The interview with Sra. Almada was related to the house she lived in from 1929 to 1935, #5 Guadalupe Victoria.  The daughter of Joaquín Urrea, Alicia’s grandmother was a Balbancra and her great-grandmother had been married in 1888.  Alicia Urrea Almada celebrated her First Communion while living in this house.

    The entryway to the house today is the same as it was in 1935, except that in her childhood the entry was filled with plants and chairs.  The patio was brick and today it has the same mango tree, although in her childhood it was much larger and its canopy extended the width of the patio.  The portal walls were lined with kerosene lamps.

    The living room was the room south off the entrance.  It had a beautiful gas chandelier filled by pumping gas--much as a tire would be filled with air.  It had a wooden floor, and the additional lamps gave a very white light.  The furnishing were formal and included a piano.  Over the piano was a portrait of her grandfather, Miguel Urrea Almada; this portrait is now in the main library in Hermosillo.  She remembers hearing an owl in the belfry of the church, which frightened her at night.

    The police lighted the gas lamps each night.  There were called serenos, and at 10 pm. they patrolled calling out “¿está bien?” and the occupants called back “está bien.”

    The small room beyond the living room is the result of a division which originally incorporated the room and part of the utility room.  Her great-grandmother and aunt lived in that room.

    The bathroom in the 1930s was in the same location as today, with the tub used every Saturday night.  To the left was a passage leading to the privy area.  Additionally, each bedroom had commodes and pitcher basins of the finest porcelain.

    The room with the loft remains unchanged.  It was used to store the exquisite porcelain wreaths used for the Day of the Dead.  They were imported from Germany, probably from Meissen.  This was also the storage room for the candelabra and the ladies’ saddles and velvet riding garments.

    All the furnishings were originally from Europe, with a gradual addition of furniture from Philadelphia and New York City.  There were two sets of dishes, each for 24 persons.  One had the family name on each piece, and the other had a different flower on each piece.

    The first large room across the back (to the south) was probably for the servants.  Sra. Alamada had no recollection of the room or its use, so it was likely servant quarters.

    The kitchen had a brick floor, and today one can easily tell where the fireplace and pantry had been located.  Most kitchen utensils hung from the ceiling, as did pots, jars, meat, and cheeses.

    Dining was on the portal.  The portal floors were cement, while those in the rooms were wooden, and Sra. Almada mentioned the abundance of plants and chairs on the portal.  Also on the portal was a large china cabinet, and part of the dining area contained a sofa.  The furniture was Thonet bent wood, black and cane, and the wall displayed a picture of the Sacred Heart.

    Along the wall perpendicular to the back wall is a room with a serving window.  At that time the room was a private bathroom for her grandmother.    It also had a ropero, and a dressing table with a marble top and beautiful porcelain basin.

    The next three rooms were family bedrooms, and the horses and buggies were kept in the back of the house.  Sra. Almada’s mother and family had lived at the Tersoos and summered at La Colorado, properties now owned by the Hayward/Jacoby families.

    Sra. Almada came to the interview/tour with her cousin, Lenor Salido and her son, Albert.  Albert brought his small dog, Mimi, who refused to walk past the front (on the north side) bedroom.  He attempted three or four times, but each time the dog whimpered and tried to dig her paws into the concrete and refused to budge.  Sra. Almada remembered that her grandfather died in the room, but nothing out of the ordinary was connected with the death.  Her grandmother also died in the house.  Was the dog reacting to a ghost of a previous time?

    The Almada family left the house in 1935 and moved to Navojoa.  At the end of the tour, Sra. Salido commented on how wonderful it must have been to grow up in such an elegant house, to which Sra. Almada retorted “all the houses were like that!”