The Adobe Inn welcomed the community for the first time in nearly four years last week, during an unofficial open house Friday evening with a soundtrack of high-paced jazz bouncing off its stucco walls.
The reopening is a long time coming, according to co-owner Mel Eason.
“As soon as we stumbled out of the car and saw this place, we felt the energy. We could tell it was a legend,” she said. “Ever since we bought it, we’ve been listening to the town. The town’s been telling us what they want. We just let the energy of the place marinate and guide itself back to where it was. We’re just on a journey.”
For the past two and half years, Eason and fellow co-owner Jeffrey Kaplan heard from Ridgway residents that they expected them to faithfully restore the inn to its former glory. While they’ve maintained many of the same charms, including original furniture and artwork, they have a slightly different vision for its future than its past as a Mexican restaurant.
“We want to turn it into a folk art mecca and provide a very casual place in the mountains for people to enjoy,” Eason said.
Their idea is to create a welcoming, open atmosphere for creatives of all shades and mediums to experiment with art and music. As word grows, they hope to expand into hosting art shows, low-key live music, film showings and potentially drag shows.
Simply put, Eason said she wanted to “bring back the soul of the place.”
As they turn the inn into an artistic hub, they’re also putting the finishing touches on a new bar experience.
According to longtime Ridgway resident and general manager Lanaé Pierce, the bar will serve alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks focused on tequila, mezcal and aguas frescas, and offer surprise drink specials. The inn also plans to host a rotating selection of food trucks to provide a full experience to patrons.
Pierce, who consulted along the way and officially joined the team in May, said it was an easy sell to get her involved.
“This feels like a place meant for gathering, and I thought they were the right people to infuse life into this place,” she said.
Eason and Kaplan, along with Neal Elinoff and Gabe Gelman, bought the Adobe in January 2021 for $800,000 according to property records. The sale happened after one of the property’s co-owners, Joyce Bucknam, “serendipitously” convinced them to buy it. It was an improbable moment after Eason and Kaplan met her at the Ridgway Farmers Market during their September 2020 road trip from Texas.
They immediately got to work renovating the building. Numerous leaks and a dilapidated kitchen consumed most of their time, and several walls had to be torn down. Beginning in June 2021, they started renting out six rooms as a hostel as they continued renovations.
Despite all the time and dedication required to restore the building, the journey has been more than worth it from Eason’s perspective. Now, they’re prepared to reintroduce the community to a longtime institution with their own twist.
The Adobe Inn is located at 251 Liddell Drive in Ridgway and will be open Thursday through Sunday from 5 p.m. until midnight within the next two weeks.
