TAKING THE OFF-RAMP

For 75 Years, the Arizona Biltmore Has Brought Out the Song in Everyone

When the Arizona Biltmore resort opened on February 23, 1929, newspapers hailed it as an example of lavish living in a great oasis. But its location-8 miles northeast of downtown Phoenixscared some parents, who refused to allow their daughters to stay in employee dorms, so distant from civilization. Although no one considers the “jewel in the desert” remote anymore, the hotel remains a hallmark of luxury and legend. Almost every celebrity imaginable has stayed there. Ronald and Nancy Reagan honeymooned at the Biltmore, and so did Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, who became frequent guests. Gable once lost his wedding ring on the golf course. An employee found the ring and returned it to him. In the mid-1980s, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Liza Minelli gathered at the Biltmore's grand piano after midnight for an

impromptu concert. Guests poured from their rooms on hearing the commotion, prepared to complain about their interrupted slumber.

They calmed down when they saw Sinatra and his friends. The kibitzers crowded onto the second-floor promenade, tapping their toes. Bing Crosby had created a similar sensation years before.

Brothers Charles and Warren McArthur built the hotel to complement their tour company. They'd moved west from Chicago, and by 1913 had started a successful Dodge dealership in Arizona.

Albert Chase McArthur, older brother of Charles and Warren, designed the building, with help from his mentor, Frank Lloyd Wright. But the McArthurs lost heavily in the 1929 stock market crash, leaving investor William Wrigley Jr., the chewing gum magnate, as sole owner, according to a hotel history written by Candice St. Jacques Miles. With its copper roof and gold-leaf ceilings, the construction tab ran to an unheard of $2.5 million. The Catalina pool, which was a favorite of Marilyn Monroe's, sported tiles-at$1 each-from California's Catalina Island, which Wrigley owned. Songwriter Irving Berlin, another poolside regular, used the Biltmore as a working retreat. In 1939, an Arizona Republic reporter caught up with Berlin as he lounged in trunks and dark glasses. Berlin had been there a week and had already written six songs, as well as the score for the movie When Winter Comes. starring Sonja Henie.

The composer said lyrics came to him more quickly in Phoenix than anywhere else. “When I'm working like this, the sunshine is vital to me,” he said.

Maybe the sunshine made him think of snow.

In her book, The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, daughter Linda Berlin Emmet said he might have written his biggest hit-one of the most popular songs ever-at the desert-bound Biltmore.

The title? “White Christmas.” Information: (602) 955-6600.

A Dog-friendly B&B

Travelers who don't wish to kennel their pooches have a new option in Arizona. The renovated Stoneman Lake Lodge Bed and Breakfast. about 100 miles north of Phoenix, offers varied accommodations, including rooms with entrances and runs for canine companions. The lodge also has a corral for horses arriving to explore the great outdoors with their owners. The bunkhouse, just right for families or large groups, sleeps 10 and the cost starts at $210. Inside the lodge are eight bedrooms with private baths that start at $75 a night including a gourmet breakfast. Visitors have the delightfulchoice to take it easy and lounge on the lodge's spacious rustic porch, or put on some hiking shoes and explore the surrounding Coconino National Forest. Information: (480) 239-0254; www.stonemanlakelodge.com.

Cowboy Talk

Cowboys, with their saunter and slang, have inched their lingo into everyday English. ConsiderHeck out the recent cookbook, Flavors of the Colorado Plateau, at the Museum of Northern Arizona bookstore. Compiled by the museum's staff, docents, volunteers and friends, the nearly 300 recipes range from traditionalIndian dishes to Southwestern to "old country" specialties. Profits from the sale of the cookbook support and expand education about the Colorado Plateau region. Information: (928) 774-5211 or www.musnaz.org.

Flavors of Flagstaff

CHICKEN FAJITAS.

Mix oil, honey, cumin and garlic and pour over cubed chicken. Marinate overnight. Cook on stovetop until chicken is no longer pink in middle. Serve on warmed flour tortillas. Top with lettuce, chopped tomatoes, chopped onion, shredded cheese, salsa and sour cream.

The Cactus Critics' Choice

Located down the road from the extraordinary ArizonaSonora Desert Museum near Tucson, one might think the Red Hills Visitor Center 18 miles west of Tucson in the Saguaro National Park West would be outclassed. No way.

"We get rave reviews from the visitors who come in," says Park Ranger Chip Littlefield.

The center offers a gentle first taste of the Sonoran Desert through hands-on and photographic displays, two easy trails and an extensive bookshop dedicated to the region. The center also offers an automated slide presentation.

Playing in the center's theater, the show presents the Sonoran Desert through the eyes, the legends and the voices of native people of the Tohono O'odham Nation. Be prepared for a surprising and touching ending. Also be prepared for the price of admission-free. Information: (520) 733-5158.

ARIZONA UNDERGROUND

Tombstone's Boot Hill Cemetery might be one of the most famous graveyards in the Southwest, but its formerly rowdy residents aren't the only interesting personalities resting in Arizona's graveyards. Here are some famous favorites: Hadji Ali a.k.a. Hi Jolly (unknown-1902). A monument in Quartzsite holds the remains of this Arab camel driver who led the failed U.S. Army desert camel experiment.

Mary Cummings a.k.a. Big Nose Kate (1850-1940). This infamous madame and girlfriend of Doc Holliday died at the age of 90 in Prescott and is buried in the Arizona Pioneer Home Cemetery.

"Lord" Bryan Philip Darrell Duppa (1832-1892). The gravesite for this eccentric, dipsomaniacal Englishman, who reputedly named Phoenix after the mythological bird that rises from its own ashes, resides in the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park in Phoenix.

U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater (1909-1998). Known as an icon of Arizona politics, a captivating photographer and a shrewd businessman, Goldwater is interred at The Christ Church of Ascension in Paradise Valley.

Sharlot M. Hall (1870-1943). Arizona's state historian and the founder of the Sharlot Hall Museum is buried at the Arizona Pioneer Home Cemetery in Prescott.

George W.P. Hunt (18591934). Hunt, the most-elected governor in U.S. history with seven terms in Arizona, can be visited in Phoenix's Papago Park. John Slaughter (1841-1922). The soft-spoken, iron-willed Slaughter-former Texas Ranger and lawman of Cochise County-is buried in the Douglas Cemetery in Douglas.

Jacob Waltz a.k.a. The Lost Dutchman (1808-1891). This German-born prospector, whose cache of gold in the Superstition Mountains remains lost, can be visited at his final resting spot in Phoenix's Pioneer and Military Memorial Park.

Question of the Month

What Arizona town built the nation's first municipal airport?

In November 1919, Tucson opened the first municipally owned airport in the United States, boasting machine shops and a hangar that could accommodate 10 planes.

Tucson Architecture Guide

If you've ever wondered what gives a city like Tucson a sense of "place," you'll want to pick up a copy of Anne M. Nequette and R. Brooks Jeffery's A Guide to Tucson Architecture. Infused with the authors' zeal to preserve Tucson's rich architectural history, the book guides readers from the 10,500 B.C. camps of nomadic hunter-gatherers to the large malls of today. Describing the influences that resulted in structures like the Henry C. Trost-designed 1898 first Owls Club, home to the brotherhood of Tucson's elite bachelors and the Art Deco facade of a private residence on University Boulevard, the authors call the reader to refocus on Tucson as an "urban city."

Both architects and faculty members at the University of Arizona, Nequette and Jeffery express a nostalgic sense of loss for the sensible thick-walled homes surrounding cool, shaded communal courtyards in Spanish Colonial buildings like those remaining in the Telles Block, home of the Old Town Artisans shops in the original Presidio area.

The book details 13 geographic areas in the city, with maps for walking or driving tours and information on the significant architecture in each of its neighborhoods.

Nequette and Jeffery hope that Tucson's residents won't relinquish the unique diversity of their architecture for a contrived Southwestern style. The authors conclude, "Tucsonans have a responsibility to be stewards of their natural and cultural heritage for future generations to enjoy."