Oct. 7, 2003 - VICTORVILLE, Calif.--In the 1960s and 1970s, whenever a transaction or a deal involving the city needed to be made, it was almost always done over cocktails and a meal at the Green Tree Inn.

Whenever Southern California families driving to Las Vegas needed to stop to have dinner or rest their legs along the way, they did so at the Green Tree Inn.

And whenever dignitaries from out of town needed wining and dining, they would be entertained at the inn.

Clearly the inn, which celebrated its 40th anniversary Sunday, has been more than a bed and a meal to those who have visited and frequented it.

Situated at Green Tree Boulevard and Seventh Street, and close to Interstate 15, it has for a long time come to embody the city of Victorville itself for many residents and travelers, according to former City Manager Jim Cox.

"I came to Victorville in 1967," he said. "At that time, the Green Tree Inn was it -- where you went to dinner meetings, or business luncheons or Rotary dinners." Even the old, brilliant red neon sign represented something.

The sign had overlooked I-15 from its 60-foot perch from 1963 until 1997, when a new sign highlighting the inn's affiliation to Best Western took its place. Until the mid-1980s, the sign served as Victorville's unofficial gateway for northbound motorists on I-15, and even marked the city's southern boundary.

Mayor and longtime resident Terry Caldwell remembers how meetings at the inn transpired.

"It was natural to have cocktails at Crown and Sword room and discuss a deal," he said. "Then go to the boardroom across the hall. You might order a meal from menus while holding a meeting there." Caldwell said most of the people from out of town were already staying there, so it was a natural choice for meeting and discussing business.

Caldwell said it's still one of the most frequently used facilities in the High Desert.

"I hold all of my first meetings with out-of-towners for my consulting business there," Cox said. "I meet at the Green Tree Inn coffee shop." The inn has witnessed many negotiations over the years, such as those that occurred between 1989 and 1994, Caldwell said, when the city was in a battle with Adelanto over who would lay claim to the George Air Force Base land.

"Many of the strategy meetings with attorneys occurred at the Green Tree Inn," he said.

Even the Inn's creator, Clyde Tatum, was a story in himself.

Tatum, who died in 1996 at age 86, parlayed his Hesperia potato farm into Victorville's premier development firm of the 1950s and '60s. He was the legendary developer of the inn and its adjacent golf course -- which was sold to the city of Victorville in 1977 -- and Victorville's first shopping center and housing tracts.

Tatum was also a strong advocate and supporter of the incorporation of Victorville as a city, Caldwell said, and was very close friends with all five members of the original City Council.

On Friday, a Beverly Hills group of private investors led by attorney Liza Torkan purchased the 200-room, 11-acre inn on Friday for $10.2 million. The previous owner, Walter Schroeder, sold it after almost 40 years.

According to General Manager Alison Cooper, the new owners plan to do some "major remodeling." In addition to remodeling the banquet room, coffee shop and lounge, Cooper said, the inn is expected to have new carpeting and lobby furniture.

After 40 years, the inn still stands proud, even if it's no longer the only destination in town.

"The Green Tree Inn and Victorville are probably synonymous in many people's minds," Caldwell said. "The identity of the community is closely meshed with the identity of the inn. I think it's been good for both."

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(c) 2003, Daily Press, Victorville, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.