Hector Valencia was born of Mexican parentage in Ajo, AZ. The family returned to Sonoita, Son., where he grew up. After living there and in Caborca he went to San Diego, CA, learned English by watching movies, had a variety of jobs, and eventually enlisted in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.

In 1969 Hector and his partner Bill Wilkerson stopped in Álamos en route to a holiday in Mazatlán. They stayed at the Portales Hotel and experienced Álamos magico with the church bells ringing, the sound of a guitar playing, and the atmosphere of serenity.

During their early years in Álamos life was full of social events, and especially popular was square dancing. The Mexicans and Anglos were friendly, but social events were definitely separate. The only doctor in Álamos was Antonio Acosta, and the Social
Security Building was the clinic.

1. When did you first visit Álamos, and under what circumstances?

“It was in1969. We had heard about Álamos and we (Bill Wilkerson and Hector) drove into town, and we parked at the Portales hotel. We didn’t know about the Tesoros then—we didn’t even know if Álamos had a hotel—and we were happy that we could spend the night in Álamos and didn’t have to drive back to Navojoa.

“We ate at the hotel restaurant and got a room—I think we paid $10. Polo was our waiter and Indio was the cook. Indio was a native of Álamos and his wife was Juana, who would sing loudly every morning. They lived in a house that is a part of the Doña Luz Murillo property.

“I have a funny story about Dona luz Murillo. I had bought some property from her, and I paid her some money with the rest due when the paperwork was completed. When it was time to pay, I brought a witness with me and Melba and Doña Luz were there. Doña Luz was in the process of making guava, and Melba was complaining that she should have been told before about the sale. When Melba asked about money going to her, Doña Luz said ‘when I sell this property, this is all your getting!’ She then slapped her hands, which were wet with guava, and the guava flew all over everyone. We all started laughing!

“Doña Luz was an interesting lady. She was in her seventies at that time, and very handsome. She said that marijuana and alcohol was the best treatment for rheumaticism.”

2. When did you buy your first house in Álamos?

“In 1969, when Bill and I were eating at Los Portales, a foreign man was talking to someone about signing papers for a house. He asked Polo about it. The man had bought a house behind the jail, which is now owned by the Swiss lady, Bengta.

“So when Bill and I came back to Álamos in 1972, we knew it was possible to buy a house. It was October, and we were coming back from a trip to the pyramids in Yúcatan and on our way back to California. We stayed at the Tesoros this time, and we got there at maybe 11:30 a.m. —in time for lunch. Edith Pratt was the daytime manager of the Tesoros at that time, and Ramon Quintana was the night-time manager.

“Anyway, Edith said no lunch would be served until 1 p.m. She gave us coffee, but we had 1 ½ hours to kill before lunch. I turned to Bill and said ‘What are we going to do until lunch, and Bill said ‘Let’s look at houses.’ I said, ‘We don’t have any money,’ but Bill said ‘They don’t know that!’ We told Edith we wanted to look at houses, and she called Levant Alcorn. Within 10 minutes he was there to show us some places, and we looked at two houses on Obregon Street before we ate.

“We ended up staying all week in Álamos and looking at houses. The most expensive house in Álamos at that time was $45,000—Gutierrez #15, now owned by Kelley Rollings. An antique dealer also owned the Ludwigs’ house, which is now El Nicho, and that was for sale for $19,500.”

Hector said that Obregon #28 was priced then at $8,000. Memo Acosta was raised there, and Carola Reinhardt was living there at that time. It was later owned by Pat and Walter Crane, the Frazers, the Kruceks, and the Lockwoods. Hector and Bill looked at that house, and also at the Meisenheimer house across from the Chocolate Palace. Most of the houses were selling for $10,000 - $11,000.

“We finally bought what is now the Starr house at Madero #23. Aurora was the name of the street then, but we all called it “No Hay Paso” Street because it was torn up so much. We sold that house to Ed and Dolores Gaughtier, and they sold it to a minister, and then he sold it to the Starrs. The daughter, Sherri, is the owner now.

“We bought the house for $14,500. Amelia Almada lived in the house across the street. She never married, and 50 years ago there was a high percentage of ‘old maids’ living in Álamos because women from higher social classes were not permitted to marry below their class. She was friendly, but she was always trying to sell me something. She told me that she had invested money in a project in Cuernavaca, and that she was owed one million pesos. She told me that if I would fight for her and help her get the money, she would split it with me. I would listen and say ‘Sure, sure—I’ll get started on that,’ but I didn’t really believe it.

“We left $100 to hold the house, which was owned by Ada Greever. She was also an antique dealer, and every year she came to Álamos with a trailer of antiques. We told her that we couldn’t pay cash for the house, but she was willing to set the terms and finance it for us. We then went back to California to get enough money to start restoring the house, which we figured at about $300 a room in those days. But we never finished, other than hiring a carpenter to put on the back door. The door was missing and people could walk right in the house. I guess it didn’t really matter, because there was nothing there.

“When we came back from California we met Levant for breakfast, and he said the Ortiz Tirado house was for sale. He had talked with Beatriz Tirado’s brother-in-law. Beatriz had died a few weeks before. She was tall, thin, and blonde with green eyes. She was another of the ‘old maids,’ and she lived in a portion of the house with no running water and no bathroom. Rumor had it that she was in love with her cousin, who of course she could not marry, and then decided never to marry. She and all the other old maids were friends, but she never went out. She would hire little girls to go to the market for her to buy things that she needed.

“Beatriz’ sister married a wealthy doctor and they lived in Hermosillo. The doctor had bought and paid for the house, and after Beatriz died he wanted to sell it. Levant asked us if we would like to look at the house, and Bill said ‘We already have a house!,’ but I said ‘Why not?’ We looked at the front door, which had nearly collapsed, and then we walked in and it was like walking into the 16th Century. We looked at each other and we both said ‘Wow!’ Bill asked Levant how much they would want, and Levant said to offer $10,000 because, after all, it’s a ruin. Levant called and the doctor answered, and Levant said that he had two gentlemen here who had offered $10,000 cash. The doctor said “Sell it,” and he also said that we could take possession immediately.

“We went back to the hotel, the Tesoros where we were staying, and we told Edith we had bought another house. ‘Now what do we do?’ we asked her, and Edith said she could help get guys to clean it up. Within a hour we had 10-20 workers, which we paid 20 pesos a day. They started hauling debris out into the street, and we starting piling stuff behind in the alley. We had to then hire people to haul off the trash, but in two weeks we had much of the debris out of the house. I remember after each day, at the end of the day, we paid the workers 20 pesos.

“There was a wall about eight feet tall in the middle of the patio, and when we bought it we thought we had bought only the first half of the house. Later we found out that we owned everything back to the alley! The Ortiz Tirado house now has a hill going up to the alley, and that hill is from part of the debris of the ceiling and walls that had caved in.

“The kitchen of the house was empty when we bought it. A metal plate rested on four bricks, and that was what Beatriz used for cooking. While cleaning the kitchen I found a picture of our lady of Guadalupe. It was off a calendar, and it was folded up to be used to start a fire. I rescued that picture, and later framed it. It has always been a special picture, and four months ago I took it to Guadalajara and gave it to my son.

“We actually had our first party in the house during those two weeks. We were still staying at the Tesoros, and a group of us brought flashlights and set around in a circle on pieces of bricks and had a party. Of course there were no furnishings in the house—these had all been taken by the family before they sold the house.

“There were 14 arches in the house: from each corner arches went through the building. There had once been a grocery stored in the back corner (across from Doña Lola Restaurant) where the garage is now. Much of the house had collapsed, and several rooms had debris five feet high. At first we didn’t even know how many rooms we had!

“After we bought the Ortiz Tirado house, we went back and forth between California and Álamos. I had been working for the newspaper as a teletype operator and selling antiques on the weekends. Bill always worked with plants and birds. He did some work with landscape architecture and once designed an alligator canal in Pasadena. But he enjoyed working in a nursery best because he loved to sell plants to people. He later enjoyed working in antiques with me, and I learned much about plants from him.”

3. Describe Álamos at that time, and how many foreigners are still living here?

“The Americans living in Álamos all gathered at the Tesoros each night. After working and sweating all day, Bill and I cleaned up and went to the Tesoros for cocktails and dinner. It was a daily social event. There were only two houses with similar courtyards in Álamos--La Mansión and ours. We brought a little cooking stove and always had coffee ready, and people stopped by every day. A few times Edith Pratt told tour groups staying at the Tesoros to check out the two guys working on the ruin, and we sometimes had 10-15 people drop by to see what we were doing.

“The people of Álamos also were intrigued by the two gringos because Bill kept more than 200 birds in the living room of the house. We had finches and parakeets (separated) and we had wire over a window so people passing by could look in and see the birds flying around.

“We met a lady staying at the Tesoros about this time. She was a widow in her late seventies, and very friendly. Bill had the habit of saying ‘I think I know that person’ because he met so many people, and people were important to him. He told me he thought he knew this lady, and I told him ‘You always say that.’ After seeing her a few times he asked her where she was from, and, when she told him, he told her he had worked in a nursery there. ‘Are you Billy?’ she asked, since he was 16 the last time she saw him! Her name was Ruth Wagoner, and she had been one of Bill’s former customers.

“She was now a widow, but she and her husband, Victor Wagoner, had traveled all over the world together. They had lived in Japan in the 1920s, just after the 1923 earthquake. They built a house in Carlsbad CA, after he retired, and they built a Chinese/Japanese room in the house with teakwood shipped in from Thailand. When Victor was living they spent three months in Oaxaca, one month in Álamos, and the remaining time in California. Her grandfather had been a gold-rush miner, and he gave her a large gold nugget which she made into a necklace and often wore. They had one son who died in childhood, so at the time she met us in Álamos she had almost no family left.

“Ruth became a close friend. She traveled with us several times when we went back and forth between California and Álamos. She ate like a horse and could outwalk anyone. That year she set off on a world cruise, but she fell on the ship while crossing the Panama Canal and broke her hip. She was hospitalized in the Canary Islands, a place she had always wanted to see. Her only sight-seeing in the Canary Islands was from the window of her hospital room!

“She eventually flew to New York and back to California, and she was still recuperating when Bill and I visited her. We told her we would like to take her back to Álamos with us if she were able to travel, and she answered ‘Who says I can’t travel?’ She came back to stay a week with us, and ended up staying five years! She died here in 1978 and we buried her in the Álamos cemetery.

“Ruth had a room in the house, and every night we nailed cheesecloth over the doorway (there was no door) to keep the mosquitoes out. In the morning she had to wait until we ‘unnailed’ the cloth to let her out!

Ruth became a traveling partner with Bill and Hector, and they traveled together across Mexico, and even across Canada. At Victoria, BC, they had a room reserved, but the ferry got in late and the hotel had only a room with one bed left. According to Hector, all three slept on that one bed that night, but the next day they had their regular rooms.

They soon became disappointed with Canada because all they visited were big, modern cities and at Winnepeg they crossed the border into Minnesota and stayed at Grand Rapids, MN, where the people were kind, the food was great, the motel was great, the weather was great—it was the highlight of the trip.

“The Álamos gringos were all extremely friendly. At first we thought there were no upper and lower classes, but later we found out there was an ‘upper group’ that didn’t come to our parties. We had 20-40 people, all close friends, and we called ourselves the ‘lower 200.’ There were maybe five couples (or singles) who had parties and didn’t invite us, and we called them the ‘upper 400.’ Naturally, when our group was together we gossiped about what the others were doing.

“Bill and I were finally invited to a party given by the queen bee, Dolly Walsh. Bill and Dolly Walsh had a house in what is now the Hacienda de los Santos – he had been a lawyer at Nuremburg trials. We had lovely time with hors d’oeuvres and drinks, and Dolly was quite friendly. We were invited because Dolly was a friend of Sadie Smith, who was in our group–a tall woman from Kentucky, a widow, who was slightly aloofish. Sadie loved Bill, and she later introduced us to Dolly Walsh. Later we met Ed LaMar, who built the baseball park and gave it to the city.

Hector placed the membership of the Upper 400 as follows:

•Martha Haywood, who lived in the tequila factory house. The house is now for sale for $2,000.000 (summer, 2008).

•John and Ruby Lawler. “He was from San Francisco, husky, and he loved to sunbathe in the nude on the roof—where he was often seen by people living higher up the hill. He was not in the same class as his wife—he was more ‘common.’”

•Bruce and Vivian Hayter. “She was educated in France,” Hector said, “and was beautiful. They later came to several times of our New Year’s parties. After Bruce died, Vivian was going blind and had to go back to the U.S. She had some expensive hats, clothes, and mementoes, and she had me help her pack. We packed more than 100 boxes because she wouldn’t leave anything behind. She took her driver with her, and they went to California. She later told me that she dumped most of what she brought into the trash bin because she had no place to put it.

“Over the years there were close to 100 people in the ‘lower 200.’ Only Margot Findlay and Sharon Wickson are still here. She lived in the house that is now Kelley and Sherry Hale’s house. Margot and Hal were actually the bridge between the ‘upper 400’ and ‘lower 200’ classes.”

(Margot Findley, when informed of Hector’s description, joked in the summer of 2008 that she and Hal were definitely in the upper class!)

“There were so many interesting people here then. There was the Basque Spaniard/Mexican who married a white woman named Isabel, who was a dancer. It was a scandal at that time for a white woman to fall in love with a Mexican, but they were married for 57 years! They lived in the house where Jennifer MacKay’s runs “del Sol.” They have both passed away now.”

4. You and Bill lived in the Ortiz-Tirado house for over 20 years. Tell about the social activities, the TGIF parties, and the New Year’s Eve parties you planned.

“In the 1970s there were usually six – 10 cocktail parties during Christmas season. The resident foreign community was a close-knit group, and friends asked us to have a party at our house—which was no longer a ruin by now.

“We took Dec. 28 or 29, and we had a party for 40 – 50 people. We had a good time. The next year the Tesoros decided not to have its New Year’s Eve party, and some friends asked Bill and I to have a New Year’s Eve party. I said, ‘why not make it a costume party?’ That became the tradition, and it continued for 14 years.

“The first years we had Coqui’s father (Doña Lola restaurant) and two of their kids playing music, and the next year we hired an orchestra. As the years went on the party grew to 150 people. Everyone brought hors d’oeuvers, and each year the party had a theme.”

Among Hector’s favorite themes were the following:

•Best Little Whore House in Mexico. “We had cutouts of Dolly Parton Burt Reynolds, and people had pictures taken of themselves with the cutouts. We had a set with women looking out the windows.

•Night of the Opera: the last curtain.

•Trip to the Nile River . “I made nine paper mache statues for that party.”

•From cave days to outer space.

•Noah’s Ark. “I used a curtain 150-foot long to outline the Ark, and we had animals looking out, everything.

•Las Vegas night. “The city of Las Vegas sent us $1,000 in chips, 500 decks of cards, and provided an expense-free three day trip to Las Vegas for us to raffle off.

“Bill and I spent three or four months preparing for these, and we had help from gringos who came here just for he Christmas season. A British couple, David and Joyce Moss, would come here and spend several days working with us on the props. Some friends came to Álamos just for the party, and one lady came from Alaska just for our New Year’s party.”

There was always a New Year’s Day party given by Diane Carpenter, who made menudo. But for 14 years, Bill and Hector had the best New Year’s Eve party in Álamos!

5. How many houses have you bought and sold in Álamos?

“I’ve owned at least half a dozen houses over the years, and I’ve lived in three or four of them. After selling the Ortiz Tirado property to the Harveys in 1995, Bill and I left Álamos and lived on California. When we left there was a farewell party at the Cunninghams with 100 people there—and when we came back, there was a big welcome-back party for us.”

The most important properties Bill and Hector owned were the Ortiz Tirado house, which they bought in 1972 and sold in 1995, and the El Nicho house which they owned from 1997 until 2005.

Hector bought El Nicho in 1997 from “La Contesa de Magdalena,” Gerta Guevarra, who had recently divorced her Mexican husband, Bill Guevarra, who later ran for mayor of Las Vegas. Gerta also owned the property that is now La Mansión and sold it to Americans, who paid $66,000 down and were to finish the payments in two years. The final payment was never made, and Gerta reclaimed the property.

6. How did you get involved with El Nicho?

“Originally El Nicho was a shop owned by Annette Hinman., and it was located at Comercio Street between Edith Pratt’s house and the Nuzum house. Annette was (and is) a lovely woman, and she asked me for help in running the store and I became her adviser. Later Annette wanted to sell the business, and we worked out an arrangement and I became owner of the shop. When I bought the property from Gerta, I moved the shop there where it is today.”

One story Hector tells about his time buying and selling antiques is about some books he bought from Mary Hathaway. Charles and Mary had a house in Álamos, and they were from Indian Bend, PA. When he passed away, Mary came back to the house and asked Hector to help her “clean up the mess.” They had a beautiful library but many of the books were literally eaten up by worms. Hector and Bill spent several days cleaning, and Mary said she wanted to sell some of the books. Hector looked through her books and bought some for $125. Some of the books he bought were children’s books, which Hector selected because they sold well. Hector later discovered that he had the original versions of “The Wizard of Oz” and “Alice in Wonderland,” books that he has in safe keeping because of their value.

7. The Casa de los Tesoros was a center of activity for the foreign community into the 1990s. What memories do you have of the Tesoros and of Darly Gordon, who owned it?

“Darly was the ‘hostess with the mostess.’ She dressed in black velvet, and usually wore pearls. She sat in the entry-way of the Tesoros with a long cigarette holder. She greeted people when they came for cocktails or dinner, and if you had a title or degree, you were very welcome. Cocktails were served for an hour, then dinner. Many of us stayed only for cocktails, but the Tesoros was where the gringos gathered every day.

“When Bill and I came, we were a hit with Darly. A girl friend of ours came to visit us once. She looked elegant. One night Darly had a cocktail dinner at her house and Bill, Frances, and I were invited. When we were alone Darly asked me about the fabulous young lady.

“’Hector, who is she, this delightful lady?’ she asked me.

“Oh, Frances? She runs a thrift store in Los Angeles.’

“I could see by her expression that the whole roof collapsed on her. That was the end of Frances being a ‘darling.’

“Darly had earlier had something to do with film—either writing or something. She was in her late 70s in the 1970s. She had short hair, which was blonde.

“Roberto came to Álamos two or three years before Bill and Hector. He was a young teenage boy, blond, kind of a hippie, ill-kept, but he was a hit with Darly. He planned the meals and ran the kitchen. Dinner was fairly formal at that time. The waiters wore suits and poured wine for the guests. Roberto was never around in the evening—he never came out and socialized with the guests. He just peeked in through the the window or doorway to make things were fine. He stayed in Darly’s house.

“I never knew anything more about Roberto. He was kind of a ghost. He would ride around the town in his pickup. He did art work with glass, reverse painting. Some of his work is in Edith’s office now. He did big birds of tin, which were sold at the hotel. If you bought one of his art pieces when you stayed at the Tesoros, you were a big hit with Darly.

“Hector said Roberto died about four years ago (2004), and as far as he knew, he never associated with any of the Americans. He lived in separate quarters in Darly’s house. Darly sold the hotel before she died to Suzanne Chartrand, who was married to a dentist from California. She lives in Santa Fe now.”

8. Tell about your dealings with Levant and Ana Maria Alcorn. How would you describe Lamont?

“The pueblo mágico of Álamos would no doubt be in complete ruins today were it not for William Levant Alcorn, who came to Álamos in the 1940s and soon bought the old Almada mansion and turned it into Hotel Portales. He bought many other properties, and invited his friends and business colleages from Pennsylvania to come, buy property, and help him restore the town. He was a realtor, a public relations genius, and a warm friend to the community.

“He was successful because of that charm he possessed,” according to Hector. “No matter what he did, people saw a genuine good in him and loved him.”

Levant died in Álamos in his late 90s, and remained in good health until his final few months.

9. Tell me about the movie “Mexico Norte.” I heard you had a part in that movie.

“The movie was filmed here in April and May of 1974, and I was chosen as one of the five outstanding male faces in Álamos. There were also five outstanding female faces. I guess it could have been the start of a film career for me, but I was gone during much of the filming and I’m only in a few crowd scenes.

“The court house in the movie was the Tesoros bar, and a house was built on Guadalupe hill where the star was supposed to live. The Maria Felix house was the set for several scenes. It was written and directed by Emilio Fernández (legendary dirtector of Mexican films, including Steinbeck’s “La Perla”) and Roberto Cañedo was the lead actor, and the actress Patricia Reyes Spindola was the female lead. It was a typical tale of a young man struggling against a powerful family that ran the town, and I understand it won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival.”

Hector said he saw the movie quite recently (summer, 2008) on a cable channel.

Editor’s note: “México Norte” did not win an award at the Cannes Festival, but Emilio Fernández did win the Best Film award at Cannes for “Maria Candelaria” in 1946.

10. I met Pember Nuzum when I first came to Álamos, and he was quite a character. What are your memories of Pember and Elizabeth?

“He was a good man, he had a great sense of humor, and Elizabeth is a real charmer. She (with Florence Messer and Gay Billington) started the scholarship committee. Pember went to the Tesoros at noon, and sometimes he would be there at night when I would stop by for a drink. He and Craig Hill both had chairs at the Tesoros with their names on the back, and those two guys spent a lot time together there. He was also a great organ player.

“Elizabeth is more on the “arty” side, and we took painting classes together from Dorothy Whitehouse and Margot Findlay. Dorothy’s idea was to teach you to paint ‘chunks’ rather than making an outline and filling in detail. She would also give you assignments you had to paint, and one of mine was to paint ‘the rushing vertical crashing into the horizontal.’ I thought about it and painted a waterfall, but that wasn’t my style. I like to just paint things that I see.

“Later Margot became our teacher, and her philosophy was to paint in “your own style” and she would give help when you needed it. She was a great help.”

11. What are the most significant changes you have seen in Álamos since you bought a house here in 1972?

“Of course I lived downtown next to city hall, but then noise wasn’t a problem. There weren’t many cars here in 1972, and now there must be 2,000 trucks in Álamos. This was once a beautiful, charming, quiet village—but it isn’t any more!

“There are many more people here now than in 1972. The foreign community is much larger, but the entire town has grown. I don’t think the people are as courteous and friendly as they were when I first came here. There has also been an enormous increase in the price of real estate since I bought the Ortiz Tirado house for $10,000.”

12. You have seen Alamos change from a town of ruins to a town of restorations. What are some of the unique problems that people have in restoring old houses here?

“Restoring houses in Álamos is a problem because materials here are often more expensive than in the United States. Bags of cement here are almost double what I pay in Tucson, for instance. The labor here is cheaper, but not the materials—and that’s a problem in restoring houses.

“The old houses in Álamos had amapa beams, but you can’t use amapa anymore. Pine beams were then used, but they were a treat for the termites. In the Ortiz Tirado house we made concrete beams on the floor, and then four of us lifted those beams into place. In restorations now concrete beams are cast in the ceiling and not on the ground.

“Another problem in restoring houses in the historic district is an inconsistency of the rules. At one time every house in the historic district had to white, and you had to wear sunglasses when you walked around in the summer. The mayor at that time wanted everything white, but now you can paint houses almost any color you want.

“One time, though, I was going to paint my house on Obregón street, and I wanted to use the same color as the museum. I took the paint to the palacio, and I was told it was too dark—yet it had just been approved for the museum. These inconsistencies can be very frustrating.

13. Is it possible that you will leave Álamos?

“Now that I’m older, I think I’d like to move to a place with better medical facilities. I think Tucson might be a good choive. Naturally I will miss the friends that I have made here, but I also enjoy living in the United States. My first 19 years were in Mexico and I only spoke Spanish, but my next 20 years were in the U.S. where I only spoke English—so I am very comfortable living in the states.

“If I go to Tucson, I know I can go to any restaurant and get a decent meal for a decent price. That’s not the case here.

“I’ll never forget my experiences in Álamos, especially the first 20 years. I treasure the friendships, and the many dinners and cocktail parties we had. We were a close-knit community, but those things just don’t exist anymore.