Margie Malloy Robinson (right) and her daughter Mayellen Robinson (left) have operated Winslow’s only bed and breakfast establishment, The Violet Rose, since 2006. For the first time, the pair has extended the inn’s May 1 to Oct. 31 season to accommodate an unexpected influx of guests this year. “This is the first winter that we’re going to stay open. We usually are seasonal, but we’ve gotten really busy so we’re going to try it and see how things go,” Margie noted.
Standing on the corner has been a Winslow pastime since the 1970s. But over the years, the town has also made it possible for tourists to sleep quite comfortably on its street corners as well, early on at inns such as Earl’s Motor Court, the oldest operating Route 66 motel in Winslow, and at more romantic lodging spots today, like the Violet Rose Bed and Breakfast.
Inn owner, entrepreneur and artist Margie Malloy Robinson says dreams of opening the establishment began in her childhood. “What made me love Victorian houses was going to visit my grandma in South Dakota when I was a kid. We lived in an apartment in Redondo Beach, Calif. She had an old claw-foot tub and a monstrous stove, and I just loved going back to the old ways,” she recalls.
“We’ve been here nine years; we bought it just before Christmas in 2006. We were living in Flagstaff and had had a fire at that house, so we decided to make the transition to move to here permanently rather than just coming here on the weekends to hang out. I’d always wanted to run a bed and breakfast, so we started with that theme.
“When we lived near San Francisco in the ‘80s, I used to stay at bed and breakfasts in Napa Valley and I just fell in love with that lifestyle, that aesthetic. I never thought it would happen, but when you leave the big city, you can buy these old houses at a much better price.”
The inn is charmingly outfitted, from the Victorian style cast metal mailbox perched on the covered porch to the rich, suede-textured walls and peach-colored velvet settee of its Western Victorian Parlour, outfitted and upholstered by Margie’s daughter Mayellen, who also hosts at the inn.
Mayellen says that the inn has been well received by visitors, while others remained curious. “Some of Winslow didn’t really know what a bed and breakfast was. They’re usually surprised that we only have one room, but it keeps the ambience small and intimate. They’re also surprised that we have so much space inside,” she explains.
The Robinsons purchased the home from Jim Boles, who served as mayor of Winslow for about 11 years. According to Mayellen, the two-story turn of the century Victorian home was built in 1890 by the Woods family from Canada, who lived in the home for 20 years. In 1910, the Friend family from England purchased the home, where Alice Mary Friend lived for 70 years, later operating it as a boarding house. The inn’s large guest room is named in her honor.
Contrasted with large brand-name hotels boasting hundreds of rooms, which some could feel impersonal to some travelers, Mayellen says of the bed and breakfast experience, “It’s always so nice to meet the guests, because I think they’re looking for that experience; they want to get to know people. So we have a lot of fun with it.”
As an artist, Margie was also keenly aware back then of Winslow’s emergence as cultural mecca. “There’s a renaissance here, and we’ve been waiting for it. When we moved here, folks said that there’s a renaissance going here and I thought, ‘I like that, I like Napa, I like Saratoga,’ so I’d like to be part of the renaissance of a ‘dusty old town, as some people have called it,’” she said.
“It’s been happening and it slowed down for a bit with the huge hit on the economy in 2008, but now we’ve got some really amazing artists moving in and it encourages the locals to want to do things, too, and jump into entrepreneurialism. That’s what we need here, we need our young people to start their own businesses.
“La Posada has been a draw for a long time. It really started it, I think. This is exactly what I love in life, to see something that needs life brought back into it in an artistic and expressive way, and it’s really helped this town.”
According to casual lore, the inn has welcomed a celebrity or two, or at least someone who might be graciously granted that status. Margie acknowledges, “I did see some things on Facebook, and it was fun to see that. The one person who’s stayed: I wouldn’t call them famous, but they were affiliated with a band that came to town. But I have had some people in the past who are notable. They continue to stay, so I don’t disclose who stays here.”
The Violet Rose is located at 521 N. Kinsley Ave., at the intersection with Oak Street.
