In Santa Rosa, Hugh Codding built Town & Country Village in 1946 followed in 1950 by Montgomery Village. Seven years later, he added something much flashier, the Flamingo Resort, immediately made famous by its glowing 50-foot, flamingo-topped neon tower sign.

Inspired by the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, the iconic sprawling property, Sonoma County’s first Vegas-style “garden hotel,” as Codding envisioned, is part of the National Register of Historic Places.

“Codding’s plans were for a circular garden hotel, designed in the style then popular in Phoenix and on the Las Vegas strip,” wrote Gaye LeBaron in a 1996 Press Democrat story.

“It was, in fact, described as the ‘exact design’ of the Lady Luck Hotel in Vegas. The property Codding had purchased for the hotel was the site of Cullen’s Nursery and 22 acres of pasture land and walnut orchard behind the Alibi saloon on the north side of Fourth Street. For access, he proposed an extension of Farmers Lane.”

But soon, Codding sold it to Garden Investment, run by Santa Rosan residents Roy Hedgpeth and James Stockman. Hedgpeth had a 12,800-acre ranch in Annapolis and an upscale restaurant at the time called the Topaz Room. Stockman was general manager of Codding Enterprises.

When it opened, it featured 172 rooms with restaurant, a bar, dance floor, coffee shop, ballroom, meeting rooms and private pool club. A dress club opened in the lobby and the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce had their offices on the second floor, next to KSRO Radio’s new studios.

Locals started referring to it as the Big Bird because of the big pink flamingo on the top of the tower.

The opening night gala event was called the Golden Deed Ball. One partygoer said of it, “never has there been such a collection of mink, diamonds, chiffon, satin and lace together in one place in Santa Rosa before.”

Before long Garden Investment sold the resort to a Chicago businessman named James Harvey who hired a man named Vern Phillips as general manager. Phillips is credited with the Flamingo’s early heyday, “partly because the 60s were the decade that Santa Rosa went Hollywood,” added LeBaron.

“The Flamingo’s grand ballroom was the staging area for the first of the Hi-Fever Follies, an every-two-year amateur show that raised thousands of dollars for Memorial Hospital,” she continued. “Phillips saw the possibilities in this rush to perform. He instituted dinner-theater, producing a series of musical shows with hometown talent.”

Audiences ate it up, literally, paying big bucks for filet mignon ($20 a plate back then). Phillips hired a society photographer to take shots of “men in narrow ties and women in bouffant hairdos and mink stoles.”

The resort features a wheel-and-spoke architectural design by Homer A. Rissman, based around a central courtyard and signature S-shaped central swimming pool. Rivaling other destinations of its 1950s-1960s era like Vegas and Palm Springs, the Flamingo served as a Wine Country escape for Hollywood stars of the day like Jane Mansfield (Mariska Hargitay’s mom) and future U.S. president Ronald Reagan.

But ownership kept changing and the resort’s reputation suffered.

In 1978 the hotel was sold for the third time in two years, this time to Werner Ehret, a highly successful German industrialist, businessman and rancher for a reported price of $2.4 million. Ehret owned a sizable cattle ranch on Franz Valley Road in Knights Valley, a property that remains in the Ehret family today as Ehret Winery.

Ehret had brought Bavarian Simmental cattle to the United States, creating a brand for the cows called Bavarian Lion in 1976. Werner’s son Pierre started planting wine grapes on the acreage in 1996, calling it Bavarian Lion Vineyards. The third-generation now runs the Ehret Family Winery working with winemaker Erin Green.

By 1980 Ehret unveiled a new look for the Flamingo, after investing an estimated $2 million on renovations.

In 2021 the Flamingo unveiled a $20 million facelift, keeping its best retro touches while updating the rooms, restaurant, lobby, event foyer and more. Last year it joined the Tapestry Collection by Hilton.

This week, October 8-11, the Flamingo will host the Resort-O-Rama, a four-day celebration of Mid-Century design, style and history. Among the activities are a wine appreciation tasting with Gerald Casale of DEVO, a presentation on Sonoma County neon signs, a look at Mid-Century record album design, a historical recounting of Tiki bars in San Francisco, and much more.

The City of Santa Rosa will declare October 11 Historic Flamingo Resort & Spa Day.

“The Flamingo has been an important part of Santa Rosa’s story since 1957, and for generations of families here, it’s more than a resort — it’s a part of their history,” said Matthew Strawn, General Manager of the Flamingo Resort & Spa.

“Resort-O-Rama is one of our favorite yearly events, where we get to open our doors and invite the community in to celebrate our retro roots. Having the city recognize this history with an official ‘Historic Flamingo Resort & Spa Day’ means everything to us.”

Photo By: The Flamingo Hotel