Pyrenees French Bakery with Universal Hotel and Basque Cafe in the background
The Universal Hotel was located at 711 Humboldt Street (East 21st Street).
Jean Philippe came from Gap, France in 1883. He was a pioneer sheep rancher and owner of the Universal Hotel. Louis Chauvet and Virgil Grimaud also managed the Universal.
Bernard Igoa, along with his two uncles, Antoine “Toni” and Pierre Laxague, would walk next door to the Universal Hotel bar – from the Pyrenees French Bakery, to have drinks. Bernard remembers an Italian gentleman, wearing wire-framed spectacles, who tended bar.
