..inte: William Yablonsky ..intr: Evanne Kofman ..da: 1985 ..ca: ..ftxt: An Interview with William Yablonsky February 5, 1985 Transcriptionist: Carol Ruttan Interviewer: Evanne Kofman Arizona Jewish Historical Society Log For William Yablonsky Interview Pages 1 Introduction 1 First arrived 1928 Phoenix 1-2 First opening of Westward Ho Hotel; description 2 Resort for movie stars: Gary Cooper John Wayne 2 Description of lobby Lena Horne Walter Winchell Dr. Norman Vincent Peale Shirley Temple Danny Thomas Al Capone Nassau Hotel (Long Beach) (New York) 6 First impressions of Phoenix when he arrived in 1928; gambling in city Sunnyslope, AZ Malcolm Muggeridge Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom Phil Harris Pat O'Brien 8 Films: "Sound of Fury" "Pocket Money" Paul Newman Lee Marvin Constance Bennett Jerry Lewis Lucille Ball Eleanor Roosevelt Richard Nixon Pres. John Kennedy Alan Starr Evelyn Lincoln (John Kennedy's secretary) Dan Topping (owner of Yankees ball team) Del Webb Pres. Harry Truman 11 Summertime in Phoenix (pre-air conditioning) Funk family Gary Cooper Eugene Pollett Elvis Presley Paul Anka Fabian "Tiny Tim" Orpheum Theater Paul Anka Al Capone Grand Restaurant 13-14 Opening of Concho Room at hotel Cohcho Room(Westward HO) Rudy Vallee Shirley Booth Kitty Carlisle Liberace Gordon Robinson Red Nickels & His Five Pennies Bob Hope Jack Hope Primo Canera Doris Day Guy Lombardo Orin Tucker Wingie Manone Jack Haley James Cagney Clyde McCoy 17 Description of Concho Room John Mills, General Manager of hotel Cecil Mills 17 Tropicana owners purchased hotel 18 Produce people stayed at Westward Ho Belle Latchman Walter Winchell John Wayne Jack Haley Lucille Ball Lloyds of London "Chief Nasawateya" Groucho Marx Edgar Bergen American Tourister Co. 22 Name "Westward Ho" 22 Original name was to be: "Roosevelt Hotel" 23 "House dicks" 24 Staffing of Westward Ho; uniform types Earl Haley Bill Robinson 25 Film: "Great White Hope" Shirley Temple General Doolittle Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker Esther Williams 28 17 years without a bellman quitting at Westward Ho 29 $60/month - you could get a room at the hotel in old days W. W. Norp Tom Chauncey Thunderbird Field 30 Chairman of the Board; Valley Bank Lloyd Whalen 31 Sedona, AZ 33 Indian dances at hotel "Chief Nasawateyall 34 Tropicana purchased Hotel Westward Ho - they hoped for open gambling In Arizona Dr. Morton Dubnow 36 Early Phoenix a "friendly town" 37 Trolley cars 37-38 Very religious; carried his own dishes Jan Peerce 38 Siegel's Restaurant Jose Iturbe Wallace Beery Ed McMahan Winnie Ruth Judd Jack Haley Dora Yablonsky (Mrs. William) Amelia Earhardt 43 United Drug Store (24 hour drugstore) 44 Synagogue in Phoenix 44 Hadassah; Pioneer Women; City Dora Yablonsky of Hope Martin Luther King 45 Press Club at Hotel Westward Ho Gov. Rockefeller Gov. Percy Elizabeth Taylor Nicky Hilton Hoagie Carmichael Mario Landy 49-50 Early restrictions vs. blacks at Westward Ho Sammy Davis, Jr. Dan Topping George Burns 51 Never any restrictions vs. Jews (Westward Ho) Jack Benny 53 At Adams Hotel (Yablonsky employed there '76-'77) George Burns 53 Cuisine at Westward Ho Jack Dempsey Jack Kerns 56 Description of new Hilton Hotel in downtown Phoenix 58 Fountain Room (coffee shop at Westward Ho) Praying Monk Montezuma Castle 58 Sedona, Arizona Jane Russell 59 Flame Restaurant 60 Owner of Desert Inn in Las Vegas Wilbur Clark Jack Walsh Hubert Humphrey 62 Caterpillar Truck conventions 62 Japanese tours Grand Canyon 63 Hotel Westward Ho doctor 64 New Phoenix Hilton Southern Pacific RR 65 Kept kosher; "old" synagogue congregation Dora Yablonsky 66-67 Rooming house on Portland Street (1930's) 68-69 Closing William Yablonsky Interview This is Evanne Kofman with the Arizona Jewish Historical Society. Today I'm interviewing Mr. William Yablonsky. He's been in Phoenix a very long time. He worked as a bellman at the Hilton Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. Today is February the 5th, 1985 and we're at Mr. Yablonsky's residence at 85 West Virginia. KOFMAN: Mr. Yablonsky, can you tell me how you decided to come out to Arizona the first time, because I know you came out twice, and what year it was when you came? YABLONSKY: Well, to begin with let me say thank you so very much for coming in and saying hello and being interested in the fact that I'm an old time resident of Phoenix, shall we say. I first arrived in 1928, that's a couple years back. I went to work at the Hotel Westward Ho. As a matter of fact, I opened it. I could go on and on - - KOFMAN: Tell me about the opening of the Westward Ho. That would have been kind of a milestone. YABLONSKY: That was the glamour spot of the world, the most famous people in the world. It was more of a resort; people would come there to relax, to entertain each other. It was a home -- an escape for the rich, the famous and the great and the mighty, let's say. KOFMAN: Can you describe those opening ceremonies for me? I'd love to hear about It. YABLONSKY: Sure. When I opened It it was -- there was nothing, absolutely nothing could compare with it. The Arizona Biltmore was open but that was three months out of the year and the movie colony would step in during the -- you know, as a relaxation. I recall when they done the movies way up in Flagstaff, Prescott many years ago. Gary Cooper would come in, John Wayne, they'd spend the weekend there, they'd entertain. I was working graveyard and -- I always wanted graveyard, that was where the action was. I knew what was going on at all times and I got to meet them all. KOFMAN: Now, graveyard - what time did you go in? YABLONSKY: Well, graveyard is eleven at night until seven in the morning. I would make it my business to call and find out if they wanted coffee, perhaps a couple of buckets of ice and I'd go ahead and deliver it. I was just a youngster and I was fascinated by what was going on. I couldn't believe it. KOFMAN: What did the Westward Ho look like at that first opening? YABLONSKY: The furniture in the lobby is all hand carved. The ceiling was all hand tooled by Italian sculptors, all pieced together. It's a known fact, It's not hearsay, It was all gold leaf. Unbelievable. And people would marvel at the fact they'd look up -- and incidentally, in the lobby the tile was made to match it. But it was all gold leaf and it was a spectacle. There's only one more like it in the world, they tell me, in Spain. It was something. As I say, the furniture all hand carved and we have these celebrities come in. Lena Horne came in. Walter Winchell stayed there for almost a year before he built his home. He'd come in weekends. His home was being built along the slopes of Camelback or in that particular area. He would come on the weekends and we'd get to know each other rather well. I met a man, I won't tell you his name at the moment but he had his first parish in Cumberland, Rhode Island. They were filming his life in Hollywood. KOFMAN: Was he a priest? YABLONSKY: Well, you're coming close. I'll tell you. He'd come in between Hollywood and Phoenix, back and forth. We got to be very friendly. About a year ago he came into the Phoenix Hilton, spotted me and came over, "Hello, Bill. How are you?". I didn't recall, he's about 85 today, and then I suddenly decided I know who this man is - Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. Oh, my God. Talking to him was like a bolt of electricity going through me. We had a friendly chat, he remembered me and then of course I remembered him and he said to me, "What is your philosophy, Bill?", you know we got talking about this and that. I said, "Well, if I can't sleep I don't count sheep; I count blessings." And I can't believe it, he said to me, "Do you mind If I quote you?" he's going to quote me! KOFMAN: Is he a frequent visitor in Phoenix? YABLONSKY: Years ago, yes. KOFMAN: He used to stay at the Westward Ho then? YABLONSKY: Oh, yes. He stayed at the Westward Ho. Shirley Temple would come in with her husband, Charlie Black. Danny Thomas was a frequent visitor; many nights I'd bring him up food during the midnight hours, he and his wife. KOFMAN: Was this during basically the 1930's and 40's that these people came? YABLONSKY: Yes. I'd say the 1930's. Then I had the pleasure -- this will sound rather unbelievable -- I had the pleasure of meeting Al Capone. He was there with another man and two women. I was working at that time I could always name my own hours, I was bell captain so knowing he was coming in I worked seven to three. A little after three I approached him and I said, "Mr. Capone, it would give me the greatest pleasure, make me happy, please allow me to take you and your friends and show you the Valley." There was nothing actually in the Valley. KOFMAN: Was he just vacationing or was he in on some kind of business? YABLONSKY: He was, I would say, vacationing, yes. Dressed in a business suit, you could never in a million years tell who he was. So I took them all over Scottsdale, Paradise Valley. We approached the Praying Monk from the other side -- from the Racquet Club -- he happened to look up and he fell in love with it. Fell in love with the Praying Monk - Al Capone. He didn't know how to thank me. He didn't say much actually, he was in the back seat and his friend was in the front seat. There were six of us; two women in the back with Al Capone and his friend and I were in the front. KOFMAN: Who were the women? YABLONSKY: I don't know. I don't know. I don't dare say whether they were wives or girlfriends. There's so many stories that could be told but there's so many things you don't dare mention, you'd have to destroy people. KOFMAN: Tell me then, because we went away from it, why did you decide to come to Phoenix and how did you end up at the Westward Ho? YABLONSKY: I had the wanderlust at a very, very young age. I wound up in New York many, many years ago and I was selling papers in the Bowrey. There isn't a flophouse in New York City that I didn't sleep in in the Bowrey. I was living at the newsboy's home and a friend of mine came over and said, "Bill, I think there's a job open, If you want to go I'll be more than happy to take you there." He was working there at the Nassau Hotel on the Boardwalk, Long Beach. I had to borrow a pair of pants and a coat from him. KOFMAN: What year was this? YABLONSKY: Oh, my God. I couldn't have been over 13, 14 years old so that would be 60 years ago. So I got a job as a pageboy at the Nassau Hotel and then I went from there to the U at Long Island. Also to the -- what was the name of that country club -- oh, my God -- it's in Hewlett, Long Island. The name escapes me for the moment, I'll think of it after. I was also a pageboy and a bellman there. Then I decided to come to Phoenix. KOFMAN: Why? YABLONSKY: To get away from the cold, the ice, the snow and the sleet. KOFMAN: Who had told you about Phoenix? YABLONSKY: Oh, everybody in those days. Phoenix, my God, garden spot of the world. I came here and the Westward Ho was just opening so I applied for a job and got on. KOFMAN: Did you come by train? YABLONSKY: Yes, I came by train. KOFMAN: What was your first impression of Phoenix when you got off the train? YABLONSKY: Phoenix was a friendly town, a wild and wooly town, exciting, everybody seemed to know each other. You'd come to work in the morning and you'd get a thousand hellos from people you've never seen in your life. KOFMAN: Tell me about the wild and wooly part. YABLONSKY: Oh, my God. Come on. Well, gambling was sort of wide open. KOFMAN: There was wide open gambling? YABLONSKY: Did you know that? KOFMAN: No, I did not. YABLONSKY: I say wide open - behind closed doors, but permissible. I speak for myself, that's the way I found it. KOFMAN: What kind of gambling was this? YABLONSKY: Well, it was slot machines, poker games and dice. KOFMAN: Was this usually at private homes or was it -- YABLONSKY: No, it was in the back of stores. KOFMAN: In the downtown area? YABLONSKY: That was it, downtown. There was nothing else. The Westward Ho was the outskirts of town. There was Sunnyslope, which was nothing in those days and people -- I don't know if you're aware of the fact that people would go there to get well. Did you know that? KOFMAN: Yes. YABLONSKY: Of course, today it's a growing community. It was quite a town. Like I say, at the Westward Ho, being a bellman made it possible for me to meet, to greet, to become acquainted and friendly with the top people of the world. I got to be very good friends with Malcolm Muggeridge. Does the name ring a bell? KOFMAN: Yes. YABLONSKY: From England, a philosopher, writer and poet. We got to be very friendly. Also, John Wayne would come in with Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom, the old fighter. They would nip a little bit, you know. Then we had -- the movie colony was constantly in and out, constantly; Phil Harris' second home; Pat O'Brien, they done the film of "Sound of Fury" there and the entire cast stayed there. of course, "Pocket Money" with Paul Newman and Lee Marvin was in it. I got to be rather friendly with Lee Marvin because he was always -- it's not a hidden fact that he used to sort of bend his elbow, meaning take a little nip now and then. We got talking and I conned him into giving me a small part in the movie "Pocket Money"; I was a room clerk. KOFMAN: When was this? YABLONSKY: Oh, that was about 10, 12 years ago when that came out. They show it occasionally on TV. KOFMAN: Let me ask you, these movie stars who came out, did most of them come out as part of a movie they were making or did they so like Phoenix that they came and they stayed just for vacation? YABLONSKY: No, they came out just to relax, just to lay around and do nothing. It was in between pictures. Constance Bennett used to come out. Let me give you a list of the names. I've got them over here. John Wayne, Danny Thomas, Jerry Lewis, Lucille Ball in and out from time to time, Eleanor Roosevelt - I waited on her many times. She always seemed to have sort of a saddened atmosphere about her, always seemed tired. I recall taking her to her room and it was nothing but flowers and fruit baskets and everything, welcoming her. "No, no, no," she'd say, "I just want a plain room." I'd have to move her into an ordinary room. The fact is, her daughter lived here. She was married to Gardinger, I believe his name was. Do you recall that many years ago? KOFMAN: I can't remember the name of her married daughter. YABLONSKY: Of course, Nixon stayed at the hotel and I'm very, very proud of the fact that I have a personal autograph of John Kennedy when he stayed there. I was in the elevator coming down with him and we got talking. He had all his Secret Service men around and I wasn't even allowed in there, but I kind of jumped in. As he got in the elevator I said, "Be my guest, Mr. President. You and I are from the same neck of the woods, Boston." He asked me how long I had been in Phoenix, told him, and as he was leaving he said, "Mr. Yablonsky, it's my pleasure having met you." Alan Starr, one of the photographers in town came in with a small picture of him. I had It enlarged, 11 by 14, sent it on to Washington and he autographed it and I got a letter from his secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, mentioning the fact that she was very sorry it had taken that long to autograph -- he personally autographed it. To me, It's a treasure, a prized possession. Just fascinating - Dan Topping, the man who owned the Yankees would come in and he would stay there for a month at a time and we would bring up the food and the liquor and they'd have their parties. I waited on them many times. Del Webb was in and out all the time. He was a partner with him in the Yankees, with Dan Topping. President Truman came in and I recall he was a very interesting man. He was something. You had to admire him, he was just tough. I recall bringing up some flowers and a centerpiece of flowers and a fruit basket to him. He was being entertained by the newsmen, the photographers in the Presidential Suite. I walked in and I said, "Mr. President," -- I won't name the bank -- "complements of the XYZ Bank." And he said to me, "This sounds a little bit off color, who's the SOB that wants a favor now?" KOFMAN: That sounds like him. YABLONSKY: Of course, everybody laughed. Then one morning I came in early and he's walking around - he did a lot of walking around the hotel, around and around and around. All the newsmen and the photographers there as they entered the hotel lobby, he says, "I'll teach you illegitimate sons -- " you know the word I'm talking about what it is to walk. Well, it was all in fun. KOFMAN: Out of all these people, I'm kind of curious, was there ever anyone who came to Phoenix who didn't like it who said to you, "I don't like this place because of the heat." YABLONSKY: No, you had to like it. KOFMAN: Because in the early days there was no air conditioning. YABLONSKY: I'm glad you brought that up. People would sleep out on the lawns with a wet sheet over them. KOFMAN: The hotel guests? The movie stars? YABLONSKY: No. We had swamp coolers up to the tenth floor. KOFMAN: All right. I couldn't imagine the guests out on the lawn. YABLONSKY: Coming out of one outlet. If you lived in the summertime above the tenth floor, which we never opened up, hotter than a June bride. Very hot. I've seen cases where they've slept in the lobby. One of the Funk brothers I know of that owned the race tracks and the jewelry shop came down with his sheet and slept in the lobby his room was so hot. KOFMAN: Must have been very quiet in the summer then? YABLONSKY: Nothing. Thank you again for bringing it up. Nothing - the whole world stopped. Everything; nothing. Two boys could be sitting on the bench at 11:00 or noon and one would say, "Do you have a nickel for coffee?" Of course, coffee was a nickel in those days. But the winters - busy, busy, busy, busy. Four or five months a year; it was a five month town. There was no such thing as conventions in those days. We had groups come in from Japan, tours from Japan and Westward Ho was known around the world. KOFMAN: Was this before or after the war - World War II? YABLONSKY: This was after. Oh, yeah, they'd come in from Japan and they all wanted the Grand Canyon, that was it. That was it, the Grand Canyon. But it was fascinating. Me, as a kid, of course I was a little older in those days but going back to when I first arrived in Phoenix in '28, the first man I ever roomed was Gary Cooper. He was with Eugene Pollett - does the name ring a bell? KOFMAN: No. YABLONSKY: Sort of a road town man. They were filming, I believe, in Flagstaff. Gary Cooper was tall, lean and lanky and very, very shy. I roomed Elvis Presley - very shy. You couldn't get a word out of him. I'm going to speak out of turn now -- pimples, loaded. KOFMAN: Elvis Presley? YABLONSKY: Elvis Presley. Right after him, Paul Anka - a bundle of dynamite. He was with his friends. Fabian came in after him and if you'll excuse the expression "Tiny Tim". "Tiny Tim" arrived. They had to be all in the same circuit. KOFMAN: Where were they appearing? YABLONSKY: I think at the Orpheum Theater or somewhere local. And Elvis Presley was not particularly accepted. You know, that gyrating and all that. That was when he first started. Paul Anka came in from Canada right after he had written "Diane". what was I about to say -- so much that went on. KOFMAN: Let me ask you another question. YABLONSKY: Surely. Please. KOFMAN: If some of these people came to you and said, "What is there to do in Phoenix?" say, in the 40's, one of these celebrities? YABLONSKY: Nothing. Nothing to do. That's why I got Al Capone to drive around. I conned him, "Make me happy". How could he turn me down? Impossible. "You'd make me the happiest man in the world if I could just show you around Phoenix." There was nothing to speak of. A few root beer stands, no Park Central, no nothing. KOFMAN: What about restaurants? YABLONSKY: Downtown. Some very good restaurants. KOFMAN: Do you remember what they were? YABLONSKY: There was the Grand, I think it was on Monroe or somewhere in there. Of course, we had the Concho Room in the hotel. KOFMAN: Tell me about the Concho Room. I don't remember it well. YABLONSKY: When we first opened the Concho Room it was called before that -- what was it called, oh, my God? Anyway, Rudy Vallee opened it as a theater restaurant. KOFMAN: About what year was that? YABLONSKY: Oh, good Lord. I don't remember dates. I don't want to. KOFMAN: Okay. I won't ask you anymore. YABLONSKY: Time means nothing to me. People say how old are you, I say, "Don't ask me how old I am, ask me my age." I refuse to get old, I will never get old. Absolutely not. But, Rudy Vallee, I'll never forget him. I, like a fool, said to him, I thought I was going to flatter him, I said, "Mr. Vallee, you look like forty million dollars." "Thank you very much." But I continued on. I said, "You've put on a little weight and it's very becoming to you." Well, he backed off and he said, "Why you three letter word, SOB." A few days later he apologized, he said, "I didn't mean it in that respect." He said, "But thank you nevertheless." I was very friendly with Shirley Booth with Gig Young when they played in "Harvey". They were there for about a week. Kitty Carlisle was there. I had her send a letter to my niece encouraging her to play the piano. Liberace, I drove him to an all night restaurant, he and his musical arranger, Gordon Robinson, I believe. In appreciation he gave me that little glass piano that I showed you and I treasure it. Red Nickels and his Five Pennies, does that ring a bell? KOFMAN: Yes. YABLONSKY: I'm going back. We were very friendly. So I got talking to him one day and I was telling him that I'm going on a vacation to Hollywood. So he wrote a letter to the musical director, I forget his name, of Paramount. I got a letter back inviting me to visit the Paramount Studios, which I did. I'd met Bob Hope before when he was with his troop - what's that band, Band of Renown? They were touring -- KOFMAN: It's Bob Hope and I think it's Band of Renown. YABLONSKY: Anyway, I met his brother, Jack Hope and Primo Canera. They were filming -- I forget the name of the film they were filming -- it's just so long ago. I've so many memories, memories I cherish. You couldn't buy my memories for all the money in Fort Knox. KOFMAN: Well, I'm trying to get them for free. YABLONSKY: Yeah, for free. And I'm happy to be giving them to you. KOFMAN: Okay, I want to go back to something because I know -- YABLONSKY: Doris Day. Yeah, she was with Bob Hope. He looked all over the lobby for her; couldn't find her. I says, "Mr. Hope", I says, "I'll get her for you." She was on the sun deck. I went up to get her and brought her down. Guy Lombardo played there for about a week. But every year -- KOFMAN: This was In the Concho Room? YABLONSKY: Right. Orin Tucker, Wingie Manone -- I'm going back -- one-armed trumpet player. Red Nickels and his Five Pennies, we got to be very friendly; buddies. Jack Haley - the tin man in the Wizard of Oz. I want to tell you something you don't know. He used to be a bellman. He and Cagney worked together at the Yacht Club in New York when they were youngsters. KOFMAN: James Cagney? YABLONSKY: Yeah. The chemistry was right. He's from Boston; I'm originally Boston. KOFMAN: Now, all these people you're telling me about, they came and appeared at the Concho Room or they were guests at the hotel? YABLONSKY: No, they were guests. Rudy Vallee opened the Concho Room. Who else appeared there? Oh, Red Nickels of course, with his band; Orin Tucker. The bands Clyde McCoy was there, who's the other guy, oh, my God -- KOFMAN: What I wanted to ask you. You would be amazed there are of course many people in Phoenix now who never were inside the Westward Ho. YABLONSKY: Well, they missed a treat. KOFMAN: Can you describe the lobby for me a little bit and can you tell me about the Concho Room? YABLONSKY: Yeah, the Concho Room was all sort of an Indian effect, with all the Indian -- what would you call it? KOFMAN: Artifacts. YABLONSKY: Right. KOFMAN: Decorations. YABLONSKY: Yes, decorations. All decorated in Indian fashion. In the center of the lobby was a tremendous table all hand carved. Mr. Mills, our general manager, gave it to ASU, and he also gave the chandelier, which was God knows how old, to ASU. Somebody came in and wanted to redecorate the lobby and they conned Mr. Mills' son, Cecil, into painting the ceiling a charcoal gray. Destroyed it, a work of art. KOFMAN: They painted right over the gold leaf? YABLONSKY: Over the gold leaf! Then the Tropicana people came in and bought it from Mr. Mills and they painted it white and totally destroyed it. They tried to find ways to get the paint off to bring it back to its natural luster impossible, Impossible. People that come in today to the Hilton from the old days, we sort of reminisce and they say every time they walk by or drive by the Westward Ho they practically cry. It was gorgeous, gorgeous. KOFMAN: Well, I remember, and perhaps you can tell me about some events that you might remember in particular. But I do remember that during the late 40's and certainly even in the 50's the Westward Ho was a very favorite place to have a bar mitzvah reception or a wedding. YABLONSKY: Right, weddings, bar mitzvahs. KOFMAN: Can you tell me something about some of those. YABLONSKY: Oh, that was the only place. There was nothing else, except I remind you the Biltmore and the Inn -- what's the Inn in Scottsdale? KOFMAN: Camelback. YABLONSKY: Camelback Inn. But they were all open three months a year. But the fact that the Westward Ho was centrally located, that was the -- all the produce men, that was their home. KOFMAN: The produce men? They would come in from out of town to buy or -- YABLONSKY: Well, they stayed there and that was sort of a second home. I don't know if you know Belle Latchman; do you know her? KOFMAN: Yes. YABLONSKY: Belle Latchman, oh, my God, she's a legend there. But getting back to 28 -- KOFMAN: Why is Belle Latchman a legend there? YABLONSKY: Why? Because she was the only woman there that was in the produce business. I say a legend - well known personality. Belle was a honey. Everybody loved her, she mingled in beautifully and everybody was her friend. She was the most down to earth person you could possibly meet. Everybody -- we were a family there, the guests and the help, like a family. Oh, have I got memories there, I cherish them. Walter Winchell would come in and we'd chat and shoot the breeze and John Wayne and Jack Haley, Lucille Ball would come in. It was more of a resort, no salesmen. I don't know if you're aware of it, many, many years ago Lloyds of London predicted that Phoenix would eventually be one of your large cities in the country. KOFMAN: I didn't know that. YABLONSKY: Yeah, Lloyds of London, England. KOFMAN: You mentioned that the Westward Ho was like a resort. Did they have particular programs and things going on for the guests? YABLONSKY: Yes, we had a lady there that was director of services, sort of -- she would arrange parties and bingo and go on trips and this and that. Sort of a social director, that's the word. A beautiful lady and she was with us for many years. Now, I want to go back to this Indian, Chief Nasawateya. KOFMAN: For the purposes of this tape that we have, let me tell you that I'm looking at a picture that is of you and a very handsome Indian gentlemen, who signed it "Chief Nasawateya" and the date is 1930. Tell me about the picture and who he is. YABLONSKY: Well, in those days, believe it or not, we wore wing collars, as you can see. Bellman, white gloves; white gloves and wing collars. People would say to me, "Where do you work, Bill?" I'd say the Westward Ho; Hotel Westward Ho, not Westward Ho, Hotel Westward Ho. And they'd say, "Oh, come on, come on, who are you kidding?" I'd say, "Yeah, I'm a bellman there." It was a distinct honor. To me, a bellman is the greatest profession in the world. KOFMAN: Why? YABLONSKY: Why? Because I had the pleasure of meeting the top people in the world. I thank God every hour on the hour that I didn't wind up a banker, a broker, anything. I want to be a bellman. To me, carrying bags to your room, carrying bags from your room, to me, that's not work. I've never worked a day in my life. KOFMAN: Was everyone you met there really nice, most of them? YABLONSKY: One man -- thank you for mentioning it -- one man that I didn't like, I'm going to tell you his name. KOFMAN: As a guest or as a -- YABLONSKY: As a guest. I'll tell you his name, and he was one of the most talented men in the world, a comic - Groucho Marx. KOFMAN: You didn't like Groucho Marx. YABLONSKY: No. I'm going to tell you why. KOFMAN: I'd like to know. YABLONSKY: Due to one incident. A little girl come over to me with a picture of her grandmother and she said everybody knew we were there (?) and I took it in with her and I asked him to autograph it. He had all his friends, his cronies around and he's chopping away, eating, both hands with the knife and the fork. The least he could have said was bring grandma in, give her a little kiss on the cheek, autograph it. He wouldn't do it. I don't know why. What would it have cost him? And that threw me, immediately. Edgar Bergen came down -- KOFMAN: Did he bring Charlie McCarthy with him? YABLONSKY: Charlie was in his trunk. KOFMAN: And which you carried, presumably. YABLONSKY: Probably. I had carried enough bags to and from rooms over a period of 57 years, and I don't believe I'm going to exaggerate, that would cover the entire state of Arizona and probably reach into California. As a matter of fact, I had a promise from one of the biggies from American Tourister. I know luggage, and they're going to use it as a commercial, with me. They're going to let me know -- it's on file -- which should be not too long from now. KOFMAN: You may be the next Phillip Morris type of star. I remember him. YABLONSKY: Yeah, Phillip Morris. Whether you know it or not he was in Scottsdale. KOFMAN: He worked in Scottsdale? YABLONSKY: Yeah, in his later years, as a wine steward in one of the hotels. KOFMAN: Perhaps you know who was responsible for choosing the name "Westward Ho"? YABLONSKY: That originally was supposed to have been called the Roosevelt Hotel. It was built by a philanthropist, I forget his name, from New York. During the construction it stopped; whether they ran out of money I don't know. During the construction it was stopped and then as a result of that, of course it was built -- and I honestly don't know. I don't know. KOFMAN: Did the owners of the hotel -- YABLONSKY: Can I tell you something? I don't mean to appear nasty or -- we would send up sort of a tour bus free from the hotel and we had a colored man, "Everybody going to the "Ho House" step inside." It was funny, you know, they referred to the -- KOFMAN: The "Ho House"? YABLONSKY: The "Ho House". Yeah. I approached a man -- this is the funniest thing you could ever hear in your life -years ago, he was walking through the lobby with his wife. He was carrying a suitcase and I approached him, "May I carry your bags, sir?" and he said, "Let her walk like everybody else, let her walk." There's some funny stories. The daughter of one of the most famous men in the world, let me repeat - the daughter of one of the most famous men in the world used to come in and many a time she'd come in fafufnik (?), if you know what I mean. KOFMAN: Drunk? YABLONSKY: Yes. Fafufnik, is that what they call it in Jewish? KOFMAN: You got me. YABLONSKY: Anyway, we would have to more or less throw her in bed. Not alone, no, no. Call in the house dicks. In those days we didn't call them security guards - house dicks. And we would throw her in bed. The most famous man in the world - his daughter; no names. I had a man approach me, I'm on duty, It's about two in the morning, an actor, very handsome, handsome. He had the most beautiful wife in the world but he was lonely. He came down and he said, "Bill, do you know of any girl that would like to have a few drinks with me?" I said, "I've done a million things in my life that's wrong, but, thank God, I've never gone that route - no, no, no, no. I don't know to begin with and if I knew I wouldn't mention it." KOFMAN: Were there other bellmen on the hotel staff that would do -- YABLONSKY: No. It was very clean. No. That's one thing I can swear by God on my mother's grave, we were all clean. So he said to me, "What do you do when you get excited?" I says, "I go home to my wife." He cupped his hands and went up against my ear and says, "Where do you' live, where do you live?" I laughed like hell. He would come in about a year later, six months later, with his wife and he'd look at me, walk over to me and cup his hand, "Where do you live, where do you live?" It was all funny. KOFMAN: That's a good story. How many were there, bellmen? YABLONSKY: How many bellmen? There were about eight of us; during the season, maybe twelve. Then we had back elevator men, service elevators; we had page boys, doormen and all dressed immaculately. We use to change different uniforms all the time. KOFMAN: What were the uniforms like? YABLONSKY: What you see here and then we went in the cowboy uniform; cowboy boots and cowboy hats. KOFMAN: Was this only during Rodeo Week or was this -- YABLONSKY: No, to give it a Western atmosphere. But picture working with white gloves and wing collars. KOFMAN: In the heat it must have been difficult. YABLONSKY: Oh, come on, we died. But it was known, the Westward Ho today is known around the world. I had a man approach me, you probably know him or know of him, Whitey's Television in town. He had a syndicate put together and they were going to take it over and make a hotel out of it. For some unknown reason it didn't work out. He always told me, "Bill, if we ever do I want you with me." We had a man come in all the time, his name Earl Haley and used to direct Shirley Temple when she was a little girl. Earl Haley, I meet him all the time and we're very, very good friends. He used to tell me about directing Shirley Temple and I always said to myself, "Oh, come on, this guy is giving me a snow job." KOFMAN: What did he tell you? YABLONSKY: Well, he would tell me about the life with Shirley Temple, you know, how he directed her and they were friends; and Bill Robinson, this dancer, how he directed that show. He wasn't lying; he was telling me the truth and I thought he was conning me. Tell you why. When Shirley Temple checked in, he knew it, he came in with a scrapbook, he and his kids. Incidentally, he was casting director for the "Great White Hope" when they filmed that. He was in the lobby with his children -- he married the girl - the telephone operator. He was a biggie in Hollywood years ago. KOFMAN: Judy Holliday? YABLONSKY: No. KOFMAN: Oh, I thought you meant the girl who played -- YABLONSKY: No, no. At the Westward Ho. When Shirley Temple checked in she came into the lobby, she spotted him and she ran over to him, grabbed him -- now, she's a grown woman -- grabbed him, kissed him and hugged him and cried. He showed her the scrapbook. He was telling me the truth and I always thought he was conning me. I see him often, very often - Earl Haley - put that in there. KOFMAN: Does he live in Phoenix? YABLONSKY: Lives in Phoenix; he's still active, he's a writer, he's well into his eighties. He dabs a little bit, running back and forth from Hollywood, he has marvelous connections, and retired. His children have done commercials, due to the fact that he's well known and knows the right people. KOFMAN: You mentioned the house detectives. Were there ever any interesting cases or thefts or -- YABLONSKY: Yes, yes, yes. I checked in a very, very, very beautiful woman and she had a couple of drinks and he was a handsome man. When I checked her in he was in the lobby. KOFMAN: This was a marriage couple or -- YABLONSKY: No, she was alone. She got up there and she was a little shy. She didn't know how to approach me. She said, "That man in the lobby." I said, "Oh, he's the house dick." She said, "If he's doing nothing, will you send him up." Word of honor, I speak the truth. I told him, and I don't want to know what happened from there on. KOFMAN: Was this a famous lady? YABLONSKY: No, no, no, no. Let me tell you about one of the most famous actresses in the world. I mean famous. She's checking out, her maid was a little bit - I wouldn't say reluctant, but a little bit slow in packing. And the cab was waiting. Kofman: Can you tell me her name? YABLONSKY: I'll tell you off tape. KOFMAN: Okay. YABLONSKY: Her cab was waiting and her maid hadn't quite packed her and she had to get to the plane. She started with four letter words that a mule skinner would be ashamed to -- you know. I was embarrassed. Finally got together and of course they left and the cab took off. Famous woman - does commercials today. She was married to one of the most famous men in the world, a movie actor. Let me tell you a story that happened , and I'll tell you the name after. General Doolittle came in many year ago and he approached one of the bellmen and wanted to know where the men's room was. The bellmen said, "General Doolittle, you bombed Tokyo during the midnight hours, you were nine million miles in the air" -- you know, figuratively speaking -- "it was midnight and you found Tokyo in the night and you can't find the men's room?" Very funny, laughed and he cried. You can't find the men's room, but you found Tokyo a trillion miles in the air. Captain Eddie Rickenbacker in and out all the time - good friend. You see, it was more of a resort; you came in not for a day, a week to relax and sit back, enjoy the --Esther Williams with the kids when she was married to Ben Gage, come in, relax. KOFMAN: Okay, now, you came then in 1928 and you applied at the Westward Ho. How long did it take you-to work up to chief bellman? YABLONSKY: Good question. KOFMAN: Well, thank you for the compliment. YABLONSKY: When I first went to work there I was a bellman. As a matter of fact, the job was so precious they never -- 17 years without replacing a bellman. Let me repeat that - 17 years. KOFMAN: From the time they opened? YABLONSKY: Without replacing a bellman. What I mean is, nobody quit there. Of course, in those days there were no jobs. Going back to '28 you couldn't get a job washing dishes. $50 a week, you were a big man. A big man. KOFMAN: That's what they paid? YABLONSKY: Let me tell you what I started out as -- no, they didn't pay that but anybody having a job at 50 a week was a big man. I started out at $15 a month, let me repeat, 15, 1-5. KOFMAN: Were the tips pretty good? YABLONSKY: In those days tips a quarter, half a dollar. Hey, coffee a nickel, you know. During the summer months, nothing, nothing. But I owned my home, I couldn't have made it otherwise. I built the apartment next door and that paid the -- took care of everything. $50 a month for the apartment. Incidentally, $60 a month you could get a room at the Hotel Westward Ho; not the best, the best was about $30, a big suite. KOFMAN: Was that a penthouse? YABLONSKY: Sort of, yes. You know who built his own penthouse there? KOFMAN: No, who? YABLONSKY: W. W. Norp, that owned the Arizona Republic. Incidentally, he was a bellman as a youngster at the Adams Hotel. So was Tom Chauncey. KOFMAN: I didn't know that. YABLONSKY: You didn't know it, huh? well, you know it now. Tom Chauncey was a bellman for Westward Ho. Tom Chauncey, of course is radio, television, Arabian horses. I bought -- I'm glad it came to mind -- 20 acres of land when I first came out here, that would be in '46. KOFMAN: That was the second time you came? YABLONSKY: Yes. Behind an open field. In those days it was called Thunderbird Field; they trained pilots there during World War II. Now, I bought this 20 acres of land right behind that field. My mother and father used to come up to visit me and I showed it to them and they cried like babies - the fact that I had bought sand. Nothing. A land developer, Bernie Young, said to me, "Bill, hang on to it, it's your trust fund." In those days, you bought land - get in and get out, you make your profit, get in and get out. A few years later I sold it, I made a few dollars. Incidentally, the Seventh Day Advent owned that. There was nothing in Scottsdale, two dirt roads, nothing. Today it's the resort capital of the world. So I sold it and made a couple of bucks and it turned out Scottsdale Airport took over, they took 20, they took everything around it. I cry like a little boy every time I drive by. My wife says, "Come on, what the devil are you -- " W. W. Norp, as I repeat myself, built his own penthouse on one of these ledges, or whatever you want to call it, one of the levels. Cost him a lot of money, he built it himself and he lived there. As a matter of fact, Lloyd Whalen, Chairman of the Board of Valley Bank -- we got to be rather friendly -- when John Mills took the hotel over the Valley Bank had the mortgage and Lloyd Whalen lived at the hotel to sort of overlook things. He is in the elevator going down and I'm in there and he had his friends in there, very interesting, and he had remarked that, "You'll see the day when from McDowell to Thomas Road will be all high-rise." And they just stood there and laughed until they laughed their guts out. In this manner, that he was crazy. "High-rise?" And by God, look what happened. KOFMAN: In those early days, say in the -- well, the first time you came in the 20's. YABLONSKY: "28. KOFMAN: What did you use to do for recreation, on your days off, what kinds of things did you do? YABLONSKY: I'd go to Sedona. That was nothing, nothing. KOFMAN: What was the road like getting there? YABLONSKY: Not like it is today. You could have bought the whole city of Sedona for a bag of peanuts. Even where I live today I could have bought -- there was nothing across the street, $700 or $800 a lot. Do you know what it's worth today? KOFMAN: I'd hate to try and guess. YABLONSKY: All right. Right now you couldn't buy it for 50. It's about to be re-zoned which will bring in about $125,000, maybe more, because it will all be high-rise. And all those lots are sizeable, like I live in a 65 by 137 deep and I paid thirteen five for this. KOFMAN: So, you used to go to Sedona? YABLONSKY: My wife, myself and a few people I knew. or we'd take a little ride into Mesa; there was nothing to do. KOFMAN: Did you meet your wife in Phoenix? YABLONSKY: No, Baltimore. KOFMAN: In Baltimore. Then she came with you? YABLONSKY: Well, I worked for the Emerson Hotel in Baltimore for quite a few years, which is, I assume, torn down now. KOFMAN: Let me ask you, why did you decide to leave Phoenix the first time and then of course you decided to come back? YABLONSKY: Well, I left as a child. I ran away from home and I missed my parents. I will never in my whole life, if I live to be 5,000 years old, ever forgive myself . KOFMAN: Oh, I see. So in 1928 you came here and then -- YABLONSKY: I worked five years, let's say, roughly. KOFMAN: Then you wanted to see your parents again so you went back. YABLONSKY: Then I stayed home a little while and looked around at country clubs. All my life I've been a bellman. I always regret the fact that I never, you know, got to be warm (?) with my father and mother. I wake up crying in the mornings. It bothers the hell out of me. I think you follow me. You see, all my life I was on the go, on the go, constantly, a wanderlust. No education whatsoever. KOFMAN: But you decided to return to Phoenix? YABLONSKY: Yes. I came back with my wife. KOFMAN: You have not told me about the Indian in the picture. YABLONSKY: I've got to tell you about him. He was, I would say, a legend. He was the son of a chief, Chief Nasawateya. I always kid him, we were very friendly, I always called him Chief. He was sort of a goodwill ambassador at the hotel, greet the people, tell them about Indian life. Like public relations. Every Thursday night we moved all the furniture in the lobby and he would bring in the Indians from the reservation, all youngsters mostly. They would put on the war paint and full regalia and dance around the lobby and scare the devil out of the people in there. But it was all done diplomatically, the kid would play the tom-toms and they'd do the Indian dances, the war dance and the rain dance and you name it. He was something. KOFMAN: And that was this man's father? YABLONSKY: That was that man right there. Put this picture in that transcript. KOFMAN: When did they stop doing that? YABLONSKY: Oh, he done that for quite a few years. Then I don't know what happened to him. I was told later, after many years since I've seen him, he used to come into the Adams Hotel. His niece told me that. When I showed her this picture she flipped, she went bananas. When I showed her she said, "That's my uncle." I was telling her and she said, "Yes, I know he worked for the Westward Ho; his son is still alive. He died a couple of years ago but he used to come in the Adams." I wouldn't have known him; he probably spoke to me many times and I didn't know him. KOFMAN: Now, did you stay with the Westward Ho until it closed as a hotel? YABLONSKY: Almost, yes. When I saw it going downhill -- as a matter of fact I had a thousand jobs to go to; top jobs. They always conned, "Bill, you've been here a thousand years, don't leave now. Everything's going to be all right." I would have to go and cancel out the jobs I had to go to. So it finally come to the point where I said, "Oh, come on, this is too much." So I quit and went to work at the Adams; right after they opened. KOFMAN: Tell me because I don't know too much about the hotel business. What were the signs of the Westward Ho's changing from its heyday as a resort. What started to happen and what did you see? YABLONSKY: They milked it. Do you know what I mean by milking it? KOFMAN: Tell me. YABLONSKY: Well, I'll tell you. They took everything out and put nothing back in. When the Tropicana people bought it from John Mills who, I regret to say, died very recently and I feel very hurt. Remind me to tell you about Jan Peerce; keep that name in mind. When he died it hurt me tremendously -- he was a wonderful man. Anyway, the Tropicana people bought it from Vegas with one thought in mind - eventually Phoenix would go open gambling. When they left why -- I shouldn't go into detail because it might be detrimental to my health. Anyway, they run it down into the ground. KOFMAN: You mean, they did not take care of the furnishings and they -- YABLONSKY: Right, right. They neglected the care of the hotel knowing that they're going to have to pull out. They realized the fact that it wasn't going to go open gambling. KOFMAN: What years was this about? YABLONSKY: Ten years ago, nine, ten years ago. KOFMAN: What made them think, do you think - YABLONSKY: I don't know. They had a feeling that it would go open gambling because it was on the ballot at one time -- I don't know if you recall -- for open gambling. Vegas sent in a trillion dollars, figuratively speaking, to stop it, the open gambling. KOFMAN: Okay. Speaking of gambling, you mentioned that when you first arrived in Phoenix it seemed to be kind of wild and wooly with gambling. YABLONSKY: It was a wild, wooly and very, very exciting town; 30,000 people. KOFMAN: Okay. Let me pin you down a little bit. On the one hand you said to me there was nothing to do, but then you say it's exciting. YABLONSKY: I didn't gamble. KOFMAN: So, you know, what - YABLONSKY: We took little trips. We'd just get in the car, circle around Scottsdale, Paradise Valley. In those days all I knew was eat, sleep and work. Let me tell you something I don't tell many people. I'm in bed every night at 8:00. I have to get up at 5:00. My doctor told me very recently that I'm in excellent health. I have never taken an aspirin in my life. I don't know what an aspirin is. My doctor told me, Dr. Dubnow, he says it's probably, in all probability, due to the fact of that attitude; I think happy, I sleep happy, I dream happy, I try to dismiss ugly thoughts from my mind, I try to make the best of an ugly situation and I'm very successful at it, I don't "time" nothing, I don't remember dates - I don't want to. KOFMAN: But you remember a lot of other things. YABLONSKY: Oh, yeah, yeah. KOFMAN: Okay. Going back again to when you arrived in Phoenix and there was gambling and things like that -- YABLONSKY: Yeah, behind closed doors. It was a wide open town. KOFMAN: What were the politics like, in general? YABLONSKY: It was a -- how would I express myself -- a couple of families owned the town, theoretically speaking, you know. They kind of controlled everything. KOFMAN: But you say it was friendly. Can you describe that to me? YABLONSKY: Well, everybody. You go to work and hello, how are you. And there was a different attitude. Today, I don't have to tell you what's going on today. Drop dead and nobody cares. You could drop dead and people pass right by you. And the crime -- there was no crime in those days to speak of. Nobody had nothing. It was a great town, I enjoyed it thoroughly. I enjoy Phoenix today, but it's a different world today. In those days it was, "Hi'ya Joe, how 'ya doing?", even if you didn't know them. You're making money, making friends and making payments. KOFMAN: Did a lot of the local businessmen come in for lunch and things like that? YABLONSKY: Yeah. The local businessmen would close their shops, many of them, with a big sign in the window, "Gone to hell for the summer." True story. Many people would sleep on the lawns with the wet sheets. Swamp coolers were just coming into effect. There was no such thing, to my knowledge, of refrigeration - forget it. It was hot, hot and dry. Today, of course, we've got a little humidity, a little smog -- no smog to speak of. You could stand on top of the Westward Ho and see for 40,000 miles. KOFMAN: Those were the days of the trolley car too. YABLONSKY: Trolley cars, right, right. I've ridden many of them. Believe me, many of them. KOFMAN: You told me to remind you to tell me about Jan Peerce. YABLONSKY: Jan Peerce -- of course you know he was Jewish -- was very, very religious. He wouldn't sing on a Friday night or a Saturday if you gave him the Taj Mahal. He would always check in and ask me where a kosher restaurant was or where can I get a kosher sandwich. As a matter of fact - are you ready -- he carried his own dishes. KOFMAN: Where did you send him for his kosher meal? YABLONSKY: A place on -- there was a restaurant next to the post office, sandwiches. KOFMAN: Was it Sam's Cigar Store? YABLONSKY: No, no, no. Siegel, I think his name was, yeah, Siegel. He died recently. I have a record, "Bluebird of Happiness" he gave me. KOFMAN: You mean Jan Peerce? YABLONSKY: Yeah. And I treasure it. It's one of the originals. He was a wonderful man. Then we'd get in Jose Iturbe, a piano player who stayed there. It was a rest place, an escape for the rich, the famous. KOFMAN: But they mostly stayed around the hotel? YABLONSKY: Yeah. They enjoyed the pool and drove around. Wallace Beery would come in. I could name my own hours. If I knew a bunch of celebrities were coming in I'd arrange the hours so I could be there. He would come in and I would drive him to a certain spot and he said, "Let me off here." Wallace Beery had a twinkle in his eye. KOFMAN: What spot was this, can you tell me? YABLONSKY: Oh, different spots around Phoenix. KOFMAN: I see. It was a different spot every time? YABLONSKY: Just about. Drop him off here and he would walk three blocks or so so I wouldn't know where he was going and I'd have to pick him up at that spot and take him back to the hotel a couple of hours later. KOFMAN: Did you use the hotel limousine for this? YABLONSKY: No, no, no; used my own car. Who was it? McMahan, what's his first name - on the Johnny Carson Show. KOFMAN: Ed. YABLONSKY: Ed McMahan. When we opened that new restaurant facing Central - what was the name of that? KOFMAN: This isn't in the Westward Ho? YABLONSKY: Yeah. We opened a new restaurant and he was one of the guests of honor. He had this little girl come in, she's local, I think from Mesa, Tempe or Mesa, and she was with him. In the meantime, he had met somebody that was tra-la-la, you know, oh-la-la. He come over to me and says, "Bill, I want you to page me" -- this is a fake call -- "page me and tell me there's a telephone call for me." So I paged him, you know, "Calling Mr. Ed McMahan", he got on the phone, thanked me and he went off -- oh, God, I shouldn't tell this. And he told this little girl that something came up, very, extremely important. So he asked me to drive her home, which I did. She cried like a little girl all the way home. KOFMAN: Those things happen. YABLONSKY: Yeah. He had met somebody that was a little more vibrant, you know. Hold on a moment. I want to go through some of this here. KOFMAN: Let me ask you again as far as the house detectives. Was there ever any interesting crime committed at the Westward Ho? YABLONSKY: Not -- well, yes -- well, not at the Westward Ho -- the Winnie Ruth Judd murder. This girl that had done the killing used to come into the Westward Ho quite a bit. She was a nurse. KOFMAN: You mean Winnie Ruth Judd herself? YABLONSKY: Yeah, yeah. And she had a couple of girlfriends there and a few of the local businessmen and she would come in and out all the time. KOFMAN: Was this just to eat or to stay? YABLONSKY: To visit, to eat. That was the only thing in town, there was nothing else except, as I repeat myself, the Biltmore, the Camelback Inn which was way out, and they would close up during the summer. KOFMAN: The Westward Ho was pretty free of any room burglaries or anything? YABLONSKY: No, there was nothing to speak of in those days in that respect. But there was always something going on, parties at night. I had the greatest gimmick in the world. I think I told you but I'll repeat it. I would call up to a certain celebrity during the midnight hours and I would say, "Mr. Jones" -- I'm using Mr. Jones as an example -- "I've got about four pots of coffee downstairs and about five buckets of ice. I believe -" I wouldn't ask, I would tell them, "I know that you could use a good hot cup of coffee, some toast, an English muffin." Who in the h-e-1-1 doesn't want a cup of coffee at three in the morning? "Yeah, bring it up." I would go up there and I was a youngster and the things I saw - I was bewildered, bewildered, the parties, the excitement and the glamour. Call it what you may. KOFMAN: Describe to me what you would see at these parties. YABLONSKY: It's on tape. Well, all right, naked women running around, and I was a kid. I would come down sweating. KOFMAN: Any naked women you recognized? YABLONSKY: No, but I could always tell you which married man in Phoenix was going up with whom. KOFMAN: Really? YABLONSKY: Oh, come on. You know, a good bellman knows what's going on. I could tell you the he's that came in with the he's and the she's that came in with the she's. Are you following me? KOFMAN: I'm following you. YABLONSKY: Very closely. KOFMAN: Very closely. YABLONSKY: And you'd be amazed. No names. I can't. KOFMAN: I wouldn't expect you to give me names. YABLONSKY: No, I wouldn't -- you can't destroy people. But the genuine people were all down to earth. Jack Haley and I were - when Jack Haley checked out -- true story, word to God -- he said, "Bill, I want you to do something for me." I said "Mr. Haley, whatever you say." He said, "When you go home you tell your wife that she's married to one of the nicest guys in the world." So I told Dora about it and Dora said, "He didn't have to tell you that to tell me, I've known it for years." Jack Haley -- I often wanted to write to his son, Jack Haley, Jr., and tell him the experiences I had with Jack Haley. He would tell me things when he was a bellhop -- bellman, I beg your pardon, bellman -- that could turn your hair gray in eight seconds flat. The tricks they used to play on the non-tippers. KOFMAN: Oh, really. Did you ever get many non-tippers? YABLONSKY: No, no. I was always very diplomatic. I had the greatest gimmicks in the world. If you checked in with your husband and two children I would say to you -- and I was always sincere, I very seldom lie -- I would say to you, "Mrs. Jones, God's been good to you. What lovely children." I had a woman once checking out, she had a dollar bill in her hand and she's checking out and I said, "Boy oh boy, if I was a talent scout I'd put you right in the movies." She gave me the bill, I put it in my pocket, and she had transferred the dollar to a five. The power of suggestion -- I embedded the thought in her mind. I more than ever want to tell you a short story about Amelia Earhardt. To me, she was one of the great wonders of the world. I recall many, many, many years ago she had checked in -- I wasn't there, I didn't check her in -- but she was surrounded, from what I understand, by newsmen, photographers, and this and that. Apparently, she -- I got a call about two in the morning, I'm on graveyard, and she had a migraine headache that was killing her. She called down for aspirins or anything, anything, please. So I didn't have any. So I told her, I said it would be absolutely no imposition to me by going to an all night drug store and getting her what she needed. She said, "Oh, my God, would you do that?" -words to that effect. I said, "I'd be more than happy to." I went out during the midnight hours, walked less than a couple of blocks, United Drug was open, if I remember correctly, and I got her some aspirin. I took it to her and this lovely lady just did not know how to thank me. The following morning I was off duty, she checked out and left a letter for me, thanking me. I gave it to my dumb wife, Dora, to put aside. To this day I don't know what happened to that letter and I would give my upper plates and my eye teeth to find out. I don't know what happened to the letter. I still have the piano Liberace got me but the important thing, I'd give anything if I could find. One of these days I'll come across it. A fine letter, thanking me. KOFMAN: Did you ever have any connections at all with the Jewish community in Phoenix? YABLONSKY: Years ago I belonged to the synagogue. KOFMAN: Which synagogue? YABLONSKY: The little shul, down below here. Dora was very, very active. Then her health sort of failed and she had to bow out. She was with the Hadassah, the Pioneer Women and now she's with City of Hope. She's what they call a Sunshine Girl. God forbid, if somebody in your family was ill you'd send her a letter, she'd send a card out and you'd send a little check for a buck or two and she'd send it in. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Martin Luther King. I waited on him many years ago. He was -- how would I express myself -- he was a very memorable event for me in meeting him. He was surrounded by Secret Service men in his own crowd. I had to take him up a telegram. KOFMAN: Now, he was in Phoenix to speak or on a vacation? YABLONSKY: No, he was on some sort of a mission of some kind, to speak or something. We had the Press Club then and we got the top people of the world coming in to speak at the Press Club. KOFMAN: The Press Club met at the Westward Ho? YABLONSKY: Oh, yeah. They had the Press Club. All the top people of the world would come in to speak, seminars and this and that. KOFMAN: What room of the hotel did this take place? YABLONSKY: They were on the third floor. Governor Rockefeller at that time would come in and Senator Percy and all the biggies, all the biggies would come in. Liz Taylor, she was married to Nicky Hilton at the time. I always believed-- this will sound crazy to you -- I don't think Liz Taylor was born, I think God created her. She was the most beautiful thing that ever walked the face of the earth. She was just a youngster, 18 or 19, whatever. She was just gorgeous. She was married to Nicky Hilton and they stayed at the Westward Ho. I developed what I would call a hobby, at first. It turned out to be an eccentricity. She checked out in the early hours of the morning. People in those days would check out at three and four in the morning, because when the sun came out in the morning it got hot. So they'd sort of get the jump and travel the cool hours. KOFMAN: Were they going by plane or train in those days? YABLONSKY: No, they were driving. So instead of starting out in the morning and getting all that heat in the daytime, they'd check out early. So I said to the night clerk, I said, "Look, I'll be gone for 20 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes." Zingo - right up to Liz Taylor's bed, jumped in, took my shoes off and flopped a little bit. KOFMAN: This was after she checked out? YABLONSKY: I slept in Liz Taylor's bed. Then I got to thinking, I once read an article where President Kennedy got the thrill of a lifetime sleeping in Abraham Lincoln's bed. So I started off, I have slept in John Wayne's bed, Walter Winchell's bed, Liz Taylor's bed, Jack Haley's bed, I could go on and on and on and on. KOFMAN: That's an interesting hobby. It's certainly the most different one I've ever heard. YABLONSKY: Turned out to be an eccentricity. One of these days I'm going to approach Senator Goldwater and say, "Look, Senator, I've slept in every famous person's bed in the world. I want to sleep in your bed." Course, it will all be in fun, you know. KOFMAN: How did Nicky Hilton, who himself comes from a hotel family, how did he like the Westward Ho? YABLONSKY: Loved it. Everybody loved it. Everybody. I can't begin to tell you, it was sort of a hideaway, an escape, a glamour spot and they adored it. Privacy, if they wanted it; non-privacy, if they wanted it. You want a party at midnight hours it's there. You don't see it no more. Hoagie Carmichael -- don't interrupt me for a moment. KOFMAN: Okay. YABLONSKY: He's checked in. We got rather friendly and I said, "Mr. Carmichael., I'm a songwriter." "Oh, come on." I says, "Well, I'm not a professional, but I wrote a song." He says, "What's the name of it?" I said, "When Banana Peels Are Falling, I'll Come Sliding Back To You." Well, he went through the walls. KOFMAN: Good title. YABLONSKY: Then I said, "On the flip side I wrote another song, Get Off The Table, Nable, The Two Bucks Is For The Beer." He was just a nice guy, slim, trim. I had a lot of fun. I created my own fun. There's such a thing as waiting for good times to approach you. I was on the aggressive, always, always; but diplomatically, diplomatically. I always used a little caution, I was never vulgar, I was always a gentleman on the job. There was never a person that checked out that I didn't say stay well and please, we want you to come back and visit with us. KOFMAN: Was there ever anyone who stayed at the hotel that became objectionable? YABLONSKY: On occasion somebody would do this and do that. I had a man the other day -- KOFMAN: This is at the Adams? YABLONSKY: The Adams -- come in an say to me, "I'm looking for my cousin, I haven't seen her in years" -- an older man -- "I can't find her name in the phone book and I can't find her address. Can you locate her for me? I said to myself, What the devil -- this guy must be a 14 carat nut. Can I locate his friend? I said, "Call the police, maybe they can help you; Chamber of Commerce." We have questions that would drive you wild. Woman calls me up, "I'm in Boston. I'm coming in in a month. How is the weather going to be?" How in the devil do I know? Or, "Are the shops open in Nogales, Mexico on Saturday afternoon?" A doctor called in one day, I didn't answer the phone -- KOFMAN: This is all at the Adams now? YABLONSKY: Yes. He says, I'm looking for Dr. So and So. Could you page him in the lobby, see if you can locate him. He's in Los Angeles. Very important, he says. So I page all over, my God, I'm here and there, and I approached Mario and I said, "Mario, I can't find him." KOFMAN: Who is Mario? YABLONSKY: Mario passed away, God rest his soul. He was director of services. KOFMAN: What was his last name? YABLONSKY: Landy. And Mario Landy said, "I sent a man all over and he can't locate him." And this doctor in LA said, "I don't care If you have to go to every hotel in Phoenix, you find this man." Come on. A woman calls up Dave and says to the bellman, "Could you send some flowers to this man's room, he's a friend of mine. I'll be in in about three weeks; you pay for them, when I get there I'll pay you. In the meantime, hire a car under your name and when I come up we'll transfer it to my name." Come on. "I have a standard agent airline ticket, can you reverse it?" Oh, my God, things impossible. KOFMAN: Okay. I want to ask you something because I find this interesting and I think it would be worth mentioning. YABLONSKY: Surely. KOFMAN: You mentioned that Lena Horne had stayed at the hotel Westward Ho and also Dr. Martin Luther King. I gather that at no time was there ever any kind of restrictions, which was unusual for -- YABLONSKY: No. They came at different intervals. It could have been a year apart. KOFMAN: But I'm saying that there was no restriction against blacks or Jews or -- YABLONSKY: No. Wait a minute. There was years ago. The Shah of Iran -- not the Shah that just died, his father -- came in years ago; he was acceptable but he had his entourage -is that what they call it? KOFMAN: Yes. YABLONSKY: Blacks with him. And there was a little friction there. KOFMAN: Well, they're not really black though, the Iranians. YABLONSKY: Well, they were black in color. KOFMAN: Then how did Lena Horne get in? YABLONSKY: That was when things eased up a little bit. As a matter of fact I just waited on -- I got the picture over here, we turned to be buddy buddies -- KOFMAN: Well, now. No, but I know for example there were hotels in Phoenix that Jewish people -- YABLONSKY: Sammy Davis years ago there was a little bit of [discrimination] KOFMAN: Yes, there was. That's why I was interested because apparently the Westward Ho really didn't -- YABLONSKY: You are a thousand, not a hundred, a thousand percent right, unless you were very famous. No dogs allowed, no dogs allowed in the patio, yet Dan Topping had three boxers. Why, he was a spender. And rules are made to be broken. If you were a biggie they would sort of turn their back and allow it. Lena Horne stayed there. Who's the other famous black gal? George Burns was there recently. Remind me to tell you about him. KOFMAN: All right, I will. But at that time then, what I'm trying to find out is, okay, Lena Horne could stay. But supposing a - YABLONSKY: Any average one they would question and, "Oh, well, we're full now." KOFMAN: They would do that? YABLONSKY: In an off handish way. They were very, very, very careful. KOFMAN: Because one of the things that I have found in the interviews that I have so far done is that in general there was very little prejudice and deliberate discrimination going on in the city of Phoenix. There was little of it. There was some but very little compared to -- YABLONSKY: You mean, way back? KOFMAN: In the 40's and 50's. YABLONSKY: Well, I'm going back to '28. KOFMAN: All right, even back then. YABLONSKY: There was some, very little. If you were a biggie they would, I guess the word would be compromise, but there would be some sort of a -- it wasn't common but -- KOFMAN: That was for blacks perhaps, but how about for Jewish people? YABLONSKY: No, never, never. Because we had a clientele of Jewish -- KOFMAN: That's what we have found. YABLONSKY: Never, never. Although Jack Benny checked in I think it was Camelback Inn or the Biltmore or somewhere and he had heard through the grapevine that Jews weren't allowed. True story. They gave him the story, "Well, Mr. Benny, that wouldn't mean you." He said, "Pack my bags!" and he had quite a gang with him. "Pack my bags and let me get the hell out of here." "Jack Benny, we don't mean you." KOFMAN: And where did he go when he left there? YABLONSKY: I don't know. KOFMAN: He didn't go to the Westward Ho? YABLONSKY: No. KOFMAN: You asked me to remind you about George Burns. YABLONSKY: George Burns stayed there about a year, year and a half ago. His piano player and I -- KOFMAN: Now you're talking about the Adams. YABLONSKY: That was the Adams. His piano player and I got very, very friendly. I happened to tell him that I used to hustle papers in the Lower East Side. He says, "I've been with George Burns twelve burns, he's like a father to me. He's the most beautiful man that God ever created." He told me that George Burns was born on Ousten (?) Street and I hussled papers as a little boy down there; all down the Lower East Side, Yolasses (?) Street, Hester Street, Alan Street. He says, "George Burns was born down there." I said, "Well, I must have hustled papers right on the corner where he was born." He told George Burns that and we got rather friendly. His piano player was -- he wrote a beautiful letter. He said be my guest in my home, not George's home, his home in Brentwood, California. When he told George Burns, you know, that I had hustled, we had a nice conversation. As he left I said, "Zeimirgezundt". He looked at me -- he didn't know I was Jewish. KOFMAN: The food or the cuisine at the Westward Ho was always supposed to have been fabulous. Where did their chefs come from? Did they have the same chef for a long time? YABLONSKY: We had the same chef for a long time. He owned a trailer court in town, he sold it and then he moved on to California. KOFMAN: What was his name, do you remember? YABLONSKY: Oh, God. I had a woman come in the other day, she said, "Bill, I worked with you 23, 25 years ago at the Westward Ho." How in the devil do you remember names? She changed, she got gray, heavy. "My name is Levale." Finally, it dawned on me. I remembered her. I had a guy come in one day, "Bill, you hired me, it was 16 years ago." He was about 35 then. He says, "I've gained 70 pounds, I'm married and have three children. Don't you remember me?" Come on. KOFMAN: What year did you go to the Adams? YABLONSKY: About '76, '77. KOFMAN: And you were Employee of the Year for the Adams Hotel in 1978? YABLONSKY: Yeah. Which is, to me, a very thrilling moment. What was I going to say now? I have so much on my mind, my God. I must be getting old, 75. KOFMAN: I understand that Jack Dempsey used to come to the hotel. Can you tell me something about him? YABLONSKY: I sure can. He was there, in those days, he was on a comeback trail, he was with Jack Kerns, his manager. Of course it's a well known fact that Jack Dempsey, during his early days, was a hobo. He road the rails. KOFMAN: It's not a well known fact to me. YABLONSKY: It's not? KOFMAN: No, it isn't. Well, it's before my time. YABLONSKY: Come on. He rode the rails, he was a hobo during his very early days, and he never forgot it. When it became known that he was staying at the Westward Ho just about every bum in town was there. He told Jack Kerns, he said, "I want you to hand out twenty dollar bills to these people here." In other words, take care of them. So he took care of a bunch of them. One, he didn't. This one -- I don't want to call him a hobo, a bum - just a disadvantaged man, approached Jack Dempsey and he said, "Mr. Dempsey, Mr. Kerns didn't take care of me." He turned around and said to Jack Kerns, "I told you to take care of these boys." Very emphatic about it; mad as a hornet, and he gave it to him. I had waited on him; his legs were like broom sticks. He came to the door in shorts. His legs were like broom sticks. KOFMAN: Jack Dempsey's? YABLONSKY: Yeah, but from the hips up - wide, brawny. A high-pitched voice, nice man. Will Rogers stayed there and I will always regret the fact that I couldn't get to him. I wanted so much to talk to him but he was surrounded. Nixon -- I couldn't get through, thank God I couldn't. But Will Rogers - when he left there with Wiley Pose, they went to Alaska, that's where they crashed and got killed. He was a very colorful man, I wanted so much to -- I have a way, I don't know what the devil it is -- if I could talk to you for three minutes you would say to yourself, I've known Bill all my life. KOFMAN: That's true. I feel that way. YABLONSKY: I mean that. Little gestures and mannerisms would lead you to believe - I don't know what the devil it is. It's some hidden gift, I don't know. KOFMAN: It's the light from within. Even I feel it, right now. YABLONSKY: I don't know what it is. You feel it? KOFMAN: I certainly do. YABLONSKY: I have people that come in, every day, "Bill, I've known you for a hundred years." And they'll, oh, my God, they write letters in. The vice president of American Motors, I got a letter, wrote in and told the manager, he said, being with Bill while he was rooming was like being invited into his own home. I can show you the letter. KOFMAN: Okay. Explain this to me. I mean, other people carry your bags and- YABLONSKY: That gives me the thrill of a lifetime. KOFMAN: All right, other than carrying their bags and maybe running coffee up or something, how did you interrelate with the people that came to -- YABLONSKY: Excellent, excellent. I'm very forward. I keep repeating myself, but I would get in there and I just casually, in a roundabout way, make myself likable and, you know, we'd always get along marvelously. I would do little favors, like a man would want to know where this or that and I'd look up a phone number and I'd call up and make a reservation for them. It's appreciated, very appreciated. They like it. KOFMAN: That's what makes a good hotel, too. YABLONSKY: That's right. I'm rooming you, you and your husband -- Ms. Kofman, are you familiar with the Hilton Hotel? No, I've never been there before. If you don't mind I would like to make known the fact that we have a lovely cocktail hour at the Clementine (?). It's a type of a room where you could sit down, nobody would pressure you, you had your drink and forget there's a world around you. Very comfortable. Adjoining that we have a buffet brunch, Monday through Friday, eleven to two; a beautiful room. We're walking along the corridor and I make known the fact, over here where you see the ropes is our coffee shop. The food is excellent, excellent. Down below we have the Sand Painter, all the way down to the right. Now, are you going to be here Sunday? KOFMAN: Yes. YABLONSKY: Fine.. We have a Sunday brunch that starts at 10:30 till 2:00. We have people that come in from a radius of 50, 60 miles -- don't miss it, please. Don't miss it. The delicacies there are something you've never -- you come out weighing 300 pounds if you're not careful. It's just marvelous. They go to that lunch and the next day I'll come in and they'll say, "Bill, you were right; thank you, thank you very much." You have to be informative. KOFMAN: I understand. YABLONSKY: And when you go into the room you turn on the air conditioning and make known the fact you can adjust it, the blinds are open and you point out the Camelback Mountain, and this is your closet and your laundry bags and give them a cook's tour. KOFMAN: Now, I have a hypothetical situation for you. Let's say the year is 1930, 1935. I'm checking into the Westward Ho with my husband and children. What are you going to tell me as you're taking me to a room in the Westward Ho, what will you tell me about the hotel, about the town... YABLONSKY: I'll name the rooms, I will make known the fact KOFMAN: What rooms, other than the Concho Room, what else? YABLONSKY: Well, we have a fine coffee shop, excellent, fine. We call it the Fountain Room. Fine sandwich shop and magazines of all types, if you want a magazine. And if you have nothing to do get in the car -- you don't have a car, rent one -- but make certain you visit Scottsdale. In those days Scottsdale was gorgeous. KOFMAN: What should I see in Scottsdale? YABLONSKY: Well, the mountains, nature in the raw. A natural beauty. Make certain, If you have to walk, make it a must to see the Praying Monk -- you've seen it, have you? KOFMAN: I've seen it. But I'm Mrs. Kofman from Chicago, now it's 1930 and I haven't seen anything. YABLONSKY: All right, you get in your car tomorrow morning, if you have the time, it's a hundred and some odd miles, visit Sedona. A mile off the road from Sedona is the Montezuma Castle. If you have to walk it, if you have to crawl on your hands and knees, you make certain -- because that's where the cliff dwellings are, the Indians lived there, shall we say about 500 years ago. There used to be a time, they had a ladder where you could climb the ladder and walk right into the cliff dwellings. But somebody got hurt and that took care of that. But visit Sedona, the natural beauty. As a matter of fact, Jane Russell -- I don't know if you're aware of this -- had a tavern there very recently. Whether she has It today or not I don't know. I'd heard from the grapevine that she sold it. But visit Sedona. Let me tell you another one. Carefree. The woman next door approached my wife -- KOFMAN: In 1930? Was there a Carefree in 1930? YABLONSKY: No, that's a new town. No. KOFMAN: No. I'm saying that it's 1930 and I've checked into the Westward Ho, I'm from Chicago and I don't know Phoenix. What else are you telling me? YABLONSKY: There isn't nothing in town to speak of. North of the Westward Ho was cotton fields and -- KOFMAN: Was the Flame Restaurant there? YABLONSKY: Flame, right. KOFMAN: Tell me about the Flame. YABLONSKY: That was a Greek restaurant, owned by a Greek. Not that I have anything against Greeks. Before I forget -- I'm going to interrupt myself now -- remind me about Wilbur Clark. KOFMAN: All right. YABLONSKY: It was a Greek restaurant. Downtown there were some fine restaurants. But they weren't what you might call elaborate. You know what I mean? KOFMAN: Yes. YABLONSKY: The food was excellent, but it was a place to go. There wasn't too much of anything downtown. You had to get out a little bit. Scottsdale. Now, the woman next door told my wife, "Tell Bill to go up to Carefree, five acres of land $25." Just for the paperwork, government. Who needs it? I said, Well, leave me alone. Buy five acres today. Try. A man approached me years ago, he says, "Bill, I have a deal for you. You can buy six home sites alongside Camelback Mountain, $1,500 a home site. But on one condition, I'll swing the deal for you, you got to give me one of the home sites." To tell the truth I wasn't interested in it. I wish to God I were. I wish to God I were. KOFMAN: , We all have those wishes; those of us who have lived in Phoenix all these years. YABLONSKY: Oh, I could go on. The opportunities - oh! KOFMAN: Tell me about Wilbur Clark. YABLONSKY: Wilbur Clark, when we opened the Westward Ho, are you ready - was a busboy. He owned the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, you know. KOFMAN: No, I didn't. I knew the name was familiar, but -- YABLONSKY: Oh, come on. Well, Wilbur Clark's Desert Inn - I say he owned, he had a piece of the action, maybe he owned half, who knows? KOFMAN: And he worked at the Westward Ho as a busboy? YABLONSKY: Yeah. He was a busboy and when he left Phoenix he was a youngster; he borrowed two dollars off Theodore, a Greek waiter. He came back many years later, Theodore was still there and he gave him $2,000, appreciation. Fact, true story, $2,000. His man, Jack Walsh, and I became very friendly - his public relation man. He said, "Bill, if you ever come to Vegas and you don't stop at the Desert Inn, I'll punch you right in the mouth." So I said, "That's a coincidental because I'm thinking I'll go to Vegas." He says, "When are you going?" So I called Dora up and she gave me a date when she wanted to go and I got a special delivery letter back from the assistant general manager that we'll welcome you. I got in there and I checked with Wilbur Clark, who was in the office; he called me in and he said to his secretary, "This old SOB has been at the Westward Ho for 10,000 years. Give him anything he wants; the show, the food, everything." Then we had another gimmick. I'm ashamed of myself when I say it. Every time I wanted to go to Vegas I'd see my assistant manager and he would write a letter in. "Bill Yablonsky, Bell Captain, Westward Ho. He's going to Vegas; it'll be his 25th wedding anniversary. Any courtesies that you can extend him we'd appreciate." KOFMAN: It was always your 25th wedding anniversary. YABLONSKY: I had 19,000 25th anniversaries every year. KOFMAN: Well, Mazel tov all over again. YABLONSKY: I was "comped" (complimentary) at every hotel in the world, but I got fooled once. Once I went in to one hotel, I forget the name, and the manager that had sent the letter back welcomed me. He wasn't there anymore, so I had to pay. Hubert Humphrey was a nice man, a nice, soft-spoken man. As a matter of fact, he gave me a pen and I ______ down to my father. Jack Walsh gave me, as a memento, a money clip with a $500 -- it was a fake, it wasn't real -- chip, a replica, like a little money clip of Desert Inn. KOFMAN: In later years at the Westward Ho, I presume there were some conventions. Can you remember some of the major conventions? YABLONSKY: Yeah. We used to get the -- a trucking outfit -- name a few trucking outfits. KOFMAN: Mayflower, Beacon, those are the kind of trucks I know. YABLONSKY: No. Internationally known. It's Caterpillar. Caterpillar used to come in; 300, they'd leave; 300 more come in, they'd leave; 300 more. In later years we would get the conventions. But we got tours from around the world. Tours from Japan; people would come in. The minute you mention Westward Ho in Japan that was sort of a byword. And they'd all come in and first thing, "We want to see Grand Canyon." Grand Canyon - the cameras. We'd get conventions in -- we get them now at the Hilton -- summertime, busier than the dickens there, conventions from France, England, Germany, Belgium. KOFMAN: In the summer? YABLONSKY: Yeah. Can't believe it. We're very busy. Tours, I should say, not conventions. Conventions in - we just had a religious convention come in full blast. KOFMAN: Just think how different things would have been at the Westward Ho if they had had air conditioning. It would have been all year round. YABLONSKY: Oh. come on. We had a convention come in once where we had to rent from the tenth floor up and it was hot. You check a man in and it was like walking into a microwave oven. We had to have the rooms. KOFMAN: Did you have a hotel doctor? YABLONSKY: Yes, yes, yes, we did. Let me tell you about him. KOFMAN: What was his name? YABLONSKY: He was from Scotland. I forget his name. We had a hotel doctor who was from Scotland originally. I'm going to tell you how he died. He was trying to get a tree out of the ground and he put some dynamite in there. The tree blew up and burnt him, his whole body, everything. Eventually he died from it. KOFMAN: He was with the hotel, though? That was all he did? YABLONSKY: He had an office there. He was there, but he was always on call. We don't have one at the -- we have one on call. But when I say the garden spot of the world, that was. Now, the Phoenix Hilton is a fine hotel - don't misunderstand me, up to date. As a matter of fact I got kidding one of the guests the other day, I said, "We're opening up a hotel in Moscow, Russia." He said, "Really?" I said, "Yeah, you didn't know?" "No." "Yeah, the Comrad Hilton." well, good for laughs. And it goes over. Then I was telling one of them -- oh, I hate to say this -- "We just bought the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy; we're going under construction, we're making a hotel out of it." "Really?" "Sure, you must have heard. Yeah, you must have heard. Yeah, they're going to call it the Tiltin' Hilton." You heard that before. KOFMAN: I did. I confess. YABLONSKY: I could tell by that smile. KOFMAN: How did you feel when you finally made the decision to leave the Westward Ho? It must have been pretty hard after all that time. YABLONSKY: I was heartbroken. When I decided to leave the Westward Ho I was approached three times to go to work at the Adams. Each time they conned me into staying. Finally, I got to the point where I said, "Well, this is not for me" because I knew they were going. I felt like I lost my best friend. I felt so down hearted, so down in the dumps. Hey, the second time I put in 30 years there; the first time 5 years. I've got 43 or 44 years in in Phoenix as a bellman which, to me, is the most glamorous occupation in the world. I got a chance to meet, to greet, to become acquainted and friendly with the top people in the world. KOFMAN: In the real early times, did most of the people come in by private car when they came to stay, or did a lot of them come by Southern Pacific? YABLONSKY: A lot of them came by train. The train depot was very active in those days. Or they'd drive in, but trains were very popular. Today, forget it. KOFMAN: I miss the old trains. YABLONSKY: Yeah. I remember the old trolleys here. It was great in those early years. I say early - '28, '29, '30. It was great, really and truly. It was a friendly town, a wild and wooly town, interesting. No activity outside of town, everything was within a small circle. Like I say, I bought my home here - oh, my God, what'd I do, what'd I do? KOFMAN: You mentioned you had joined a congregation finally. Did you join the congregation the first time you were in Phoenix or the second time? YABLONSKY: It was the first time, If I remember correctly. My wife and I were on kosher foods for many years. KOFMAN: Where did you go to get your kosher food in Phoenix? YABLONSKY: It was on lst or 2nd Avenue, I forget the name of the kosher grocery store where they had kosher chicken, kosher meat. There was a little place where they served kosher sandwiches and meats and that right next to the post office. KOFMAN: So you had kosher? YABLONSKY: Oh, yeah, absolutely. But as time goes on you drift away from it. You kind of, you know -- DORA YABLONSKY: Are you still taping? YABLONSKY: I'm still taping and I'm having a wild time here. KOFMAN: Dora Yablonsky now, coming in our tape. I'll turn it off for a minute. While the tape was off for a few minutes you started reminiscing to me about what -- YABLONSKY: They were great days. I can't get over -- the memories are so dear to me. I repeat myself again and again and again, It was a friendly town. Nothing north of the westward Ho to speak of; a few root beer stands, no hospital, no nothing. KOFMAN: You came by train? YABLONSKY: Right. KOFMAN: Where did you stay before you got -- YABLONSKY: I stayed on Portland for a month before we bought this home. KOFMAN: In a rooming house or -- YABLONSKY: Right. On Portland Street and we had one room and I think there was one refrigerator for about four families. I remember them stealing half of my groceries. Then we bought this house. KOFMAN: I'm talking about the first time you came out. You bought this house -- YABLONSKY: Oh, the first time I came out in '28. I was in some rooming house right behind the Westward Ho. KOFMAN: How quickly did you find the job at the Westward Ho? YABLONSKY: It wasn't long after that because somebody told me they were hiring, they were just opening, and I rushed right down there and got right on. I had mentioned the fact that I had been a bellman, a pageboy at Long Beach. The Seaway Country Club, Hewlett, Long Island; I couldn't remember it before -- ultra, ultra, the last word. And it's still there. I remember almost drowning in the pool in the back there. I couldn't swim and I was in a rowboat or something -- not the pool, I beg your pardon, a little lake. A little lake behind the Seaway Country Club. Just came to mind. KOFMAN: When you look around Phoenix now and you see all the changes, are you sorry or are you happy for it growing as it is? YABLONSKY: I'm sort of happy to see the growth. It's a metropolitan city today, let's not kid ourselves. But I still miss the old days when it was -- the friendliness, it was a joy going to work, no crime, and there was no such thing as -- no irregularities, I guess you'd call it. Everything was just so and so, calm, serene. Now, of course, you've got a little bit of smog and fog. Climatically it's still good. I've seen people come in here many years ago with arthritis, flat on their back, and you see them six months later, my God, they're climbing walls. Asthmatics - a haven for asthmatics and arthritics, a haven. Today, of course, it's still a health clinic. We more or less advertise it, I believe, years ago as a health clinic. Today, they don't go into it -- you take it for granted anybody coming out here, that they're going to feel better. Which they do. Some people it helps, some it doesn't, depends on the individual, how it affects you. Why did you come out here, if I may ask? KOFMAN: I think we came out here for my sister's health, I believe, is why my family moved here. YABLONSKY: Is she all right today? KOFMAN: Oh, yes. YABLONSKY: Thank God. KOFMAN: Well, I've enjoyed enormously talking to you today. YABLONSKY: Let me say here and now it's been an extreme pleasure. You are a lovely young lady, God bless you and may he be constantly at your side. KOFMAN: God bless you for the "young". YABLONSKY: You are something. I'm tickled to death you came over. KOFMAN: I've enjoyed it. YABLONSKY: If it's been a little lengthy and if I've been too talkative, please forgive me. KOFMAN: When one makes an appointment to interview someone, why would they say you're too talkative. That's exactly what I wanted. And thank you very much. YABLONSKY: I love to talk. Thank you for coming. [end of transcript]