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| La Posada Hotel, Winslow, AZ is home to the Turquoise Room coffee blend |
On a recent trip along old Highway 66,
we stopped at the La Posada Hotel in Winslow, AZ to refresh ourselves, lunch
and take in the vintage architecture of this old Fred Harvey inn.
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| Turquoise Room provides "Harvey Girl" service to this day. |
The waitress
approaching us wore a last century uniform of the Fred Harvey company, a string
of late 19th and early 20th century restaurants sited inside hotels and/or
train stations.
“Welcome to
the Turquoise Room,” she beamed and handed us a large menu of American
fare. In the course of lunching we
learned from her that in 1935, architect Mary Jane Colter was commissioned to
design the private dining car for the Acheson, Topeka & Santa Fe
railroad’s Super Chief, a train that was to run from Chicago to Los Angeles the
following year.
The private
dining car was named The Turquoise Room. The
inaugural run started on Track 5 in Chicago’s Dearborn Station on May 12th
1936. Actress Eleanor Powell was named its first passenger and so began its
illustrious flirtation with the Hollywood Stars of the day.
The
Turquoise Room was a favorite of the studio chiefs and stars of the day for
their private dining pleasure. When the La Posada was built management named
the main dining room after the Turquoise Room aboard the Super Chief.
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| Turquoise Room, private dining on the Super Chief |
Today, the
Turquoise Room is one of the southwest's unique restaurants, providing a
mesmerizing interpretation of chef John Sharpe’s Arizona cuisine. And, frankly, it is a gem that awaits all of
us that travel off the beaten path.
While not a
fan of blended coffees, the Turquoise Room has commissioned its own delicious
blend. A cup of the Turquoise Blend
complemented a fine lunch and set us off in a mood eager to continue searching
for our next serendipity.
The La
Posada’s coffees are roasted in Flagstaff by Late for the Train Coffee Company.
The Turquoise Room Blend is advertised as a yin/yang of darkly roasted South
American and medium roasted Indonesian beans.
The blend is 100% organic and comes in regular and decaf, espresso and
decaf espresso in one pound bags.
LA POSADA HOTEL.
After
visiting the worn down La Posada Hotel in 1994, Californians Allan Affeldt and
his wife Tina Mion bought the property and linked with preservations to restore
the La Posada to its original allure. The couple brought in a friend, John
Sharpe, who is an experienced chef and restaurant executive to create the new
and current Turquoise Room.
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| In its heyday, Fred Harvey restaurants appeared every 100 miles along the Super Chief's Los Angeles to Chicago run. Early image of Turquoise Room Harvey Girls |
FRED HARVEY.
The late
19th century growth and development of the Fred Harvey Company was closely
related to that of AT&SF. Under the terms of an oral agreement, Harvey
opened his first depot restaurant in Topeka, Kansas in January 1876. Railroad
officials and passengers alike were impressed with Fred Harvey's strict
standards for high quality food and first class service. As a result, AT&SF
entered into subsequent contracts with Harvey wherein he was given unlimited
funds to set up a series of what were dubbed "eating houses" along
most of the route. At more prominent locations, these eating houses evolved
into hotels, many of which survive today. By the late 1880s, there was a Fred
Harvey dining facility located every 100 miles along the AT&SF.
HARVEY GIRLS.
“The Harvey
Girls: Opportunity Bound” is a new documentary film that tells the story of how
over 100,000 railroad station waitresses opened up the doors of the American
West and the workplace to women and changed history. It was a finalist for a
James Beard Award, has been broadcast on over a dozen PBS stations and is
currently touring museums across the country.
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/23102
ORIGINAL ARCHITECT.
Mary
Elizabeth Jane Colter (April 4, 1869 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – January 8,
1958) was an American architect and designer. She was the decorator and
architect for the Fred Harvey Company. Her buildings at the Grand Canyon and
work for the Fred Harvey Company and AT&SF Railroad had a great influence
on the popularity and development of the American Southwest. Colter designed
the Bright Angel Lodge, Hermit's Rest, Hopi House, the Lookout Studio and
Watchtower at the Grand Canyon.
THE SUPER CHIEF.
The Atchison,
Topeka and the Santa Fe’s grand hotel on rails, the Super Chief, ran daily
between Chicago and Los Angeles from 1936 to 1971. The trip usually took 36 hours.
Super Chief
Vintage 1950s video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl_LoQ4vHDc
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| With our Turquoise Room Blend coffee by Flagstaff’s Late for the Train coffee company, we split a Pecan and Pinyon pie in a cornmeal crust by chef John Sharpe. |
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