Meet Dave Blauert. Dave is a remarkable personality of our community, who is known for developing a great deal of property. He is truly a ‘Face Of Sedona’
Questions:
Tell me a little bit about what brought you to Sedona. What all have you done while you’ve lived here all these years?
A: I came to Sedona and got involved with the industry when there was 1,000 people here. Some of the things I did was to organize the State and Federal Governments to get the Posse Grounds. Me and a guy named Paul Brockman did that single handedly. Simultaneously, the County deletes that from the State and developed the park. That was the first thing I did.
I Went into business in 1966, built close to 1,000 residents in Sedona. I developed the parks here , that’s my interests. The Jack Jameson Memorial Park, I dedicated the property and gave that to the City of Sedona and raised all the money for it. That’s some of it. I could go on and on.
Tell me about the unique property you have on Stutz Bearcat.
A: I bought that from someone named Mel Peterson it was a little bitty restaurant called Mel’s Café, built in 1947. And I bought it, added onto it. And a guy named Bob Jolly, one of Walt Disney’s Head Art Directors, helped me to design that property to make it look as it is. And he helped me design the Garland’s Navajo Rug building down here. In Walt Disney’s world, he’s one of the top people Walt Disney had.
Q: How did you meet him?
A: I started the Garland Building down here, he came by one day and said, “I’m taking a year off from my job. I’m going to work a year with my son to get to know him better. We’re doing design work. He was really a humble person. And it sounded good to me. So I said to go ahead and give me ideas on the Garland Building. And from there we did my place up there. He was a big inspiration to me. When I built and developed the Bank of America Building, known, he gave me some ideas to create the historical brick work. And it’s a beautiful building today. So, he was a real gentleman, a real nice person. When Walt Disney needed him, he said, “I’ve got to take a couple days off and go to Florida. They’ve got a problem down there.” I didn’t think nothing of that. Then this big jet comes flying into Sedona and picks him up and takes him to Florida. He came back and I said, “Was that you in that big jet?” And he said, “Well, that’s kind of stupid, isn’t it!” That’s the kind of guy he was.
Q: Did you build Les Springs?
A: Yes, that was my project, my property. There was a famous artist in those days, his name was Max Ernst. I built his house for him up on Brewer Road. He became a close friend. I told him I bought this property Which is now Les Springs. I don’t’ know what to do with it. So, he walked over there with me several times. We sat on a rock and talked about it. So, he starts sketching a few things. He said, “This is how you make the place look like it’s never aged – a Timeless design. And so I followed his directions 100% for the architectural guidelines. And we did that 40 years ago, most of that, and it still looks like it was built yesterday. He was a wonderful man, Max Ernst. And his paintings now sell for a million dollars or more.
Q: Did you have any involvement at Casa Contenta?
A: Yes, I bought the land again, put that project together. Crimson View, Sundance… I was busy! I was the developer. I had over 100 employees most of the time, during the peak of my business. I not only did housing, I did a lot of State and Federal Highways.
Q: How long have you lived and worked in Sedona?
A: I was born in Minnesota. I grew up on a Dairy Farm and hated it. No more farming for me. I wanted to get off of that incarceration. I came here 1961, I was 18 at that time.
Q: What was your very first project?
A: I just came here for a summer job. In those days, with the military requirements, I thought I’d come here for the summer and have fun. The summer kinda turned into two years. Then Uncle Sam said, “I’d like to see you, boy” so I joined the Marine Corps instead of the Army. Even when I joined the Marine Corps, I didn’t know I’d come back here until I was in the Marine Corps. I thought I’d have to go back to Minnesota and carve out a living. In the service I started thinking about the weather we have here, compared to Minnesota. So I just returned here. It’s been a great place to live.
Q: Can you tell us about your family?
A: Sure. I have two daughters from my 1st wife. They both live in Durango, CO. And I have 2 grandkids by my youngest daughter. So, that’s about it in the first marriage. And here I am today… So, this was a nice place to raise kids at that time. There wasn’t any School here on the Yavapai side. Coconino side had Brewer School. My oldest daughter went there for 2 years. So, my other daughter went to Cottonwood. When I first did Posse Grounds, there was 120 acres there, we carved it all up into different usages. We had one of the usages as a school. So, they built the school and my youngest daughter ended up going to that school for elementary school. After that she started Mingus and then I put her into a private school in Durango, Colorado. She loved it. After school she went to Nursing School. Now she’s a specialist in OB Nursing and goes all over the world.
One of the fun things about the Posse Grounds, once we got the property, Yavapai County at that time was a poor County so we had to show improvements. We had to put roads and utilities into Posse Grounds. I was in the Marine Corps Reserves at that time so, I put together a program for the Reserves. So, for six to seven months, we’d bring in some Marines to put the roads and utilities in. In those days winter was nothing, no tourism at all. So, it was an economical boom! I told Gene Byrd you ought to get $20,000 in cash. The paymaster can pay them in the tavern. And if you want to cash the checks, you’ll probably end up getting all their money, they’ll drink it all up! And that’s what happened. About the 4th time we did that – 200 some men is a lot of men. And we used to sleep them in the gymnasium on Brewer Road. They slept in their bed rolls and all that. One day Gene said, “You’ll never have to pay for another beer again in Sedona. It’s on me.” I said, “No, Gene. This is how it works. I pay you, you pay me. I don’t believe in Free-bees.”
Q: What do you love the most about Sedona?
A: I just love Sedona. There isn’t one piece over another. I think it’s great, I mean for a dumb ass farm kid to come here and carve a living like I did and do all the things I got to do. It’s a neat place.
Q: You did a few projects in VOC, correct?
A: I did. Sundance, I took over Nozoni , it was bankrupt. I took over that. I built the very first house in VOC on Bell Rock Blvd. I remember getting the contract and saying, “Who in the hell is gonna want to live out here?” They were putting in the golf course. I said, “I got a job, that’s all I know. I said, nobody’s gonna wanna live out here.” Before I finished that house, I had another two houses to build. So, the first 3 houses in VOC got built. It was in 1966-1967, 1967 was when they had the big snow and I was out there doing that.
Also one of the best jobs I ever did though in the 50’s and 60’s the whole downtown looked like the 1955 Plastic facility, it just looked cheesy, like the old stores and stuff. And a guy named Dr. McFarland bought all of that property from the Byrd’s. Dr. McFarland got hold of me and said, “I want to redo this property and turn it into a Sedona type Community.” He said, “Let’s put stone and all that.” And we did. All that facade down there we did in front of the Oak Creek Tavern., all the Flagstone sidewalks – the whole thing – on both sides of the street. That was a fun project. We just used our own imagination.
Q: When did you retire? Or are you working on some projects now?
A: About 8 years ago. I suffered a huge divorce, I just backed off. I kept Marilyn Chalikas , she was my secretary for 20 something years. We kept our fingers in some things and I’m back in it again.
Right now I am working on a project in Cornville. And those homes in Foothills South near the Racquet Club. Then, we’ve got the 80 acres in the Verde Valley. I just sold my old buildings on Stutz Bearcat. Sold them to Luke Sefton, he’s a young man 50 years old. He will treat it right.
Q: Do you know anything about the Cowboy Artists of America?
A: I built 4 of their Artists Vaults. Charlie Dye was a good friend of mine. One of them came to me and said, “I want you to build me an artist’s vault.” I said, “I didn’t know how”. He said, “Well, you’ve built banks, didn’t you?” So, it’s been a good run. I can’t complain a bit.
From the Interview with Jonelle Klein
