October 2012

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A short history of Taliesin West

The eccentric–and rather short–Frank Lloyd Wright.

Back in the 30s when Frank Lloyd Wright was building Taliesin West, it was a difficult, long drive from Phoenix across a dry, dusty riverbed. Some 26 miles north of Phoenix in what is now Paradise Valley, the site was located on a mesa below McDowell Peak on what Wright described as “The top of the world!”

Yesterday morning when I drove out there from the Arizona Biltmore, it was an easy jaunt down the freeway. I walked up the gravel path, beneath the vine-covered pergola, and stepped in to Wright’s workroom, immediately banging my head on the transom.

“Should have warned you about that,” said my host. “Low ceilings.”

According to her, Wright, who was only 5’8”, figured if you were any taller “it was a waste of material.” Consequently, everything at Taliesin is rather low to the ground—including the doorways and ceilings.

I came to Taliesin West expecting to feel awe and astonishment, and did I? Not really. The setting is gorgeous. The sloping walls built from rocks and sand scooped up out of the desert, not so much. The whole thing felt rather dark and closeted to me. I wanted big open rooms with expansive walls of glass overlooking the Sonoran desert. Instead, it felt kind of Hobbitish to me; little warrens and dark nooks. A place for monks. Or short eccentric architects.

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Frank Lloyd Wright with his controversial third wife, Olgivanna.

It’s hard to know what to think of Olgivanna Lloyd Wright, Frank Lloyd Wright’s third wife. A documentary on her life calls her “A Partner to Genius.” Less generously, others who knew her—including family members—have called her a tyrant and a charlatan.

Wrote one such critic of Olgivanna’s reign at Taliesin West following Frank Lloyd Wright’s death in 1959, “This hierarchical system was appalling: the widow at the top, then the board of directors (a formality); then her own close inner circle, making all the real decisions; then working architects—the real working horses; at the bottom, students who paid high sums to be admitted, only to be sent the next day to work in the kitchen to peel potatoes….Mrs. Wright’s word was law. She had to be adored and worshipped and flattered as often as possible.”

They met at a dance performance at a Chicago theater in 1924. Both were married to other people at the time, but that didn’t stop them from somewhat scandalously shacking up together at Taliesen in Spring Green, Wisconsin. After divorcing their spouses and marrying in 1928, they moved “from the cool wooded hills of Wisconsin to the barren desert heat of the southwest following a bout of personal issues that would nearly end Wright’s career,” according to a history of Frank Lloyd Wright.

“Legal issues with his wife, ex-wife, and her children brought Wright to the brink of bankruptcy. After hiding for some time with his new wife Olgivanna Lazovich and her two children, Wright was finally able to pay off his debts and return to a better life. Just at this time, the Bank of Wisconsin denied him any further access to his Taliesin home and studio because ‘the premises were being used for immoral purposes.’”

Even after Olgivanna died in Scottsdale in 1985, she continued to have a strange control over the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright. Before her death, she planned the removal of Wright’s body from its Wisconsin grave, which was then cremated, mixed with her own ashes, and used in the walls of a memorial garden built on the grounds of their home at Taliesin West. The Wisconsin legislature prohibited the removal of his body, but nonetheless her plan was carried out successfully. What Olgivanna wanted, Olgivanna got. Even in death.

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The pre-cast concrete blocks for the Arizona Biltmore feature a geometric pattern said to represent a freshly cut palm tree.

Even though Frank Lloyd Wright didn’t actually design the Arizona Biltmore he certainly influenced it. The pre-cast concrete blocks, designed by the architect Albert Chase McArthur and sculpted by Emry Kopta, a prominent southwestern sculptor, were inspired by Wright’s use of indigenous materials.

Of course, Wright made his own splash in the desert not far from the Arizona Biltmore with Taliesin West. I’ve heard all the stories, of course. How Wright left his second wife and took up with a rich divorcee out here in the Arizona desert, which, at the time, was pretty much at the end of the earth.

They say he built Taliesin West as his winter home. I think he built it where he did because it was almost impossible to get to and a great place to hideout while he was trying to figure out his second—or perhaps third—act. I’m planning to go out there tomorrow to see for myself.

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Checking in to the Arizona Biltmore

The original pool at the Arizona Biltmore where Irving Berlin penned “White Christmas.”

After sleeping on the dusty ground for a week at Cowboy College, I did what any sensible person would do and moved into the Arizona Biltmore, one of my favorite hotels in the world. I like sitting by the pool and thinking about how Irving Berlin sat here sipping cocktails while penning “White Christmas.”

This hotel has a fascinating history. A lot of people think of it as a Frank Lloyd Wright property but the resort was actually designed by one of his acolytes, Albert Chase McArthur (who studied under Wright from 1907-1909 in Chicago).

The hotel opened at the start of the Great Depression and when the construction costs doubled, one of the original investors in the project, the chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr., became the sole owner. Even with the Depression in full swing, Wrigley dumped more money into the desert resort, including building the fabulous pool I’m sitting by right now in 1930 (Marilyn Monroe called it her favorite pool in the world).

They say that when the Arizona Bilmore opened on Feb. 23, 1929, the media crowned it “The Jewel of the Desert.” More than 90 years later, it still is.

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Does it surprise you to know that Rocco has a book out on how to be a cowboy? Well, it shouldn’t. As Rocco himself says in Cowboy, cowboys are savy businessmen. “Ranching is all about raising cattle—from insemination to birth to the time they’re sold at market. In theory it’s simple. But when it comes to running a ranching operation, the strategy and management necessary to turn a profit are anything but elementary, and they certainly aren’t for the faint of heart. There are horses and cattle, branding and calving, the commodities market, conservation, and stewardship. The smallest details can mean the difference between life and death and riches and poverty.”

Some other Roccoisms:

A Western offense: “Never ask a rancher how many head of cattle he owns. That’s like asking a person how much money he has in the bank.”

Don’t look back: “In the Old West, when strangers passed each other on the trail, they never turned around to look at one another after passing. To do so was considered cowardly and an insult if either stranger turned out to be a good man. The same rule applies today.”

Cowboy trivia: “Those who headed west to work cattle were male, typically thirteen to eighteen years old, of European descent, and, on many ranches, required to be single.”

Cowboy chow: “When dining on steak, cowboys go for bone-in rib eyes and New York strips, always prime or choice grades, that are fried in a cast-iron skillet. The bone imparts added flavor to the end product, and the skillet allows the beef to bathe in its delicious juices while cooking—both adding tremendously to the cowboy’s eating experience.”

The hat: “Black hats are not reserved for the bad guys, and lighter-colored hats not for the good. The truth is that many cowboys wear black hats in the colder months because the color more easily absorbs heat from the sun. And in the hotter months, many cowboys don a lighter silverbelly-colored hat because it more readily reflects the heat from the sun.”

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