The Arbor House Story

 The Arbor House Story

by Debra Moon

Note: This is a story told to me as I sat in Leah Calhoun’s kitchen, at the Arbor House, while she stirred up delicious looking food and chatted about the history of the restaurant and their involvement in the community. 

    The Calhoun Family, owners of the Arbor House Restaurant in Talent, made a significant effort in responding to the fire crisis in Talent. Leah said, “Right after the fire, I didn’t want to open the restaurant. It didn’t feel right. Everyone was in crisis mode, and we weren’t sure what to do to help. My brother and I just started making pans of lasagna.” 

    What a unique way of responding to emergency!

    But it turned out that this mode of addressing the town’s challenges was highly successful. Leah and her brother, Joel, really wanted to give to the community. They announced on Facebook that they would be serving the lasagna “free” to everyone, but would appreciate  donations of any kind, and that the funds would go to support those in the community who had lost homes in the fire. The first night they raised $2,500. They were really excited and encouraged. They continued making food and “giving it away” to raise funds for fire victims. They did this for four nights the first week, for five nights the second week, and one last night the third week. There was incredible outreach through Facebook. A woman from New York City sent $250. People from all over contributed. The last night, a gentleman offered to match up to $5,000. Leah and Joel put out the pitch, and that night they did raise their own $5,000, to make the match, resulting in a final $10,000 to add to the total. In those ten days they raised over $38,000 dollars for the community. Then they had a raffle for families in need of housing due to the fire and gave $2,000 per family so that it will actually help them get established in a new home. Leah and her family outdid the U.S. government in stimulus funds!

    Forty-one years ago, in 1979, Patrick and Kitty Calhoun started the Arbor House restaurant in Talent. The family, parents and six children, then lived in the Applegate Valley, but soon moved to Ashland where Leah grew up and went to school. She and Willow met in the 6th grade. Leah wondered why her father chose Talent for the restaurant, since the population of the town in 1979 did not seem to make it a likely destination. Now she lives in Talent and is happy the restaurant is there. Leah became the “official” owner of the restaurant in 2007. Before that her brother, Joel, who now sells real estate for RE/MAX, owned and ran it for many years. During those years, Leah owned and ran the Grotto in partnership with Anna Clay.  

    I wondered about the name Arbor House and why it was chosen. Google defines an arbor as “… a vertical structure in a landscape or garden that can provide shelter, privacy, shade, or serve as a retreat. Its walls and roof consist of an open framework to support colorful and fragrant vines.” It is the perfect name for the dinner house, actually.

     Leah expressed, with some wistfulness, that she wished she could afford to continue the fund raising for more than 10 days. She also expressed great concern for getting our affordable housing back into the community, maintaining the diversity of the town and taking the sting out of the losses. All this was told while she made tomato bisque, homemade dressing and biscuits! It is true that food is not all that is served at the Arbor House. The restaurant caters to individual needs and adds a large helping of love to every dish. Leah said, “Everything is tailor-made here.”

    Covid and fires have of course had a toll on the business, but truly, Arbor House is still going strong, a very big heartbeat in Talent. We grieve what has been lost, but celebrate that the Arbor House remains, and how it helped restore the community.