BENSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Four days out of the week, Bryan Huffman works in Tucson as an active reserve in the Air Force, during the rest of the week he’s in Benson, preserving a piece of history with his new business/
"A lot of love went into this building," Huffman said.
The Tucson resident, spent two years restoring Page's Palace, a bar that's been in the city since 1927. Huffman worked on his off days and holidays to restore the building to what it looked like in the 1940s, even if the building is structurally older.
“I saw what it could be and saw some of the historical items that were still left in the building, and worked around those,” he said.
It wasn't an operational business when Huffman bought it, but over the years the building was used as a bar. He said he took off wood panels and drywall to get back to the original walls of the historic building.
"The fact that pages and Brian and the staff went to so much trouble to get it historical, it just adds to the atmosphere,” local resident Gayle Faath said.
In side the building, is the original bar of the original location of Page's Place and a bar back. Huffman said during the renovation, he found old documents and posters, that he has now hung up around the bar.
“Trying to bring back that original feel to what it looked like, even back as far as the 40s. that's cool, too," Huffman said. "It's a much older building, but even to have that, looks just neat to bring back.”
He put in the work because knew he wanted people to feel like they were traveling back in time and embrace the city’s history. Something that has been lost as the city grew.
“I think Benson needs (to embrace it's history)," Huffman said. "There's a lot of stuff going on as far as, like, Tombstone, but Benson, doesn't get the historical significance, it deserves.
"There's a lot of history here as well. We have all these old buildings here that just kind of fell off the historical tree, but they're all really awesome inside and have that really cool flair to them.”
The bar is filled with antiques and photos from what was once there.
"There's a real heart to this business,” Faath said.
Which is what Huffman wanted.
"It's really cool to see everybody loving this place," he said. "It's a neat place that keeps me out of trouble. I get to socialize, and everybody comes to my house.”
His house, offers live music, pool, darts and birthday parties each month for people who need a place to celebrate. Events are posted on their Facebook page.
"There was never much entertainment in Benson (like this)," Faath said.
But for Huffman, preserving and owning history makes the years of work worth it.
"It's kind of a pride thing, too," he said, "It's neat to own a piece of history, like this.”
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
