Tahoe’s ‘Death Star’ hotel finally has a new name
The largest resort in Olympic Valley near Lake Tahoe now has a new name, after a 2021 decision to replace the resort’s former name, which contained a racist slur. Fondly referred to by locals as the “Death Star,” owing to the 405-room hotel tower’s reflective black panels, the resort will now be called “Everline Resort and Spa,” Hyatt Hotels announced last week.
The vaguely mountain-sounding name is most likely a portmanteau of “evergreen” and “treeline,” though the resort says the name was developed by a branding agency.
“The name ‘Everline’ encompasses the resort’s evergreen mountain escape that guests can visit season after season, year after year,” wrote the resort in the name change announcement.
“The ‘line’ name also contains a subtle reference to rail lines, creating a connection to history and evoking the excitement of a journey,” said Resort general manager Manfred Steuerwald.
The new name for the ski-in, ski-out resort comes more than 18 months after Tahoe’s largest ski resort adopted the name “Palisades Tahoe” in response to a nationwide movement to rename destinations with historically controversial, racist and sexist slurs. Other locations around the West Coast with names rooted in colonialism also changed their official names around the time, including Yokuts Valley near Kings Canyon National Park and Sue-meg State Park in Humboldt County.
“Everline” was chosen in conjunction with the local Indigenous community, according to Steuerwald. “We met with the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer of the Washoe Tribe to discuss our intentions for renaming the resort and the importance of changing our name to our team,” he said. “The Washoe Tribe was supportive of the decision and the new name.”
The revamped Everline Resort & Spa logo does away with the resort’s old mountainscape logo, switching to a geometric and more current mountain profile. The resort describes the new branding as “artwork [that] evokes the resort as a gateway to natural wonder” and makes “Everline an extension of the environmental experience that stands out by blending into its natural surroundings.” In other words, the new branding is more modern than the former moniker and kind of sounds like something you’d expect to find in the mountains.
Tahoe Resort and the Death Star illustration.
Though “Everline Resort” likely rolls off the tongue a bit better than the resort’s former name, locals and visitors alike may just keep using its galactic nickname: the “Death Star.” While Everline Resort is likely more luxurious than the Death Star, which lacked both a mountain-view pool deck and on-site destination spa, the two do look suspiciously alike, especially when the sun reflects off the building’s black panels as viewed from nearby Palisades Resort. However, there’s a reason for the color scheme: most of the resort’s rooms have oversized windows looking onto the ski resort, and the dark tint prevents the rooms from overheating in direct sunlight.
The largest resort in Olympic Valley near Lake Tahoe now has a new name, after a 2021 decision to replace the resort’s former name, which contained a racist slur. Fondly referred to by locals as the “Death Star,” owing to the 405-room hotel tower’s reflective black panels, the resort will now be called “Everline Resort and Spa,” Hyatt Hotels announced last week.
The vaguely mountain-sounding name is most likely a portmanteau of “evergreen” and “treeline,” though the resort says the name was developed by a branding agency.
“The name ‘Everline’ encompasses the resort’s evergreen mountain escape that guests can visit season after season, year after year,” wrote the resort in the name change announcement.
“The ‘line’ name also contains a subtle reference to rail lines, creating a connection to history and evoking the excitement of a journey,” said Resort general manager Manfred Steuerwald.
The new name for the ski-in, ski-out resort comes more than 18 months after Tahoe’s largest ski resort adopted the name “Palisades Tahoe” in response to a nationwide movement to rename destinations with historically controversial, racist and sexist slurs. Other locations around the West Coast with names rooted in colonialism also changed their official names around the time, including Yokuts Valley near Kings Canyon National Park and Sue-meg State Park in Humboldt County.
“Everline” was chosen in conjunction with the local Indigenous community, according to Steuerwald. “We met with the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer of the Washoe Tribe to discuss our intentions for renaming the resort and the importance of changing our name to our team,” he said. “The Washoe Tribe was supportive of the decision and the new name.”
The revamped Everline Resort & Spa logo does away with the resort’s old mountainscape logo, switching to a geometric and more current mountain profile. The resort describes the new branding as “artwork [that] evokes the resort as a gateway to natural wonder” and makes “Everline an extension of the environmental experience that stands out by blending into its natural surroundings.” In other words, the new branding is more modern than the former moniker and kind of sounds like something you’d expect to find in the mountains.
Tahoe Resort and the Death Star illustration.
screenshot via Google/Juanky Pamies Alcubilla via Flickr CC 2.0 & Fair Use/Illustration by SFGATEThough “Everline Resort” likely rolls off the tongue a bit better than the resort’s former name, locals and visitors alike may just keep using its galactic nickname: the “Death Star.” While Everline Resort is likely more luxurious than the Death Star, which lacked both a mountain-view pool deck and on-site destination spa, the two do look suspiciously alike, especially when the sun reflects off the building’s black panels as viewed from nearby Palisades Resort. However, there’s a reason for the color scheme: most of the resort’s rooms have oversized windows looking onto the ski resort, and the dark tint prevents the rooms from overheating in direct sunlight.
