New Mexico

Neon Sojourn

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A tour of neon wonders through time and space.

1. The Lobster Pot in Provincetown, Mass. Commercial Street is unimaginable without its piercing red glow.

2. Deluxe Town Diner, Watertown, Mass. I lived a ten minute walk away in the early 2000’s and can still sense the delicate taste of their sweet potato pancakes.

3. Rosebud Bar & Kitchen, Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. Now the fancy front of a restaurant attached in the back, I ate this a few times back in the day when it was merely a diner (and the food was never as good as the Deluxe Town Diner’s.)

4. Bunghole Liquors, Salem, Mass. A favorite of weird-and-naughty-signs-aficionados far and wide.

5. Becky’s Diner, Portland, Maine. Not sure how vintage the arrow is, but it is undeniably beautiful.

6. Strand Theater, Rockland, Maine. I’ve never been inside but this sign is an exclamation point on this coastal city’s downtown strip.

7. Leon’s Frozen Custard, Milwaukee. I could write a whole essay on the frozen custard stands of my hometown. It’s probably the third-best in terms of taste but certainly number one in design.

8. Miller High Life, some random bar on Kinnickinnic Avenue in Bay View, Milwaukee. Of course it’s Milwaukee!

9. The General Store, Valley Junction, West Des Moines, Iowa. Spotted on one of my last visits when my parents lived there.

10. Duffy’s Cherry Cricket, Denver. Ate at a restaurant nearby on a visit a decade ago. Maybe I’ll check it out when I’m back there a few weeks from now.

11. Taos Inn, Taos, New Mexico. Probably my favorite neon sign of this group. Respect the eagle!

12. C.O. Bigelow Drugs, Manhattan. No trip to NYC for me is complete without a stop here.

13. Colony Theatre, Miami Beach. Have not seen inside and I fear it would not fully live up to this exterior, taken on a December Thursday evening.

14. Southern Cross Hotel, Key West. One doesn’t see so much yellow-greenish neon; it’s stunning.

15. Salsanera, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. This stopped me in my tracks on a visit nearly ten years ago; no way was I going to walk by without a snapshot of it.

Santa Fe Signs

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Wrapping up my 2023 Santa Fe photo dump with a cavalcade of signage.

We had drinks at sunset on La Fonda’s rooftop cantina one evening, including some of the most delicious–and dangerous margaritas I’ve ever sipped.

Again, the blue New Mexico skies make everything appear brighter.

I suppose this could just as easily be Texas, but it works.

Not the estate of Charles Foster Kane nor a roller disco. Alas, it’s a home goods store.

Why name your gallery when bright red against adobe easily draws one in?

So many galleries in Santa Fe.

Some of them take on an otherworldly glow at night.

Dog-friendly vacation rentals just outside the Plaza.

Cafe Sonder did not survive the pandemic but at least its retro-cool sign remains (for now.)

Kudos to this curious but compelling signage.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a really big shoe for you today…”

Rather than use boring old letter grades, restaurant cleanliness in New Mexico is simply APPROVED (or not.)

I’ve saved the worst (best?) for last: DJ Corncob sounds like an alias Jason Mendoza might’ve used if he was from the Midwest instead of Jacksonville, but one can’t deny how, ahem, Cash-4-Titties really draws one in.

Pecos National Historical Park

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On the way back from Las Vegas to Santa Fe, we stopped at Pecos National Historical Park.

Located roughly halfway between the two cities, the park covers thousands of acres. 

We walked the Ancestral Sites Trail, a 1.25 mile hiking loop with lush greenery and beautiful mountain vistas.

Purple flowers dotted along the trail add a muted but effective splash of color.

The juxtaposition of cactus trees and green grass is not something you’ll find in every corner of desert-heavy New Mexico.

I honestly first read this as “Enter With Carl” (Sandburg? Sagan?), but most made-made holes in the ground do require a certain amount of mindful navigation.

It’s best to stay on the path.

Walking along the trail, I had no shortage of opportunities for taking landscape shots.

However, Pecos is not just limited to scenic nature.

This trail’s centerpiece is the ruins of Pecos Pueblo and the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels of Porciúncula.

What remains of the Mission itself is relatively substantial.

It cuts a striking figure against New Mexico’s bold, blue, endless skies.

A patch of sky within a fortress of adobe.

A man-made hallway onto a world of tall trees and mountains.

What’s left of the Pueblo, built sometime around 1619.

Although one of the sites of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt against Spanish colonizers, today, Pecos is a somber, peaceful place. A half-hour drive from Santa Fe, it’s one of the more convenient ways to take in the simple, lovely essence of New Mexico.

Las Vegas, New Mexico

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Welcome to Las Vegas… New Mexico!

An hour east of Santa Fe, it’s the county seat of San Miguel County, with a population of 13,166.

Looking for a day trip locale other than Taos, Las Vegas seemed a good bet due to its downtown Plaza with its share of beautiful, historic buildings…

…but not as many as the tourism brochures would have you believe. As with most of New Mexico, there’s a considerable amount of adobe.

Some of the abode buildings are more aesthetically pleasing than others, particularly when flanked with turquoise paint.

Still, the leafy Plaza is pleasant, if not as bustling as Santa Fe’s (on a cloudy Monday afternoon, anyway.)

We explored beyond the Plaza a bit into this residential neighborhood…

…and directly behind the Plaza Hotel (seen in the first two pix above), I spotted this whimsical van for a local business.

Fortunately, one only had to look towards Bridge Street east of the Plaza to find some small town, Main Street charm.

I mean, would you rather have a boring ol’ Family Dollar in your small town or this vintage beauty (no matter how dilapidated the front signage?)

Erected when the railroad first came through in 1879, Stern and Nahm is one of the oldest buildings in town.

Opened as the Mutual Theater in 1912, the Kiva sadly closed in 2013.

Fortunately, there’s the Indigo Theatre across the street, currently playing Oppenheimer as of this post’s date.

A vibrant-looking cafe is always a good sign of activity in a small town, though as I was taking pix, an elderly local came up to me and asked, “What brought you to Las Vegas? There’s nothing going on here!”

I would argue these pix are evidence of signs of life; it’s too bad the ultra-cool, stuck-in-time El Rialto was closed on Mondays.

Quintessential New Mexico for sure.

Paper Trail, a book and gift store is another vital sign. I was instantly drawn to this color-coded display.

Ominous storm clouds surrounded Las Vegas during our visit but thankfully only produced a smattering of raindrops. Despite not much going on there, the town exhibited ample personality.

Santa Fe Roses

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Until I saw so many of them in person last month, it didn’t even occur to me that I was visiting Santa Fe at the height of rose season.

I’d visited Our Lady of Guadalupe church and shrine on past visits (both in September) and was delighted to see the grounds decked out in roses this time. What a vivd array of color:

A few days later, I came across more roses in this sun-kissed residential garden a few blocks from the Plaza.

When I retire one day, I wouldn’t mind tending to my own bountiful front yard garden.

On the same block, bushes and bushes of red roses (along with strings of the ubiquitous-in-NM red chiles) flanked the Santa Fe School of Cooking.

To quote the great Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles, “A Wed Wose… How Wovewy.”

Return to Santa Fe

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Three weeks ago, I returned to Santa Fe for my first visit in nearly seven years.

I took enough pix for at least five or six essays; this first one is set in and around the famed Santa Fe Plaza.

On past visits, the Plaza Cafe did not have outdoor seating; like many other businesses, it has adapted, although far more beautifully than most.

Santa Fe’s distinct desert/adobe/Spanish-style architecture is reason alone to visit.

Adobe and turquoise paint almost always go well together.

Some buildings near the Plaza are more baroque and elaborate than others.

When there, I occasionally feel like I’ve stepped into a different country.

Charming little roads such as Burro Alley further enhance this idea of not being in Kansas anymore.

A few blocks from the Plaza, this elaborate garden was like something out of a storybook.

There are no shortage of scenic views from Downtown Santa Fe, like this one from my hotel room of Cross of the Martyrs.

Or this one from Sandoval Street of the mountain range east of town.

Stay tuned for more photos from Santa Fe and beyond.