This month the St. James Tearoom is celebrating twenty-five years of serving afternoon tea in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Hard to believe! It seems like only yesterday when I first stepped through the door of the St. James’s first location and was welcomed by a tall, elegant lady named Mary Alice Higbie.
My first visit to the St. James Tearoom took place not long after they opened. I had fallen in love with afternoon tea on a visit to England with my parents, and when I learned there was a tearoom in Albuquerque, I had to try it.
That first location was one room with, as I recall, three seating areas. Mary Alice served the tea herself. It was delightful, and the start of a long and happy association for me.
I was a part-time writer, part-time web designer at the time. After a few more visits, I presented Mary Alice with a gift: the domain stjamestearoom.com, with a placeholder website. A web presence would help the tearoom, I thought, and I was happy to hand over the domain to the St. James, or serve as their website designer/host if they wished. The latter was agreed upon, and for several years I kept the website up to date.
Meanwhile, the tearoom had inspired me to write some mystery novels. The Wisteria Tearoom blossomed in my imagination as a fictional tearoom in Santa Fe. It was modeled after the St. James, and based on all I learned from coming to tea and helping run some events at the tearoom over the years. The mysteries were (and still are) a joy to write.
And now, twenty-five years later, the St. James is still going strong in their third and probably final location. There have been many magical moments along the way, from Regency Dancing to the Lord of the Rings, book clubs and many other delightful entertainments.
Thank you and congratulations to Mary Alice, her son Daniel, and everyone who continues to make the St. James Tearoom a delightful haven!
I, too, have enjoyed the St. James Tearoom for that length of time. I first discovered it just down the sidewalk from what was then the Rio Grande Cantina. I took my mom there for Mother’s Day, and fell in love. I was teaching British Lit then, and copying from their playbook, my students and I enjoyed several years’ worth of “afternoon British teas” in the classroom. Although I live 200 miles away, I still come back to the St. James as often as possible. When I discovered the Wisteria Tearoom mysteries, I was thrilled to read mysteries set in a tearoom similar to the St. James, and also written and published in New Mexico. Please keep the tearoom mysteries coming.
Will do! Writing book 9…