Ride the Wild Canvas: Cowboy Art is a Draw at the Hermosa Inn
By Jo Anne Grammond
Photos courtesy of The Hermosa Inn
Located on six acres overlooking Camelback Mountain in Paradise Valley, The Hermosa Inn is a fixture in Arizona history. A trip there is a history lesson about the West, captured on canvases and murals in vivid detail by renowned cowboy artist Alonzo “Lon” Megargee mounted throughout the resort.
The resort’s main building was originally a small one-room studio and residence that Megargee built in 1935. According to Mike Gildersleeve, the inn’s general manager, Megargee added to the studio over time, using adobe blocks, old beams, and wood from abandoned mines. He aged the exterior walls with a mixture of oil and ash to create his own hacienda in the desert. “The Hermosa Inn is one of the few true adobe-style structures in Arizona, and is the oldest hacienda guest ranch,” Gildersleeve says.
To supplement his art income, Megargee opened his home, which he called Casa Hermosa, to guests. Megargee eventually sold the home, and a string of new owners carried on the tradition of hospitality, adding amenities such as tennis courts and a pool.
Today, The Hermosa Inn is owned by local residents Fred and Jennifer Unger, who purchased the property in 1992 and have worked to restore the property to reflect its original ambience and honor its artistic heritage. The inn features thirty-five guest rooms, all of which display Megargee’s works. The artist’s paintings are also featured in Lon’s Restaurant, which is located in the original structure.
True to its artistic roots, the intimate setting of The Hermosa Inn draws those who have an appreciation for art as well as those who are simply passionate about the Southwest. “Our roots are embedded in art, and we have a commitment to preserving that strong relationship with Western art that began with Lon sixty-five years ago,” Gildersleeve says.
In keeping with the resort’s beginnings, The Hermosa Inn hosts an annual artist-in-residence program. Six brunch and six dinner events bring together local artists and writers in an intimate setting. The Hermosa Inn is also joining Phoenix and Scottsdale in celebrating National Cowboy Artist Month in October and will offer a package from October 20 through November 18 that will give guests an opportunity to learn the basics of art while experiencing the Western authenticity of The Hermosa Inn.
The package includes two nights of deluxe accommodations in a casita, daily breakfasts and one dinner for two at Lon’s restaurant, two tickets to the forty-second Annual Cowboy Artists of America Exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum, art supplies, and two hours of private art instruction for two led by artists from the Scottsdale Artist School. Guests can choose their art experience in Western drawing, watercolors, or acrylics. The instructional session includes discussion about Western art and the local art community, basic drawing techniques, color mixing and complements, creating basic composition, and use of artists’ tools. The package is $1,195 plus tax and hospitality fee.
In addition to the Western Artist package, Lon’s Restaurant is offering a specialty Cowboy Tasting menu created by renowned executive chef Michael Rusconi. The menu includes Western-inspired dishes such as West Texas red chili beef stew, trail-smoked salmon, Durham Ranch buffalo relleno, Sonoran Desert-style venison T-bone, and cast-iron bread pudding with Knob Hill whiskey caramel sauce.
For reservations and more information, call The Hermosa Inn at (602) 955-8614 or visit hermosainn.com.