$1.5-Million Fire Guts Wing of Spa

SAN MARCOS — Fire destroyed the central wing of the exclusive Golden Door Beauty Resort north of here Saturday night, but the staff and 29 guests were evacuated safely.

Damage to the San Diego County health spa, where guests pay upwards of $2,550 per week for a weight-reducing regimen of workouts, meditation, massage and communal hot-tub baths, was estimated by the San Marcos Fire Department at $1.5 million.

A Fire Department spokesman said that the central wing contained the resort’s administrative offices and main lobby--which featured a world-renowned collection of rare vases and hand-painted rice-paper screens.

Cause of the blaze was still under investigation, but Golden Door General Manager Rachel Caldwell said the “latest word is that it was almost certainly (an electrical) problem in one of the (laundry room) dryers.”