It is a five-story Spanish Colonial Revival style structure located on a bluff overlooking the harbor.

It provided recreation and temporary quarters for over four million men during World War II, and was visited by celebrities, including Bob Hope and Lucille Ball.

[2] The facility was converted to civilian use in 1947, offering accommodations to young travelers and senior citizens.

From September 1967 to November 2018, as the Harbor View House, the building operated as a residence serving the mentally ill.[2] It was licensed as a 204-bed Adult Residential Facility, Mentally Ill by the California Department of Social Services, and an 83-bed Intermediate Care Nursing Facility by the California Department of Public Health Services.

Harbor View House was sold in April 2018 to a developer planning to convert the historic building into a combined residential-commercial property.