Historic Masonic Lodge Waits for Revival
“THIS IS STILL OPERATING, yes, ma’am,” says Greg Baker, secretary for Chapman Masonic Lodge No. 2. We’re standing outside the ruddy, purplish sandstone front of what experts call the most…
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Category: Travel
Take History 101 on Las Vegas Plaza
PLAZA HOTEL 1882 | 230 Plaza St. The three-story brick Italianate “Belle of the Southwest” cost $25,000 for a consortium of local partners to build. CHARLES ILFELD BUILDING 1882 and 1890 | 224 Plaza…
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Revival Las Vegas
WHEN LAWRENCE QUINTANA WAS A SENIOR at West Las Vegas High School, the class of 1977 was allowed to roam the nearby Las Vegas Plaza during lunch. But a sandwich—or even a bit of window shopping—could…
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Hatch Is for Chile Lovers
OUTSIDE THE PEPPER POT RESTAURANT, Hatch resident Rodrigo Varela is chatting with friends and family when a fire engine’s siren interrupts them. As the vehicle turns onto West Hall Street, Varela…
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Life’s a Breeze in Corona
JEAN HEWITT BOUGHT HER HOUSE IN Corona by accident. The longtime Mainer farmed oysters until her perpetually cold toes compelled her to spend one winter in Arizona. Driving back east, she stopped for…
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Elephant Butte Revs Up Its Off-Road Fun
PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS CLINGS TO the mountainside overhanging the two-track road. So when the passenger-side wheels of our Polaris RZR jump a ledge, we teeter left, bringing my driver’s face dangerously…
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Artists Find a Home in Carrizozo
THE EMERGENCE OF A HIP desert art town follows a certain pattern. It starts with the rise of an industry in a small community: maybe a military base (see Marfa, Texas, and Slab City, California) or a…
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Unearth the Wonders of Portales
THE PLAINS OF EASTERN NEW MEXICO begin bending into gentle hills and folds—grass-coated dunes, some of which are still “actively migrating,” says Brendon Asher. The archaeologist and director of the…
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Building on Alamogordo History
DON’T BE FOOLED BY THE SUNSHINE, surrounding mountain ranges, occasional adobe building, or even the town’s name, which is Spanish for “fat cottonwood.” “Alamogordo is not a Southwestern town,”…
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Your Carlsbad Travel Guide
Get out. Learn more about the Chihuahuan Desert’s wildlife at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park, in Carlsbad. A 1.3-mile hike threads among yucca, agave, shrubs, and trees, through an…
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