Co-owner Maggie Kohanek opened the B&B in 2001 with her siblings. The family wanted to take care of their mother as she battled Alzheimer’s disease, and they bought the Gardens as a way to have an income while looking after her needs. “We had never done anything like that,” says Kohanek, who lives on the property and attends to guests as they come and go. “We didn’t know how to run a bed and breakfast or what to do.”
Now more than 100 years old — the property celebrated its centennial in 2017 — the Vendome features 20 guest rooms with private bathrooms, many of which include vintage claw-foot tubs. And while modern amenities have been installed over the years (think Wi-Fi, televisions, air conditioning and heat), much of the hotel’s original charm remains.
Auto courts dominated the roadways when they built the Coronado Motor Hotel in 1938. Combining rooms with adjacent parking under one roof, rather than in separate cottages, was a progressive idea then.
The Peaches built their home at the center of the original 14 units, using timbers from the old Southern Pacific Hotel. Their son, John Jr., literally grew up in the hotel, helping with everything from laundry to checking in guests in the front room of the family home.
Along the wash that fronts the long wooden porch, mesquite trees cast speckled shade on blue agaves and towering prickly pear cactuses. Goldfinches hop from branch to branch while the sun makes pinpricks of light on the trees’ spindly leaves, illuminating the spines of golden barrel cactuses as pale and yellow as beaten egg yolks. Near the outdoor fireplace, a miniature St. Francis maintains a silent vigil.
The Scottsdale couple completely renovated the property, which dates to the 1970s and originally was an office building. People who drive through Strawberry on State Route 87 know it for the windmill out front, which once held a small coffee shop. That windmill has become a popular background for photos, and the inn is drawing visitors from the Phoenix area and beyond.
