MORE ABOUT THE PROPRIETOR OF THE COTTONWOOD HOTEL
In 1993, I first opened Madame's Mercantile (Clothier) and Coffee Saloon, a business a couple of doors up the street at 1004 N. Main. I had my eye on the historic hotel for awhile. I figured by moving the mercantile over to the hotels adjoining property, that the store would give me the income needed to renovate the hotel property and possibly open a B & B (Bed & Breakfast), as that was always a dream of mine. But, that direction changed a few times.
Befriending a couple of the 'old timers' here in Old Town Cottonwood who shared their true life stories with me, I learned more and more about the town. They told me how their families built several of the buildings two and even three times after fires. I appreciated the history of the small town all the more.
I thought that by purchasing and renovating the hotel, it could only increase the small-town ambiance. I decided to take on the challenge. Since most of the hard work I THOUGHT was already done, like the (electrical, plumbing, restructuring) I thought I'd go in and just add my personal touches, move my clothing store and coffee shop over and open a bed & breakfast. It wasn't that easy! The only way I could do it and not bankrupt myself was to do the work myself working 24/7. I haven't had a vacation since I acquired the property back in 1996. Trying to stay optimistic, I like to use one of Mae West' famous quotes "Everyday's a Holiday!" Hey, if you enjoy what you're doing, what the heck. I was always one to work hard and multi-task. Some would call that a "labour of love". Especially with all the years and several phases of hard work and frustration. But there was always the pride after an accomplishment. It has indeed been both a painstaking and rewarding process.
From living in a cute custom built home, and paid for at that, with no mortgage, I decided to get creative, give up my home, by using it as a down payment on the hotel property. Everyone said I was crazy to give up the security and put everything at risk for a high mortgage payment and high interest rate too. Having a positive outlook, I figured it could only pay off in the end. I looked at it as my retirement.
I moved into a two room studio and took one room at a time doing a little here and a little there. With lots of old carpet and years of layered linoleum (1990's over 70's over 50's and then some) over beautiful hardwood floors only meant stripping away and refinishing the original floors. Cracked walls, caked on coats of paint, layers of nicotine, old appliances, broken faucets, I could go on and on, to what needed to be done. I first cleaned up and repainted the upper room and bath, and the two studios. I still needed to keep whatever rented. There was a couple renting unit 2 at the time (she was a teacher and he was an artist), and a retired gentleman in unit 1. So I kept them to keep a cash flow while I started working on the other units. It's interesting that the units I first cleaned up and painted were the last to get a good overhaul. Unit 3 is one of them, which now looks great.
As tough as the work has been, it is still a constant rewarding process. It's always "an adventure" that you either love or hate --sometimes both simultaneously. Peeling away a building's past, uncovering another fascinating story, you take what comes to you and you make it work. Now those are words of a true historic preservationist. Aside from the finances, projects like these take time and a great deal of emotional investment. It can drain you and sometimes you have to pull away from it and let it set for awhile. The hardest thing is living in it while you're renovating. It surrounds you all the time, and you can't escape it.
Renovating a structure alone is a big challenge. Bringing it up to modern standards of comfort, yet take great care to preserve the hotel's historic integrity. This kind of work is expensive, as anyone who has ever undertaken the renovation of even an old house or a relatively new one at that can attest. The rewards are that you end up with a much higher quality property in the end, with sometimes a better structure than the new stuff out there today. The minor maintenance and repairs afterward are far from as intimidating as the big overall project.
The historic traditional western style hotel building was a popular style at the turn of the 19th century and early 20th century in the old west. With a unique history, remarkably little has changed since it was re-built in 1925 after a major fire demolished a good portion of the whole town. Read more about the Cottonwood Hotel history on our hotel history page.
And as if restoration wasn't enough, becoming a landlord as well, now that's not the easiest job. Being an innkeeper is a little easier, but has it's challenges too. You still need to be available 24/7 for either, besides needing to be experienced in a lot of areas and multi-tasking. Being an innkeeper is much more fun, as transient guests come for fun times and exploring, which is up my alley too. I love sharing the historical stories with those who are willing to listen and I really love taking guests on a hike, and take a break for awhile.
Our repeat guests keep coming back just to see our progress through the years. They are happy to be contributing towards the historic hotel renovation.
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Infinite gratitude
Sincerely,
Karen J. Leff
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INSPIRATION
My dear 'late' beloved friends in the photo below gave me the 'INSPIRATION' to purchase and renovate the COTTONWOOD HOTEL.
The Becchetti girls were Joseph Becchetti's daughters. Hall was Joe Hall's daughter.
These gals grew up in Cottonwood Arizona during the depression and the wild prohibition 'BOOTLEGGING' Days! Their fathers built several of these now 'Old Town' buildings two and three times. They were good men and fathers that worked hard to support their families. They were quite the entreprenaurs during hard times.
See more by clicking here COTTONWOOD HISTORY.
From left to right:
Helen BECCHETTI Dover, Jean HALL Redmond, Josephine 'Jo' BECCHETTI See
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