May 17--SANTA FE -- Posters of Georgia O'Keeffe's flowers, Zozobra, "The Milagro Beanfield War" and a few renegades from Tokyo and France tilt against one another in a Pacheco Street warehouse.

Their combined heft weighs against a jumble of wooden minirefrigerator cabinets. A wrought iron chandelier as wide as a well leans limply across the cement floor.

"It takes about five guys to carry them," La Fonda concierge Rebecca Hammer said of the wagon-wheel light fixtures that once graced the hotel entryway.

Some 200 painted lamps and lanterns line the back wall of the 7,000-square-foot warehouse, temporary home to the signature artwork and furnishings of La Fonda.

The Santa Fe landmark is selling pieces of its past in a warehouse at 1591 Pacheco Street this weekend. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, visitors can buy their own slice of Santa Fe Style as the only hotel on the Plaza undergoes a major renovation. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Santa Fe Community Foundation.

Framed posters lean against nearly every stick of furniture, bellwethers of decades of hanging in guest rooms, corridors and common areas. There is artwork commemorating every conceivable city event, including the Santa Fe Indian Market, the opera, the chamber music festival and more. There's a poster of that famous photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe on the back of a motorcycle and one of Ansel Adams' classic "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico." There are original paintings by the hotel's resident artist Ernest Martinez, all signed and dated on the back. Martinez painted the windows surrounding diners at the hotel's La Plazuela restaurant.

Most of the posters will be priced from $15-$50.

"We easily have 700 posters," said Hammer, who serves as curator and tour guide of the event. "We have a loft of signed work as well. But let me show you the sea of lamps."

The "sea" includes the primary-colored triangular wooden lamp bases that once sat on room night stands, as well as a bevy of wire lanterns. The lanterns once hung in elevator lobbies and from corridor ceilings.

Color is rampant in the rainbow of hand-painted furniture, most of which is destined for another former Harvey House hotel in Winslow, Ariz. Artisans painted headboards, side tables and chairs in a floral whimsy of blooms, leaves and vines. A few of the scalloped twin headboards capture the style of original La Fonda designer Mary Jane Colter. The hotel plans to transform them into corridor artwork.

"We want everyone to see them. It's folk art," said Barbara Felix, the hotel's renovation architect. "The carved headboards were painted by a man out of Kansas City. And they're all different."

Eighty-five original hand-painted tin mirrors will be cleaned and reinforced.

"It's that folk art whimsy of the flowers -- that's what we want," Felix added.

For those who prefer cushier furnishings, a mountain of orange overstuffed couches and lounge chairs beckon. Stacks of minirefrigerators and stainless mirrored medicine cabinets beg for recycling.

As they leafed through the leaning towers of posters, La Fonda employees discovered some original art they plan to clean and re-hang. There are Santa Fe Indian School-style paintings, including some by Harrison Begay and Gerald Nailor.

-- Email the reporter at [email protected]. Call the reporter at 505-992-6266

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