeks before investigators determine the cause of the blaze, which caused an estimated $5 million in damage, Riverside County fire Capt. Mike Smith said.
It was too soon to say Wednesday what will happen to the building, said Michael Braun, senior vice president of Wessman Development Co. of Palm Springs, which owns the building and leases to GG’s Island.
“The building was destroyed 24 hours ago. It will take a while to unravel all the legal issues,” Braun wrote in an email, declining further comment.
The fire put a spotlight on a dispute over the ownership of the restaurant, which previously had been a Chart House for many years
The noisy dispute, known to present and former employees as well as scores of other people in the close-knit restaurant business, has led to speculation that the fire was set.
Craig Marlar, who operated Bananaz Tropical Grill in the building, sold the restaurant to Saad Said last May.
Marlar said the transaction was never completed and claims he still owns the restaurant. He said he had been trying to force Said out of the business by trying to get his liquor license revoked.
Kler said Said owned GG’s Island and that he has “absolutely no idea” why Marlar would say he was still the owner.
The Palm Springs Preservation Foundation, whose members advocate throughout the valley, will push for the building to be remodeled, or at least for the exterior not to be demolished, president Ron Marshall said.
“That’s almost never a good solution, because virtually every building can be restored to some level of functionality,” Marshall said.
Marshall remembers when he first drove by the building six years ago.
“I almost gasped. It was such an odd little building,” Marshall said. “It almost looked like a sea creature perched on the side of the road.”
Marshall pulled over, peered into the windows and drove straight home to research the architect.
“He has these incredibly genius-like buildings that he’s built all over the country. This is one of the best ones, I think, because it’s so organic,” Marshall said.
If Wessman decides to remodel the building, GG’s Island owner Saad Said would reopen his restaurant “in a heartbeat,” Kler said.
Said recently began interior renovations, including removing TVs “to go with the flow of the place,” Kler said. He hoped to transform the tiki-themed nightclub into a “very high-class” jazz lounge.
Instead, the restaurant is now blocked off from public view by green construction fencing, and yellow crime scene tape stops drivers from entering the parking lot.
The future of the building is not up to GG’s Island.
“It is so beautiful, but it’s Mr. Wessman’s property,” Kler said. “He has the insurance. He’s the man to decide what he wants to do with it.”
Kate McGinty covers public safety and the city of Desert Hot Springs. She can be reached at (760) 778-6451
