COTTONWOOD HOTEL

tours

Personal Tours

call for scheduling... Karen (928) 202-2207

Cottonwood/Verde Valley Historic Tours  

• Old Town storytelling, spirits & hauntings
• Old Town Building & Home Tour
• Orb Chasing...What are orbs? How to take pictures of orbs.
• Rare Greenway Riparian/Verde River Tour
• Elvis Tour
• Indian Ruin Tours
  
     • Tuzigoot National Monument
     • Montezuma Castle
     • Montezuma Wells
  
  
• Sedona Vortex Tour
• Jerome Tours
• Verde Valley Wine Trail Tour
  

Old Town Phenomenon ~TOUR

Orbs, ghosts and the mysteries of Old Town Cottonwood and the Verde Valley with a little moonshine history! Guided tour with the Cottonwood Hotel innkeeper, Karen Leff, who is a personal accomplished tour guide, local historian, story-teller and ghost whisperer.

Night Tour on the Streets in Old Town

Starts at 8pm from the Cottonwood Hotel

Scheduled Tours only (48 hrs. in advance), no walk-ins: call Karen (928) 202-2207 or (928) 634-9455

1.5 hrs

• 2 people/$100 (plus tax, includes white lightning)

Digital cameras a must for orb chasing…

Bootlegging, Moonshiners & Spirits
Legacy of Prohibition: Old Town Wild West Tour

“The BIGGEST little Town in the State of Arizona!”

Cottonwood Arizona’s big bootlegging industry was abound. During a time when having an alcoholic drink was illegal, Main Street was lined with pool halls, restaurants, auto dealers & supply shops, and countless other stores which were fronts to the backroom gambling houses, blind pigs and speakeasies, known for dispensing illicit wine, beer and the best brewed whiskey in the state of Arizona. Cellars from these backrooms, lead into bootlegging tunnels that connected businesses underground to hide their stock from raids and hijacking. Warehouses and underground distilleries were kept very secretly. During transportation, Cottonwood auto mechanics ingeniously rigged dual tanks on touring cars, one for gas and one for rum running. Engines were supped up to outrun the law. There was a certain reputation for lawlessness. For years, prohibition agents turned a blind eye to Cottonwood. When Al Capone and other criminals and bandits started coming to town, sheriff George Ruffner from Prescott was elected to come into Cottonwood to raid the businesses and close the underground tunnels.

This cultural heritage tour is fun and informative. Learn Cottonwood's prohibition history, locations of Arizona bootlegger Kings, underground tunnels, raids, where the bootleggers lived and where the out-of-towners stayed, including Mae West, and where she rubbed her hands through barrels of wine mash and more.

Hollywood Legends & Locally Filmed Movie Tour

John Wayne, Mae West, Elvis Presley and  Jon Cryer are only a few movie stars, starlets, and world renown people that have walked the streets in Old Town on Main Street in Cottonwood, Arizona’s Commercial Historic District.  Come and learn this areas movie history and eat, sleep and stand where Hollywood Legions left an imprint. Bring your camera. 

Tour starts at the Cottonwood Hotel featuring movie locations for:

• 1946, ‘Angel & the Badman’ starring John Wayne & Gail Russell

• 1946, ‘Desert Fury’, starring ‘Liz Scott, Burt Lancaster, John Hodiac, Mary Astor, Wendell Corey

• 1967 Filming of 'Stay Away, Joe" starring Elvis Presley, co-starring Burgess Meredith, Joan Blondell, Katy Jurado
• 1987, ‘Dudes’ starring Jon Cryer, Daniel Roebuck

To see more visit: http://cottonwoodhotel.com/history/locallyfilmedmovies.html

A little history…

John Wayne and Gail Russell romanced at the historic Cottonwood Hotel several times during their 1946 filming of ‘Angel & the Badman’. Their ‘secret’, but not so secret romance, was carried on at the hotel, as it was just a few doors down from the old Rialto Theater. Before day break, they would sneak back into Sedona, where the other film crew lodged.

During the filming of his Wayne’s leading role in ‘Angel & the Badman’, he was known to have purchased a bottle of aspirin for his headache at the local Drugstore which was on the corner across from the Cottonwood Hotel. Since his father was a pharmacist, he liked to chat up the local pharmacist. (future Verde Valley Olive Oil Traders)

The old Rialto Theater (today’s Tavern Grille location), brought in nearly 150 locally filmed movies to do what was called a ‘Rush’. This was when the directors, producers and movie stars all gathered to review their progress of the filming.

Some John Wayne facts:

John Wayne born May 26, 1907, died Jun 11, 1979.

Please click on the pdf. file below to open and/or print an Old Town Tours brochure.

Sedona Vortex Tours

• Red Rock Crossing ~ Cathedral Rock
• Airport Vortex