February 22, 1973
Famed movie star Gene Autry, acclaimed by a generation of western movie fans, arrived in El Paso Wednesday to inspect the site of a proposed 250-room resort hotel at International Airport.
He was accompanied by Mrs. Autry, Clair Stout, his chief legal counsel, and Art Steel, vice president and general manager of Gene Autry Hotels.
On hand to greet the party on their arrival from Los Angeles, Calif., were Mayor Bert Williams, Airport Board Chairman William Squires Jr. and Airport Mgr. Walter Jones.
The proposed resort to be built by Autry will be located adjacent to a planned 27-hole municipal golf course immediately east of the airport terminal.
Autry, who has been a frequent visitor to El Paso in the past, expressed an interest in the layout of the course, that will include another nine-hole par three lighted course, with the 18th green adjacent to the resort complex.
His visit indicated final signing of a 30-year lease agreement may be imminent, contingent, Autry said, on a mutual agreement of plans for the resort hotel that will include a heated swimming pool, tennis courts, banquet facilities and other appurtenances of a first class establishment.
The lease has been under negotiation for the past several months, with City and airport officials traveling last month to Palm Springs, Calif., to iron out details.
Construction of the golf course, to be built with airport revenue at no cost to taxpayers, would start immediately after formal lease signing, officials indicated.
Autry, in good spirits despite an unseasonably chilly and cloudy day, said he had felt the tremors of an earthquake that shook the Los Angles area Wednesday morning but again fell asleep and later thought it was a dream until hearing radio reports.
“We sort of get used to them,” Autry, who lives in North Hollywood, said.
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