Santa Fe Hotel (Basque Hotel)

In the early 1900s, Fresno was one of several California cities with a thriving Basque community. The Santa Fe Hotel was built in 1926 to serve the Basque community. A two-story, wood-frame hotel stood at this spot before this two-story, brick hotel was built; the wooden hotel was named the "Fresno Hotel" and was condemned and torn down in the 1920s. The building housed a bar, kitchen, and dining rooms on the first floor, with twenty-three lodging rooms above. In 1991, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its relation to the ethnic heritage of Fresno's Basque community. In recent years, the Shepherd's Inn was located here, serving Basque and American cuisine combined with a boutique inn. Due to new restrictions on traditional communal style dining, the renovated inn reopened in October 2020 as a deli/ farmer's market/ coffee shop with twenty-four hotel rooms upstairs. Rebranded as "Shep's Club at Shepherd's Inn," the restaurant now serves American cuisine.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a number of Basque immigrants arrived in California, drawn largely by the promise of work as sheepherders. The Basque homeland lies in the north-central portion of Spain and the southwestern corner of France; their native language is Euskara. By the early 1900s, Fresno had the state's fourth-largest Basque population. Several boarding houses and hotels in the town were popular with the Basque people. One was the "Fresno Hotel" owned by Martin Dologaray; the two-story, wood frame building was condemned and torn down in the 1920s to make room for the Santa Fe building.

The Santa Fe Hotel was built in 1926 for Dologaray, making it one of the later hotels to be built in the Basque community. The hotel overlooked the Santa Fe Railroad Depot. It served numerous purposes: not merely a hotel, it served as a restaurant, a community center, a clinic, and a place for nomadic Basque sheepherders to collect mail and store belongings. It even functioned as a retirement home of sorts for elderly sheepherders. 

The first floor of the Renaissance Revival style building featured dining rooms, a bar, a kitchen, and a private apartment. Twenty-three sleeping rooms made up the second floor. The building faced east, toward the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Depot. The brick walls were at least a foot thick; the front was faced in multiple tan shades of brick, while the other sides were plain red brick. A recessed. off-center front entrance flanked by tile walls was accessed through an archway between two store fronts; the store fronts have been modified over the years, beginning in the 1950s. The large, plate glass front windows were broken a number of times and were eventually replaced with concrete block above a stone veneer base, and smaller windows. The second floor featured an arched design in brick above the front windows, with a single blue tile placed for decoration, centered below the arch. Handmade rows of metal cornice topped the facade.

The hotel and restaurant were in continuous use since construction, except for two months in 1988 when plumbing was repaired. In 1991, the Santa Fe Hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places, including the 1926 hotel building and a one-story, brick storage shed built in the rear of the property in 1928; traveling sheepherders could store belongings in the shed. The hotel was significant for its relation to the ethnic heritage of Fresno's Basque community; there were still retired Basque sheepherders living in the hotel in 1989, when the property was studied, although the hotel and restaurant became increasingly popular with tourists. The original wooden bar remained in place in the lounge; a handmade wooden bench in the kitchen for preparing cuts of meat survived. The original, octagonal white tile flooring in the main dining room was covered in linoleum after some of it was damaged when it became necessary to tunnel beneath for utility repairs; a brass bell was rung to announce when meals were ready. The lodging rooms were furnished with wash bowls; a separate area near the stairs provided showers.

Echeverria, Jeronima. Home Away From Home: A History of Basque Boardinghouses. Reno, NV, University of Nevada Press, 1999.

Gener, Wealthy. Shepherd's Inn reopens at historic Santa Fe Hotel, Your Central Valley. October 21st, 2020. Accessed May 13th, 2024. https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/local-news/shepherds-inn-reopens-at-historic-santa-fe-hotel-2/.

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Promnitz, Donald A. Former Shepherd's Inn ready for 'Undercover Billionaire' debut, Business Journal. January 27th, 2021. Accessed May 13th, 2024. https://thebusinessjournal.com/former-shepherds-inn-ready-for-undercover-billionaire-debut/.

Santa Fe Basque Restaurant and Bar. About Us, Santa Fe Basque Restaurant and Bar. January 1st, 2024. Accessed May 13th, 2024. https://santafebasque.com/about-us#:~:text=The%20hotel%20was%20built%20in,into%20a%20full%20service%20restaurant..

Walker, John. Historic Shepherd's Inn is reborn as Shep's Club - Get a look inside, The Fresno Bee. January 13th, 2021. Accessed May 13th, 2024. https://www.fresnobee.com/latest-news/article248297280.html.