Active Member
Allan Affeldt
Allan has restored many buildings around the Southwest, and is one of the most highly regarded historic preservationists in the country. In Arizona, he is best known for saving La Posada - Mary Colter’s 1930 Santa Fe Railway hotel (laposada.org) in Winslow AZ. The resurrection of La Posada has been featured in stories around the globe.
In New Mexico Allan purchased and restored the Plaza Hotel (1882) and the Castaneda Hotel (1898) – both in Las Vegas. The Castaneda was the Santa Fe Railway’s first trackside hotel in the Southwest. Closed for seventy years, it reopened in 2019 after a total restoration. Coverage ranged from CBS Sunday Morning to the Los Angeles Times. Allan also restored and owns the Legal Tender in Lamy (1882) just outside Santa Fe.
Allan has an extensive background in international conflict resolution. In the 1980’s – while working on a PhD in Semantics at University of California Irvine – Allan organized many of the first American-Soviet initiatives: the International Peace Walks, the first stadium concert in Russian history (4 July 1987, co-produced with the legendary Bill Graham and Steve Wozniak), the first demonstration in Red Square, live broadcast of American Top 40 from Moscow etc. Commentators ranging from Reagan’s Soviet Ambassador to the Nobel Peace Prize Commission credited this work with helping to end the Cold War.
Allan is married to the artist Tina Mion (tinamion.com). Allan and Tina live and work in a private wing of La Posada, and in a hilltop residence overlooking Sedona. Beginning in 2016 they rebuilt the depot at La Posada as a museum (ammwsa.com). Allan is founder of the Winslow Arts Trust, a public charity dedicated to the fine arts of Winslow, Route 66 and the Santa Fe Railway. Allan and Tina have purchased and donated works of art ranging from the Big Rug (largest single-loom Navajo Rug ever woven, 1932 - 1937), to contemporary works by Ed Ruscha and James Turrell, to the Santa Fe Railway’s first dome railroad car (1950, containing the legendary Turquoise Room).
Allan was twice elected Mayor of Winslow. He has served on many boards, including Arizona Humanities Council, Museum of Northern Arizona, Lowell Observatory, Museum of New Mexico Foundation, the Governor’s Economic Recovery Council for New Mexico.
