But like any gilded plaque, it tells only a fraction of the story. “You see the monkeys hiding in the wallpaper behind the reception desk?” Petrone asks, pointing to an ivory-and-emerald-toned toile mural newly installed behind a grand oak counter. “That’s a reference to the monkeys that would roam the garden just beyond the rotunda. There used to be all sorts of animals running around this place to entertain guests. But the monkeys liked to jump on people’s heads and rummage through their picnics.” The overindulged simians would later become some of the original tenants of the San Diego Zoo.