THANK you Glenn Ford —
THANK you Glenn Ford — your role as one of our favourite movie stars on late show repeats actually focused our attention on Yuma.Who could forget that acclaimed classic 4.10 to Yuma, starring him and Van Heflin in a much praised classic western. Ford's death just around the time we were thinking about our next trip helped focus our attention in that direction.
We'd actually met both stars, not on that film but earlier in their careers.But we did know it had become such a popular cult film that even German movie fans regularly arrive in Arizona's far southwest corner and rush to have their pictures taken at the station beside the tracks.
One problem. There's no passenger station and it takes two days to get there from Chicago via rail — a long haul.
Actually our first trip there did involve a film. Among our most exciting assignments as young journalists was covering on-location filming of Tobruk.>That Second World War action film set in North Africa was actually filmed in what was then locally called the Yuma sand hills and nearby sections of southeastern California's desert.
The area was no stranger to movie-making. It's list of creditd covers a Who's Who of early productions needing dramatic desert locations. Starting with headliners such as Beau Geste (1939 and 1966), the firsI>Ten Commandments<$>, The Three Musketeers (1932), aThe Lost Patrol and Garden of Al<$>(both 1934), it continued into modern films.
War films from The Desert Fox nd Sahara <$>to Five Graves to Cairo nd The Flight of the Phoenix <$>were done here. Famed stunt flyer Paul Manz lost his life during production of the original classic starring Jimmy Stewart, in which an attempt is made to rebuild a crashed plane.
From Seven Days May <$>(1964), StWars <$>(1977), Return of the Jedi 983), The Getaway <$>(1993) — even Road tanzibar<$>, Road to Moco, The Sad Sack<$>, Last of the Comhes, Rambo III <$>— it's safe to say one of these is still being shown on a late late show somewhere.
<$z9>Continued from Page 17
Tobruk's stars — Rock Hudson, George Peppard, Nigel Green, Guy Stockwell and Robert Wolders — settled into a local Holiday Inn where fans so constantly interrupted their meals for autographs they complained it was almost impossible to eat.
In fact, I came close to an embarrassing moment when I reached into my purse looking for a postcard to ask Rock Hudson to write a note. It was for my 87-year-old cousin, Carrie, who I visited weekly. Her mother was my great grandfather's sister.
Hudson's much-married mother, Catherine, who went to grammar school with my father, used to visit Carrie in the north shore suburb where both lived and later brought her young son along. I thought Carrie would enjoy being remembered by the former Roy Fitzgerald.
That's before Guy Stockwell volunteered , oblivious of my intention, "If there's anything I can't stand, it's someone who asks for an autograph claiming it's for a friend, which you know is not true, then asks for another dozen for others".
That plan was immediately abandoned and consequently, after all the stars we've interviewed or met on location, I've never ever asked one for an autograph or a photograph together — only if the studio publicity men suggested it, as they sometimes did.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves.More about the impressive list of locally made movies later. The drive southwest from Phoenix is through classic desert — miles of open horizon, broad valleys edged by mountains veiled in that misty purplish haze.
Yuma had been an interesting small town last time through, with a centre core still containing historic adobe buildings. This time its sprawl had spread far out into the desert, one of those personality-less collections of every major American brand-name store you've ever encountered anywhere.
Ugly, a seemingly total lack of zoning, like some short-sighted planning commission had freaked out in greedy images of tax revenue from over-development. Even before that, coming down over Telegraph Pass, seemingly endless trailer parks and compact housing developments had started.
"I think we've made a terrible mistake," this traveller lamented.
"So do I," agreed brother Jim. "we can stay the night and move on tomorrow."
Seven mornings later we finally did leave. What happened to change our very unpleasant first impression? What made all that excess sprawl bearable?
Several surprising things — discovering a very unique place to stay, a true oasis in the desert, meeting a few equally unique people with an exceptional, much-treasured sense of history, and remains of that frontier history, rare even in the west so famed for it.
But first, the place that became our own personal desert oasis. Initially headed for a brand new Hampton Inn that had advertised "luxury suites", we found it sat on a bleakly landscaped site overlooking what until recently had been agricultural land but was now a super-sized shopping mall.
Interestingly, we'd had our doubts about it when, under "attractions" in its brochure, Hampton listed that shopping mall and a local Indian casino, but absolutely no mention of its very famous — and infamous — territorial prison, vintage 1850, and a dozen other historic sites that make a trip here worth the effort. You'll be surprised when we tell you about them.
Above the property on a higher slope was a large Shilo Inn. That name isn't familiar to those from the east, but the Portland, Oregon headquartered chain has more than 45 properties and a major reputation across the west.
We would later learn from hotel manager Sanford Potter, who runs a super-efficient operation with a strong sense of individuality, deservedly rated the best in town, that the name means "a place of rest".
"Let's look at it," Jim had suggested, bypassing Hampton.
"Remember how nice the Shilo near Palm Springs was when we stayed thgere?"
And indeed it was.
What made this one so unusual were large, lush gardens thriving under the welcome shade of trees surrounding its spacious pool area. Very resort-like in character and personality, it was far above the ordinary. Coming back there after a day out in the desert was like reaching a remembered oasis we'd enjoyed in Tunisia, Morocco. Marvellous.
Harrison Ford and Sylvester Stallone were among stars who headquartered here during filming and the late DennWeaver of Gunsmoke<$> and McCloud acclaim was among a long list of regular repeaters.
When foreign officials arrive here to witness weapons testing at the nearby Yuma Proving Grounds, this is where the US government has them stay.
If all those film stars and foreign generals are comfortable here, we certainly could be. Since our intent had originally been whittled down to one night, we didn't even ask about a suite. But our fourth floor room was extra large and spacious, with two queen-size beds, dining area, microwave, refrigerator and balcony looking down into the large garden-pool area that helped one forget the shopping mall down the hill, with mountains in the distance.
Included in our rate was a nightly cocktail hour with two drinks per guest, full and varied hot buffet breakfast, hot coffee in the sizeable lobby and a perpetual supply of popcorn, plus bowels of crisp, red, delicious apples.
That first day piqued our interest. We very much enjoyed starting and ending our day beside the pool under rustling palms, impressive ficus trees and other-world atmosphere. And so it began.
We started exploring and re-exploring local wonders. Each day we'd either start or end by asking at reception if they had space for another day. "you're still here," the friendly staff would proclaim each morning in Shilo's very fashionable adjoining restaurant.
A dramatic lifelike, floor-to-ceiling mural depicting and Italian village covered two large walls, while another of glass looked out over the garden-pool area. Every evening, wine on their broad terrace was very pleasant.
Breakfast — more like a brunch — was a real bonus, varying in selections daily. But the real piece de resistance was manager Art Everett, who was a one-man information centre on the area's remarkable past. Would that every area had someone with his interest in history. Frankly, we'd never met anyone more informed or historically involved in their region. Like us, Art haunts local estate sales, hunts down pieces of history in antique shops, and leaves no stone unturned in researching and attempting to preserve Yuma's very unusual past and treasures that remain to fascinate visitors. Jim accurately labelled him a walking Wikiopedia.
Every morning we talked to Art, who generously shared his lively anecdotes, then we'd march in and extend our stay another day. One hopes local officials realise what a treasure they have here and utilise his talents.
Custome-made, lalique-like chandeliers are coveted by diners. They're a match to those in the hotel's attractive lobby, but amazingly, those prized fixtures cost the hotel adversely when it comes to their Diamond rating.
To those who consider such ratings when making hotel reservations, this disclosure was especially aggravating. The hotel has what this globetrotting journalist considers very attractive mirrored pillars with some of those lalique-like leaves covering subdued lighting.
"As long as those are in the lobby, you'll never get another diamond," management was told by the inspector who rates them. Would it be too impolite to insert the word 'imbecilic' before 'inspector'? This obviously very unsophisticated individual considers them too 1950s. Really! Imagine what they'd do to some of Europe's great hotel treasures like Paris' Ritz, London's Claridges or a Spanish castle paradour — rate them too 19th century?
That sort of idiocy never influenced evaluations I wrote in Fodor guidebooks. Be warned — don't put too much stock in such ratings because they often leave a lot to be desired. This place deserves four diads.
|0x95|Fact file: Shimo Inn, Yuma. website address: shiloinns.com or shilo inn, yuma, arizona. Tel 928 -782-9511. Rates vary seasonally but were $193 nightly at the time of our visit.
