Hello everyone. Kaixo deneri.
I'm Nancy Zubiri with the website Euskal Kazeta
and I'm here on the Basque Block
today in Boise, Idaho. This boarding house is truly a gem.
The Cyrus-Jacobs Uberuaga boarding house in
the middle of the Basque Block is the oldest brick house in Boise.
In 1910 it became a Basque boarding house
run by three different Basque families.
The purchase of the house by Adelia Guerro Simplot
in 1983 was the beginning of the preservation of the Basque history on the block.
When I went inside
I was told to look for the Prohibition hole, a secret hiding place
where the owners used to keep the liquor
they served their borders during the Prohibition days.
It's a fun treasure hunt.
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The block is chock full of fascinating information
about the Basques, including this map of former Basque boarding houses in the area,
these sidewalk etchings of classic Basque songs and
sidewalk circles with last names of immigrant families that
settled in Idaho.
Here's information about carvings sheepherders left on aspen trees in the mountains.
This is the only Basque museum in the United States.
This small museum in the middle of the block welcomes visitors from all over the world
who want to know more about the Basques,
their culture and their fascinating language Euskara.
I was lost trying to get to Madrid in the winter and through this part of Spain
where the people were so wonderful, I fell madly in love with these people. This was 1960
when they couldn't speak their language or any of that. I didn't know who they were.
I thought they were just nice northern Spaniards.
Then I moved to Boise, Idaho
and after a while I found out that those were the people I had fallen in love with.
The museum provides changing exhibits about Basque
culture like this sheep camp exhibit that shows visitors what life was like for the immigrants
during their first years working as sheep herders.
Next door to the museum is the Anduiza hotel and fronton,
another historic building dating back to 1914.
This building is usually closed to the public,
but if you're lucky, you can catch a glimpse of some local players carrying on this traditional
Basque sport.
Sometimes they play handball, but other times they use a paddle
in a version called pala.
It was built by the Anduiza family as a boarding house with rooms alongside the court .
The first Basque restaurant on the block was Bar Gernika.
The building was slated to be turned into a parking lot
when local Basque Dan Ansotegui opened the pub in 1991,
styling it after bars in the Basque Country.
Eventually he passed it on to employee Jeff May.
How long have you owned the restaurant?
I bought it in 2008 from Dan Ansotegui.
And what are you cooking there?
We're grilling up some chicken. I got a chorizo for this gentleman to go.
Cooking up some fries.
Looks delicious
The mural behind Bar Gernika facing South Capitol Boulevard
includes significant Basque characters and symbols
such as the Oinkari dancers, accordionist Jim Jausoro,
weightlifter Jose Luis Arrieta and the sheep camp.
Let's head down the block now past Bardenay, a a popular restaurant and distillery
to the Basque Market.
The Basque Market was also started by Dan Ansotegui who ran a catering
business out of the small shop.
Tony Eiguren and his wife Tara have owned it since 2006
and they're famous for the delicious paella Tony makes right in front of the shop twice a week.
The market sells many goods imported from the Basque Country.
So what is it about the Basque Block that's so special?
I think one of the things is it's safe.
You come on the Basque Block and everything's just kind of calm and safe. Everyone's here to
have a good time, but a good culturally good time.
I do think that some of it is the multi-generational.
So you have a festival, you have a dance and you've got amumas and aitxixes, so grandmas and
grandpas, you've got little kids running around, you've got everyone in the middle and everyone is
having fun together, talking together. Everyone knows each other
or if I don't know you directly, I know your grandmother,
I know someone and so everyone's
watching, everyone's protecting, everyone's having a good time together.
So on any given day, do you know a lot of the people here on the Basque Block?
I think I know my fair share, yeah and then
and then spending time...I make the paellas out here twice a week
As I'm standing out here, I make everyone say hi to me.
They walk by and I say hi
Because you're on the Basque Block,
it's back to that "it's friendly, we're a community. "
Someone walks by and they're, especially if they're not looking at me or whatever, and I'm
like "hey, how' s it going?" and force them to say hi.
Because I think on this block we are a community.
The building on the corner is the restaurant Leku Ona.
During the 1900s, it was known as the Chico Club
and was part of a Basque boarding house
run by the Belaustegi family for many years.
General manager Travis Wright gives us a little bit of the current history
The building has been around since 1932
and Jose Maria Artiach I believe purchased it in
the 1990s and then has been running it from a... as a restaurant since 2005.
Hi my name is Asier Garcia. I am the chef here at Leku Ona
I love working at Leku Ona on the Basque Block. I love giving to the Basque community.
I love cooking.
I enjoy very much doing it so and yeah mostly being part of the community. That's a great thing
Leku Ona is a large restaurant with two floors serving traditional Basque food.
They still rent some rooms in the adjacent hotel building
in a throwback to its old boarding house days.
It's a great location considering you're in the middle of downtown Boise
but it can be noisy on Friday and Saturday nights.
Across the street from Leku Ona is the Basque Center.
This building, home to the Basque social club Euzkaldunak, was originally constructed by members of the
club in 1949,
although it's been modernized and expanded several times since then.
This is where local Basques have been coming for years
for club dinners, dance practices and drinks with friends.
Welcome to the center. This part, this room that we're in is the bar area,
and if you follow me,
we're going to the ballroom.
So this is our ballroom for
hosting all sorts of events.
And how long have you been working here? A little over 30 years.
You also might want to visit a couple places just a short walk away.
The Star Hotel at 512 West Idaho Street
dates back to 1903 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
And then there's Ansot's Chorizos owned by Dan Ansotegui,
who founded two of the restaurants on the Basque Block.
With his wife a nd daughter, he
runs this popular restaurant that specializes in homemade Basque sausage
better known as txorizo.