Saturday, October 16, 2004

Be my guest

Quaint, cozy backyard quarters draw so many visitors, they form a cottage industry.

GABRIELLE FIMBRES

Tucson Citizen

The guesthouse belonging to Tucsonans Ann-Eve Pedersen and Peter Eckerstrom is one of many in Tucson's central neighborhoods.

It's rumored that actor Ted Danson cooled his heels in the cozy little house with pine paneling.

A visiting artist calls it home once a year.

And for years, famous archaeologists stayed there while working in Tucson.

"All my brothers have stayed here," said Pedersen, a former Tucson Citizen editor.

"We've loaned it out for friends having weddings, at Christmas time. I had a friend getting divorced who spent a couple of months here."

Pedersen and her husband recently opened the doors to family in town for a funeral, just after friend Kathleen Justice Moore and her daughter, Laura Ann, stayed there while their home in California was under construction.

"The house is like a little sanctuary," said Pedersen, who has owned the home with her husband since 1994.

The house, in the Sam Hughes neighborhood, east of the University of Arizona, was built in 1936 by famed archaeologist Emil Haury.

In 1955, Haury added on the guesthouse. Among his many guests was Ted Danson, whose sister married one of Haury's sons. Haury had so many guests, a sign reading "Haury Hilton" was hung on the wall.

Today the exterior is painted in cobalt and turquoise. The interior is furnished with treasures that belonged to Pedersen's grandparents.

Pedersen and Eckerstrom have had so many visitors, they keep a guest book, with friends and family jotting down warm notes regarding their stays.

"We've had people stay for months," Pedersen said. "It feels like you're in a cabin."

Guesthouses were first seen in Tucson in the early 20th century, before they became popular in other parts of the country, said retired city and county planner John S. Jones.

The first guesthouses appeared on Main Avenue, known as Snob Hollow, Jones said. They were built by affluent Tucsonans hosting out-of-town visitors.

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