A signature Tucson resort is celebrating its centennial with a new owner and a new brand.
Kiren Patel bought the Westward Look earlier this year and brought it into the Wyndham Grand Resort brand.
This is the first time the Westward Look has been branded, said Jerry Jensen, director of sales and marketing for what is now called the Westward Look Wyndham Grand Resort and Spa.
"It's a good thing," Jensen said. "They changed very little. It provides great advantages."
The Westward Look, 245 E. Ina Road, began as a family home with many visitors, which then opened its doors to travelers. In about 1920, when tourism was becoming important to Tucson's economy, 15 guest cottages were added, and the guest ranch officially opened for business.
The hotel got its current name in the 1940s when it was a full-blown "dude ranch."
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It caught the attention of Disney filmmakers, and in 1953 Disney filmed "The Living Desert" documentary at the Westward Look. Most of the wildlife shown in the film was donated to what would soon become the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Jensen said.
Later years brought restaurants, a spa, tennis courts and a ballroom.
Today, it's an 80-acre resort at the base of the Catalinas. The main building, which houses the lobby, is still the original building built in 1912.
At a celebration this month, guest speaker Jonathan Rothschild, Tucson's mayor, shared his memories of growing up near the Westward Look and learning to ride horses there.
The resort recently underwent a $14 million renovation.
"The focus right now is on developing the spa to a greater degree, as well as maintaining the position the resort has in the community," Jensen said.
On StarNet: View a slideshow of the Westward Look, including historic photos, at www.azstarnet.com/gallery
DID YOU KNOW?
The Westward Look began as a family home built less than six months after Arizona became a state in 1912.
"Tucson's population was a mere 13,000 residents when William Watson and his wife Maria bought 172 acres of homestead land that was considered desolate and isolated, a long ride on a bumpy dirt road, far from the emerging city in the valley below," the resort's website says.
THE STYLE
The original Westward Look building, designed as a home by local architect Merritt Starkweather, has walls that aren't really adobe "but cleverly disguised concrete and steel, finished with adobe."
Exposed log beams were brought from Mount Lemmon, and the hardwood floor is believed to be mahogany brought to Tucson by train, the resort's website says. Ocotillo branches covering the ceiling have been there the full 100 years.
Ashley Grove is a NASA Space Grant intern at the University of Arizona. Contact her at agrove@azstarnet.com or 573-4674.
