Adventure 051, Site 025 – Santa Fe Hotel

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 051, Site 025 – Santa Fe Hotel

National Registry ID: 1991000287

Local Registry ID: 94

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  September 16, 2012

Location:

Latitude: 36°44′16″N

Longitude: 119°46′56″W

Address: 935 Santa Fe Ave, Fresno, CA

Description:

Date Built: 1913

Architect: None on record

The modest Santa Fe Hotel, a Modified Renaissance Revival building, was built by Telesfuro Jance and named for the Santa Fe Depot across the street. The facade of the second story is intact, but the original glass windows at street level have been filled in and modernized.
The hotel was built to serve the Basque community in California, and like similar hotels in other American cities, the Santa Fe Hotel stands near the passenger train station.
The Santa Fe helped newly arrived bascos find employment. It was a seasonal home to nomadic Basque shepherds and a place for them to receive mail and store belongings when they were on the range. According to tradition, the hotel storeroom has held as many as one hundred bedrolls, some for men who had not been seen for decades.
For the man who was either injured or ill, the hotel served as a clinic where he could recuperate. In the early years, it was common for Basque women living on isolated ranches to board in the hotel during the later stages of pregnancy. The baby often was born in the hotel, and the hoteleeper's wife frequently served as midwife. Basque children living on isolated ranches might be boarded at the hotel during the school year. The hotel also functioned as a home for the elderly, with a population of retired bachelor herders who preferred to live out their lives in the United States rather than return to the old country. Sometimes the hotel functioned as a funeral parlor, where a corpse spent its last night before interment.

A secret of the Santa Fe Hotel's success was the proprietor's ability to be a confidant in his clients' financial affairs, legal matters and general dealings with the Anglo world. The Basque sheepherder generally had a limited education, and the isolation inherent in his occupation prevented him from learning the English needed to understand American society. Thus, he was sorely unprepared to deal with the local banker, lawyer or doctor. In all of these areas, the hotelkeeper could be counted on to serve the herder both as interpreter and protector of his interests.
In recent years the Santa Fe Hotel has acquired a considerable non-Basque tourist trade. Although the hotel advertises little, there are many devotees of the Basque cuisine and atmosphere who make a point of frequenting the Santa Fe. Part of the attraction lies in the hearty, ample and inexpensive fare, and the camaraderie of eating meals "family style" at a long boarding house table in the company of strangers. Of particular delight to tourists is the old world atmosphere of the bar, where questions concerning the "mystery" of the Basques may be directed to the bartender.



References:

• Guide to Historic Fresno
  
• Noehill
  

Overall Landmark References:

• David Schmitt's California State Historical Landmark (Schmitt)
  
• Wikipedia: California's National Landmarks (WCNL)
  
• State of California's California Historical Landmarks (CHL)
  
• Wikipedia: California State Landmarks (WCSL)
  
• State of California Historical Resources (CHR)
  
• National Registry of Historical Places (NRHP)