Hotel Monte Vista - Flagstaff

The Hotel Monte Vista is located on San Francisco Street in Flagstaff, Arizona, one block north of Historic Route 66.  The hotel was constructed in 1926 by a group of citizens who felt that the growing city needed a place for visitors and tourists to stay, and was built entirely on public funds.  The hotel opened on New Years Day 1927.  Over the years it has housed a radio station, Mary Costigan's one woman KFXY in the late 1920's and early 30's, and slot machines and a speakeasy in the 1930's and 40's.  By the 1950's it was the place of choice for celebrities filming in nearby Seligman and Oak Creek Canyon.  The list of actors and actresses to patronize the Monte Vista include Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Gary Cooper, Carole Lombard, Alan Ladd, Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Brennan, Gene Tierney, Esther Williams, Clark Gable, Lee Marvin, Debbie Reynolds, Jane Russell, Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart, who is said to have filmed some scenes from Casablanca here at the hotel in 1942, and John Wayne, who infamously encountered the hotel's phantom bellboy on several occasions.  The hotel also hosted Western author Zane Grey on several occasions.  Musicians Jon Bon Jovi, Freddy Mercury, and R.E.M's Michael Stipe have also spent time in the hotel.  More noteworthy than the celebrities who have stayed here are the reported ghosts that haunt the building.  A phantom bellboy, a bank robber, a crying baby, a shadowed man and an elevator operator are all spirits which have helped elevate the hotel to one of the most haunted spots in Arizona.

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