The retirement community was begun in the original Carlsbad Mineral Springs Hotel & Spa which was later demolished and replicated by the current structure.

[4] Frazier purchased 127 acres of oceanfront land in Ranch Agua Hedionda for farming and began drilling wells for water in 1882.

[5] Two recent arrivals from the Midwest, Gerhard Schutte and Samuel Church Smith, joined him in founding the new city of Frazier Station.

Frazier, Schutte and Smith built the original Carlsbad Hotel in 1887 that served as lodging and a spa to take advantage of the healing properties of the mineral springs.

The founders also built their large homes (that are now the historic sites of the Twin Inns and the Magee House) in addition to the hotel and spa near to the minerals wells.

[8] By 1887, the town had grown to the point where it got its own Santa Fe Railroad depot, serving passengers between Los Angeles and San Diego.

The hotel drew thousands from across the country, including tourists and “health seekers,” attracted by the fine beaches, easy railroad transportation, and the mineral water.

The hotel was located on 100 feet of oceanfront of the Carlsbad State Beach on property originally owned by Frazier.

[16] The hotel and spa served such notables as Greta Garbo, Victor McLaglan, Leo Carrillo and the Barrymore family.

Silent film actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were long-time visitors to Oceanside,[17] just to the north, and also stayed at the hotel.

[24] After the Northridge earthquake of 1994, the California legislature began requiring seismic retrofits on older buildings and, after rejecting other options, the decision was made to stay at the Carlsbad Village location.

[27] The location commemorated by a historical plaque that reads in part: In 1929...construction began on the Spanish-Revival style "California-Carlsbad Mineral Springs Hotel" on this site.

The front facade has been reconstructed by the California Lutheran Homes and Community Services as a replica of the original "California-Carlsbad Mineral Springs Hotel".

Digerness previously held the same position at the Front Porch facility of Villa Gardens in Pasadena, California.

[29] CBTS participates in the technology insertion program run by Front Porch called the Center for Innovation and Wellbeing.

[30] The center is part of a program called Humanly Possible® whose goal is to integrate cause-based innovation into Front Porch's communities.