 From Primedia Publications |
La Doña Luz Inn
Taos, New Mexico
By Darlene P. Copp
The story of how Nina Meyers fell into innkeeping begins in 1909, the year her father, Ralph Meyers, settled in Taos, New Mexico. "At that time Taos was forming a colony of artists and writers," explains Nina, "and Daddy easily found his place among them." After a stint with the Forest Service, Meyers practiced landscape painting, silversmithing, furniture-making and the culinary arts while he made friends with socialite Mabel Dodge Luhan, author D.H. Lawrence and, as Nina puts it, "all those people who came to find their spirits here."
Meyers traded with Native Americans on nearby reservations and used his acquisitions to stock his newly opened Mission Shop in an adobe building. It was the first curio shop in Taos, and he operated it until his death in 1948. In 1970, Nina's mother, Rowena Meyers Martinez, a Taoseña, renamed it El Rincon, "the inside corner."
The oldest sections of the rambling adobe in the heart of Taos date to 1802. It encompasses a community well from the 1700s, now part of a sitting room next to the kitchen. Nina added a second story in 1985, and a friend suggested she include a room "for a little income." She kept creating rooms until she had 14. "It wasn't planned, but we worked everything in pretty well."
Nina designs the rooms and decorates them with her whimsical paintings. Her son Paul "Paco" Castillo handles all the practical aspects, including the recent name change from El Rincon Inn to La Doña Luz Inn. Doña Luz Lucero de Martinez lived in the building during the mid 1800s, hosting the rich and powerful at the only cultural soirees in "Old West" Taos. A suite facing the Kit Carson Home and Museum directly across the street bears her name.
Most rooms have adobe fireplaces made by Taos Indians, and all come with private baths, TVs, VCRs, stereos and refrigerators. The vibrant colors, patterns and textures of the area's Native American, Spanish and Anglo cultures fill all the rooms. The spacious La Madonna suite has 37 renditions of mother and child, from a handpainted mural on the corner fireplace to a tiled Lady of Guadalupe over the bathtub. Authentic Native American art decorates the Yellow Bird Deer Room. For the Rainbow Room, Paco copied the ceiling of color-washed latillas (small Aspen trunks) his grandfather designed for Mabel Dodge Luhan's house. He recently crowned the suite with a rooftop deck that has a hot tub and a private, 360-degree view of Taos.
La Doña Luz guests are just a few steps away from the intriguing Taos Book Store--New Mexico's oldest bookstore--and from a dinner of superb chile rellanos at Roberto's Restaurant. The old plaza is within walking distance, as are museums, galleries and restaurants. Guests can also peruse a slice of Southwest history in the adjoining El Rincon Trading Post Museum, created by Rowena Meyers Martinez as a "gift to the public." Among the thousands of artifacts in the compact space are Pueblo pottery, Plains Indian apparel, frontier saddles and farming implements, Spanish religious icons and Kit Carson's britches. For shoppers, handcrafted jewelry and other Native American crafts line the trading post's cases and shelves.
Nina feels there's a resemblance between the museum and the recently enlarged Pioneer Room, from the 1875 quilt hanging behind the hand-crafted bed to the snow shoes on the ceiling. As an innkeeper, the daughter of Ralph and Rowena Meyers carries on their work to preserve the flavor of historic Taos.
La Doña Luz Inn
114 Kit Carson Road
Taos, New Mexico 87571
(505) 758-4874
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