Stories Published in Arizona Foothills

Touchdown Touches

Arizona Foothills, August 2013

This Contemporary Paradise Valley estate was owned by former Arizona Cardinals star quarterback, Kurt Warner, a future National Football League Hall of Famer, and, before him, Sandy Alomar Jr., a member of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Designed by Edward Chavez, the 11,300 square-foot showplace blends a modern style with a stylish entertaining layout, characterized inside and outside by engaging asymmetries, angles, curves and vari-shaped windows. At the base of Valley landmark, Mummy Mountain, the two-level home features four bedrooms, four garage bays and a theater. In the back is a 62-foot-long lap pool, a water feature, spa and separate casita. Touchdown!

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Call of the Vines

Arizona Foothills, June 2013

Just less than an hour’s drive southwest of Portland in historic Newberg, the 85-room/suite Allison Inn is the elegant gateway to Oregon’s distinguished Willamette Valley, known worldwide for its sustainable agriculture, family-owned vineyards and innovative winemakers, such as Sokol Blosser, developing, in particular, world-class Pinot Noirs. On 35 hillside acres of a sustainably master-planned 450, the four-level boutique hotel includes a vanishing-edge swimming pool with floor-to-ceiling glass doors opening to the south gardens; 100-seat locavore restaurant, JORY, whose name recalls the glacial soil that helps make the area conducive to Pinot Noir and the region’s excellent fruits and nuts; and The Allison Spa, whose nearly 15,000 square feet offers 12 treatment rooms including a private suite. Dream deep, drink deep.

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Kai High Fives

Arizona Foothills, May 2013

The Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa on the Gila River Indian Community outside Phoenix, Kai (“seed”) remains, six years on, Arizona’s only AAA Five-Diamond/Forbes Five-Star restaurant. Featuring “Native American with Global Influences” cuisine prepared by Chef de Cuisine Joshua Johnson and staff, Kai celebrates local and regional cuisine in an atmosphere that is exceptional, sophisticated, sacred. In Zagat 2013 America’s Top Restaurants Survey, Kai earned the highest rating as the best food-rated restaurant for Phoenix/Scottsdale, and Kai has also received recognition from OpenTableDiners’ Choice Awards as the #1 Best Restaurant in the United States for service. Kai hosts themed wine dinners; its lead sommelier, Thomas Klafke, and Chef Johnson offer pairings with wines from, in this instance, fine Italian vineyards.

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Bob Bondurant: Winner’s Circle

Arizona Foothills, May 2013

Teaching and track: Bob Bondurant. This year, the champion race car driver and founder of the world-famous Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving is celebrating twice. On Feb. 14, he, his wife Pat, employees of the school and well-wishers marked the forty-fifth anniversary of the school, proudly located on the Gila River Indian Community in Chandler. Two months after the school event, April 27, he celebrated his eightieth birthday at his Paradise Valley home. Bob brilliantly raced Corvettes in the mid-‘50s, winning the west coast SCCA B Production National Championship in 1959 with a stunning 18 of 20 wins. For Carroll Shelby, Bob participated in the 1965 World Manufacturers Championship, besting Ferrari — almost a half-century later still the only American team to achieve this. Says the octogenarian track legend: “Let’s race!”

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Contemporary Retirement

Arizona Foothills, November 2012

Susan Hersker, ASID, is one of the Scottsdale-area’s finest interior designers. With associate Elaine Ryckman, Allied ASID, she recently completed this dual-master home in a north Scottsdale golf community for the retirement-focused owners. Featuring a large open living area with automated pocketing doors to outdoor areas for mingling and entertaining, the home combines complementary textures: stacked-stone walls, honed-stone floors, polished-stone countertops, metals such as patinaed steel and copper, art glass, exotic woods and opulent fabrics such as silk, mohair and calfskin. These, combined with the warm wood colors and neutral-colored floor, dramatically backdrop the furniture, which blends shades of beige, taupe, eggplant, expresso and ivory.

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