Jerome, Arizona

If indeed form follows function, then Jerome is a town built with no planning for a town. Between Sedona and Prescott, Arizona this old mining town is a must to discover if one likes the unexpected, the easy-going, and the anachronistic feeling of being in a different time!

If the town is small and at first glance a compilation of houses perched at 1,500 meter above sea level on the mountain side, the scenery from this town is anything than small.  You can almost sit at the edge of the mountain (called Cleopatra Hills) and dangle your feet over the Valley Verde, home among other artistic attractions of well-established wineries.

A friend who had been there suggested that I visit Jerome; since it was the “spookiest town” he had ever been in.  “You have the feeling that the miners are still dancing and drinking in the saloons and the brothels have at least an hour of waiting time...” he said.

How can I not go to Jerome?

The first impression is that it is a town where some lost travelers visit but no one lives there. While it was not a ghost town in the early afternoon and under the hot desert sun, looking at the narrow streets and winding paths (would not call them roads..) around the town, one can almost feel the spookiness of Jerome at night. But for now, the restaurants were open, motorcyclists were having beer in the saloon of the historic Connor Hotel, and there were more than a few signs about brothels and bordellos. 

Here is the note on the front window of the town’s souvenir shop.

After a short walk to the top of the hill which signals the town limit of the Jerome, it was time for some food. Of course it one wants to taste the local wild boar, he has to go to the restaurant called “The Bordello of Jerome”. There, a waitress with a great smile and her entire body covered in tattoos greeted us. After sitting down I realized that there are pictures of her, from various angles, all over the restaurant and even under the tabletop glass… Needless to say the boar meat was perfectly cooked and served with fried yams.

On the way down the hill one finds the preserved ruins of an old hotel, known for the good times the miners there had with prostitutes and alcohol. I have learned that Jerome became a thriving little copper mining town in the 1900 and that these businesses served a population that was 78 percent male. In a fenced-in area of the hotel’s ruins was a toilet bowl used en guise of a wishing well! How appropriate in its simplicity and message!  And seeing the coins people had thrown toward that toilet bowl one can guess that even when the prostitutes and alcohol are gone, people still have wishes to make.

The architecture of Jerome is as eclectic as its inhabitants and visitors. Historic hotels, saloons and eateries co-exist with modern art galleries, wine tasting bars, and a most inviting popcorn store. Yet, when one looks down the valley where copper was mined till 1952, this house stands apart from all others. It looks like someone placed this house, like a castle on a chess board, at the edge of the mines. It looks totally out of place and perhaps that is why it fits Jerome so well, as the entire town is out of place!

How will I remember my first visit of Jerome on a two-dimensional, 8x10 photographic paper? Not by its architecture but its joie de vivre, knowing that, as Wikipedia reports “in 1903 The New York Sun proclaimed Jerome to be "the wickedest town in the West".  Perhaps this picture captures the attitude one should have when in Jerome, today a town of 400 inhabitants and a great place to escape reality for a few hours.

Anyone sitting atop a mountain, under the desert sun, and drinking from a bottle labeled "ICE AGE" is surely in a different zone!

July 21, 2014

©Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2014