When The Inn of The Five Graces in Santa Fe became part of The Garrett Hotel Group, a certain phenomenon in the Stone House Building was a source of mystery for the staff and management.  Could it be that the youngest building on the property, built in the 1930s to house the state legislative sessions, was hiding some supernatural secret?  Or had the local prisoners who had constructed it from sturdy Santa Fe river rock left some unfinished business behind? 

One evening, while a member of the Front Desk team was doing the nightly lock-up, he heard what sounded like a television playing faintly and smelled the distinct aroma of burning popcorn.  Thinking that there may have been something left in the oven or on the stove, he went to investigate.  Once inside, the young man found every television set turned off and no kitchen appliance left on, yet he swore that the sound continued, distant yet clear, in whichever room he found himself in the Stone House Building, and the smell of popcorn lingered. 

Hesitant to report the situation to the General Manager, the level-headed employee nonetheless felt sure that this occurrence was not a dream, but reality.  But the manager was both broad-minded and good-humored, and spiritual connections of all forms are part of the ancient cultural landscape of his adopted city of Santa Fe.  He was compelled to explore it further, and began asking every neighbor and every old-timer he met if there was a story behind that particular building.  Finally, upon talking with an elderly woman who had lived nearby all her life and whose family had occupied houses in the same area in generations before, he learned that the city’s first cinema was located in one of the Stone House Building’s rooms.  Legend has it that the man who purchased an apartment in the building had sublet it illegally to a tenant who used the space as Santa Fe’s very first cinema, consisting of a small screen and rows of old wooden chairs.  This eccentric visionary, an elderly man, attempted to serve as manager, usher, and provider of refreshments for his spectators to a humorously varying effect.  In his last days, the theater had been closed to the select moviegoers, but reports from neighbors stated they could still hear the clicking of running reels and see the flickering of lights behind his window until the day he died.  The smell of popcorn still seeped from his rooms. 

In true Santa Fe form, The Inn of The Five Graces brought in a group of nine Tibetan monks to perform a blessing ceremony at the property.  They snaked through the labyrinth of rooms and through each courtyard, chanting a sacred prayer that all those who have passed through – whether in present time or days gone by – would find peace and fulfillment.  As an added measure, a dreamcatcher is placed in every room to ensure the deepest and most rewarding sleep.