49 Bags. Three Pugs. One Pink Hotel.
From The Arizona Inn Archives - stories from behind the pink walls.
In March 1959, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor came to stay at the Arizona Inn.
They brought 49 pieces of luggage, three beloved pugs, and the kind of international attention that usually followed them wherever they went.
But here, behind the pink walls, life became considerably quieter.
Their three pugs - Disraeli, Trooper and Davy Crockett - settled into Tucson rather well. The Duchess remarked that Arizona’s dry climate seemed to agree with them.
And while the couple may have arrived with royal titles and an extraordinary amount of luggage, the details that remain with us are wonderfully ordinary.
The Duchess planned to read, write letters and arrange flowers.
The Duke hoped to play golf.
And then there was dessert.
A Duke, a Dessert and a Very Good Answer
During their stay, the Duke and Duchess sat for an interview right here on the terrace of the Arizona Inn.
When the Duke was asked about his favorite food, there was no grand royal delicacy.
His answer?
Ice cream. Especially pie à la mode.
It is one of those small details we love because it strips away everything history has told us about who these people were supposed to be.
For a moment, he wasn't the former King of England.
He was simply a guest at the Arizona Inn who really liked his pie with ice cream.
And somehow, that feels much more interesting.
Then Came the Footsteps
There is another story from their stay that has endured at the Inn.
Longtime Arizona Inn employee Maynard Pike was preparing the Dining Room for dinner when he heard footsteps coming across the floor.
The room had not yet been carpeted, so he could hear them approaching from the other end.
They belonged to the Duke.
He had walked the length of the Dining Room simply to personally thank Maynard for his hospitality.
No ceremony.
No audience.
Just a guest saying thank you.
For a hotel that has spent nearly a century believing that hospitality lives in the smallest gestures, perhaps that is the most important part of the story.
The Inn They Knew Is Still Here
More than sixty years have passed since those three pugs padded through the Arizona Inn and 49 pieces of luggage somehow found their way to the correct rooms.
But walk through the Inn today and much of what brought the Windsors here remains.
The gardens are still quiet.
The desert sun still warms the pink walls.
Guests still disappear beneath the trees with books.
The Dining Room still welcomes people around its tables.
And there is still something rather luxurious about being somewhere that doesn't need to announce itself.
The Arizona Inn has welcomed remarkable people since Isabella Greenway opened its doors in 1930.
Some names became part of history.
Others are known only to us.
But every so often, a story survives that gives us a glimpse of what happened behind these walls.
Forty-nine bags. Three pugs. Pie à la mode. And one very gracious walk across the Dining Room.
They came here looking for a little peace and quiet.
More than six decades later, we understand exactly why.
Come stay inside a story.
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