The Breakfast Club
An Affiliate of The
The Knife & Fork
Breakfast Club Visits
Winslow, LaPosada Hotel
13 May 2006
by Warren McIlvoy
The May Breakfast Club event
saw us heading to the northeast towards one of our favorite places, Winslow
and the LaPosada Hotel. Winslow, and to be more specific,
the LaPosada Hotel has become one of the places that we like to make
return visits. Though the flight is not that long (only about
45-50 minutes) but the destination is truly worth the effort. The town
itself does not have much to offer but the hotel has an allure that makes one
want to visit on a regular basis. One of the locals told me that Winslow is
known for its "rails and jails". There are 94 trains a day
that travel through town with the AmTrack train
making two stops, the morning stop east bound and the evening stop west bound.
There is also a State prison just outside of town that does provide some
employment for some of the local folks.
The Winslow Airport a.k.a., Winslow-Lindbergh Regional Airport
was named after the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh. In the years
following his famous trans-Atlantic flight, Lindbergh would remain a
prominent figure in the world of aviation. TWA hired Lindbergh
as an advisor to the airline, naming its new transcontinental route the "Lindbergh
Line." He flew unchartered territories with his wife, Anne Morrow
Lindbergh, plotting new air routes for Pan Am in the late 1920s and
early 1930s. Winslow
Airport (INW), was one of the airports used
for the "Lindbergh Line".
After most of the Breakfast Club folks had landed and assembled around the terminal
building, the cab appeared to take the first load to the hotel. For those folks
who were staying the night, the folks at Winslow Air (928-289-2429) gave
us the use of the "airport limo". By the
time that all had arrived, we were seated at three or four long tables in the Turquoise
Room. The Turquoise Room is a truly elegant,
first-class dinning facility that almost seems out of place in this part of the
country. It would be right at home if it were located in up-scale
"Considered by many to
be the finest restaurant in the entire
For our after breakfast treat, I had arranged to have a private, guided tour or
the LaPosada by none other than a member of the "
At this point, let me insert some of the history of the LaPosada and Mary
Elizabeth Jane Coulter. Some of the following is taken from my story the last
time that we stayed at the hotel. I have also expanded some descriptions of
various areas of the hotel.
LaPosada was
designed by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, chief architect and designer for
the Fred Harvey Company from 1905 until her retirement in the 1950's. Colter is famous for her magnificent buildings at the
All of Colter's buildings are historical-theater. She was a
scholar of the Southwest and wanted to educate visitors about the great culture
of the region through her work. Before she began to design, she would choose a
historic and regionally specific building type. She would then imagine a
fantasy history specific to the building she was creating.
Colter designed
the central part of the hacienda as if built in 1869, with major additions to
east and west during the next 60 years. And then, the story goes,
in 1929 the family sold the place to Fred Harvey for 'conversion' to a hotel.
It's all a fantasy of course - the hotel was built in 1929 - but through these
historic and architectural details Colter is able to create a very special aura
at LaPosada, the aura of a grand and ancient estate.
LaPosada opened May 15, 1930 just after the Stock Market crash of
1929, and was only open for 27 years. In 1957 the hotel closed to the public.
The museum-quality furnishings were auctioned off in 1959. In the early 1960's
much of the building was gutted and transformed to offices for the Santa Fe
Railway. Several times over the ensuing 40 years the building was nearly
demolished, as recently as 1994 when the railway announced plans to move out
for good. The National Trust for Historic Preservation found out about LaPosada's
peril and put it on their endangered list - where it came to the attention of Allan
Affeldt. After 3 years of negotiation with the now BNSF Railway, LaPosada
was purchased in January 1997 by the LaPosada LL
Once inside the LaPosada, you pass through an arched ceiling corridor
with doors on your left that lead to what was once the main dinning room. This
is still used for wedding receptions and meetings requiring a large seating
area. On the right, there are some recesses in the walls that contain various
works of art done by Tina Mion, wife to Allan Affeldt, one of the
two folks that purchased the hotel in 1997. Also in the corridor was a
reproduction of a "Monks Chair" that was recreated by Master
Carpenter, Keith Mion, and brother of Tina. The floor of the
corridor was constructed of what appeared to be Mexican Tile on steroids. This
was but one example of the many different materials used for the floors
throughout the LaPosada.
In the original plan, the Turquoise Room
was an informal dining hall. Two U-shaped counters of colorful Mexican Tile
could seat sixty hungry travelers at a time. Each counter had direct access to
the kitchen. The waitress floors were sunken so the servers would be at ideal
serving level. The counters and built-in cabinetry were demolished in the early
1960's. This area became the computer center for the Santa Fe Railway
Our tour of the LaPosada included a close
inspection of the Ballroom. This room is 2000' in area and certainly bigger
than most houses in the 1930's. The concrete, channel beam ceiling is turquoise
in color and called Colter Blue with gold and silver leaf details. The railroad
converted this to a conference room with acoustic tile ceilings, sealed
blacked-out windows and a projector screen over the fireplace. The Ballroom in
the 1930's was decorated as the family living room. There were huge purple
carpets and Navajo area rugs partially covering the wood floors, ancient
engravings of Cortez and his conquests, simple stools with heart-shaped
cut-outs, deep velvet couches, and tin palm-frond lamps flanking the fireplace.
Colter spent a great deal of time at the LaPosada and was so cantankerous that
she had to be asked to shuffle back home to
As you exit the Ballroom, you descend just a few
steps to an interim landing. If you proceed straight ahead, you will ascend a
much longer run of steps to an upper level where there is a door that leads to
the, as yet unrestored, east wings. There is a small window in the door where
you can see just how the railroad had gutted out the guest rooms and converted
the space to offices of 1960's design. Above this upper level is the "Windtower". Warm air blows from the south
across watered lawns where it is cooled, humidified and pushed through the
public spaces and up the tower. Wind blows through the tower creating a vacuum
to suck the lobby air out. Halls run North-South to capture prevailing winds
and guest room doors are louvered to create convection currents. Colter
designed LaPosada with a passive solar building envelope to keep the hotel cool
even during the warm summer season.
The Cinder block Court connects the lobby
and the west wing. Cinder blocks were a new material in the 1920's. Colter used
the hand molded blocks to give the court a rustic look. A series of gas torches
illuminated the south wall and rough Spanish benches covered the radiators. A
200-year-old bench was brought from an ancient nearby ranch house was to the
right. The court was designed as an Orangerie,
a warm, well-lit refuge for fragrant citrus trees that were moved indoors in
big pots for the winter. As you pass through the Cinder block Court to
enter the west wing, you come upon a suspended, spiral, concrete and
wrought-iron staircase that leads to the 2nd floor west wing,
restored in 1998. The hall floors and "compass" symbol below the staircase
are of Linoleum Mosaic. A rare application of 1/4 inch linseed oil tiles hand
cut and grouted to pattern. Colter designed these one-of-kind floors to dampen
noise n LaPosada's long hallways.
Along the north wall of the Cinder Block Court
are two pairs of double wood doors separated by a long series of wooden
windows. These doors lead you to the
Below I have inserted some clips
form the owners of this celebrated place.
"When we bought LaPosada
in 1997, it was in danger of being torn down. Our objective was not to have a
hotel but to save a National treasure-the masterpiece of
Part of the garden project is to redesign the north entry to reflect the fact
that the vast majority of the hotel's visitors now arrive by automobile rather
than rail. To that end, the parking lot will be pushed out toward the street
and the entry steps will be eliminated in favor of an entry that is compatible
with
When all of the formal festivities were completed,
the six remaining Breakfast Club folks decided to take the short walk (about two blocks) to
the "Standing on the Corner" park.
"Standing on the
Corner" is a City park donated to
the city by the pioneer Kaufman Family. The plaque on the side of the
building says that this family was involved in ranching, banking, railroading,
and commerce. The park was donated to the city in 1998. The bronze statue was
sculpted by Ron Adamson under the direction of architect Loren Sadler
and the accompanying murals on the side of the building were done by John
Pugh. I am guessing that the inspiration for the art work was due to a
popular song by the Eagles in the 1970's(?) "Standing on the Corner in
Some time last year, a structure fire gutted the
building that has the murals painted on it. The west and east walls along with
the lower portion of the south wall, still remain and have been stabilized but
there is a chain-link fence surrounding the "park" so you can no
longer get up close and personal with the bronze statue. However, the City (I
am assuming that it was the City) has parked a real flat-bed Ford along the
curb to soften the blow.
Following our visit to the park,
the six of us continued north another block or two in search of a convenience
store to pick-up some "brewskies"
and snacks to share. Back at the hotel, we filled the plastic bags with ice and
secured our spots in the Sunken Gardens to just enjoy the rest of the
afternoon. The cold beers and swapping of tails and lies sure made for an
enjoyable afternoon.
We had 6:30 dinner reservations and so about 5:45, we strolled down to the
"Espresso Bar and Martini Lounge" adjacent to the Turquoise
Room, and sampled one of their custom-made, Blue Lagoon margaritas.
Promptly at 6:30, we were seated at our table and enjoyed a truly tasty and
relaxing meal and just enjoying the comradely that only a group fly-in can
offer. At about 8:00, we strolled out the railroad tracks to welcome the west
bound AmTrack train. The train only stopped for about
3-minutes so if you were getting-off or on in Winslow, you had better be
fleet-of-foot to not miss your stop. There was a light breeze out of the
southwest that made for a very pleasant evening so we all parked ourselves in
the "deck" chairs on the adjacent patio and just enjoyed
casual conversation and the passing freight trains.
On Sunday morning, we all met in the Turquoise Room at 0700 for a
delectable breakfast and to prepare for our departure for the airport. When the
refueling and pre-flight chores were completed, it was back to the valley and
reality. This is the second time that the Breakfast
Club has savored an overnight stay at the
LaPosada and I have a strong feeling that it will not be the last.
The Winslow Gang
The LaPosada
Campers
What's On Tap?
For our June Breakfast Club
event, we are doing a switch-a-roo with our June and
August schedule. We will be moving Show Low to June and moving Whiteriver
to August. We will be attending the EAA sponsored pancake breakfast at the Show
Low airport that will negate any transportation issues. In July, we will be
traveling to
Click on the link below to view the photos of our
Winslow fly-in. I have also included photos from our prior visit.
Click on Wnslow/LaPosada link to view photos of this fly-in event.