The Phoenician, which opened in 1988 on the south side of Camelback Mountain, was built on the site of one of the Valley’s most famous winter retreats. The Jokake Inn, an adobe building whose unusual name comes from the Hopi word meaning “mud house,” first advertised rooms with “private baths and abundant heat” in 1928. Its owners, Robert T. and Sylvia Evans, started the resort after hosting tea parties there for two years. To entertain guests, they hired musician Jerry Baker in 1931.
Promoted as “Banjo Billy,” Jerry Baker came to Phoenix in 1928 but soon changed instruments. “My father sang and played the guitar as a solo artist and with other musicians wherever he could find work playing music, for all of his working life,” says Bill Baker, a 92-year-old Phoenix native. “He worked in arguably the nicest nightclub in Phoenix, the Club Lei Lani at 1707 S. Central Ave., with his band Jerry Baker and his Tropical Serenaders, but he also played solo for tips in some of the worst dive bars.”
Jerry Baker entertained at Jokake Inn every winter until 1957. His son still remembers the often-fragrant drive there from their home near Van Buren and 24th Street. “Our route would take us past the Tovrea Stockyard feed lots with hundreds of cattle. Everyone in the car moaned because of the smell, but, for some reason, I loved it,” Baker says. “Then, in spring, there would be this wonderful aroma from the citrus groves near the Jokake Inn.”
Jerry Baker entertaining at the Jokake Inn, 1943.
Sylvia Evans took Jerry Baker under her wing and helped him in his music career, according to Baker. She bought him Mariachi-style pants with leather trim and a beautiful white silk shirt featuring the Mexican flag’s symbol of an eagle standing on a cactus holding a snake, embroidered on the back. His father performed cowboy songs in both English and Spanish to guests enjoying a hayride or picnic in the desert.
“Over the decades, Dad entertained a lot of Hollywood celebrities at Jokake Inn, with Jimmy Stewart maybe the best known,” Baker says. “Once, he was given a $100 bill as a tip, and he put it in his shoe when he was coming home in case he got robbed.”
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Although Bill Baker never met Sylvia Evans, she was kind to the family. “Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, Dad would bring delicious turkey dinners cooked at Jokake Inn for us to enjoy,” he says. “Dad loved horses, and Jokake Inn had a nice stable, so they often let him take a horse for a ride.”
Evans sold the resort to Charles Alberding in 1952. The Chicago businessman kept Jerry Baker performing at the Jokake Inn until he retired in 1957. Baker died in 1966 at age 56.
The Jokake Inn closed in the late 1970s and was demolished, except for its Pueblo revival-style belfry towers, which were incorporated into The Phoenician.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: The Jokake Inn: A musical glimpse into a long-ago Valley resort
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