Jesus Garcia's Tourist Home

46 S. San Francisco St., Flagstaff, AZ
Phone:

East < GO > West

The Tourist Home was built in 1926 by Jesus Garcia, a sheepherder, and his mother Isabella to house Basque sheepherder immigrants from the dozen or so sheep companies in and around Flagstaff. The Flagstaff area was the "summer home" for the sheep, in the fall they moved south to warmer areas.

The Tourist Home is located one block south of Phoenix Avenue on San Francisco St., and across from the former Downtowner Motel.

The Tourist Home served not only as a boarding house but also as a sort of cultural center for the Basque sheepherders, who had come from the Pyrenees mountain range between France and Spain. .

The small tourist home featured a handball court next to it, the ruins of which can be seen behind a patio today. The handball court was known as "La Cancha": "The Court". This was the second such handball court in Flagstaff but the first was demolished in 1921. The back wall of the 40 foot high handball court is still standing next to the Tourist Home.

After decades of neglect followed by some serious renovation the building reopened in 2014 as the Tourist Home All Day Cafe. Miramonte Homes owned and renovated the building for Kevin Heinonen a local restaurant owner/operator.

Photo(s): 2019