The Truth Behind the Saguaro Saga
Editor’s Note: After this item ran, a keen-eyed reader identified the Sierra Grande Lodge’s sentinel as Leucostele terscheckii, also known as Argentine saguaro, a South American cousin to the…
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Tag: Backstory
Good Faith in a Miraculous Window
IN 1926, IN A CITY christened with the Spanish word for Bethlehem, Ramon Baca y Chavez and his wife, Eulalia Castillo Baca, replaced a pane in a dormer window. It turned their Belén home into a…
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Smoke Screen
A BULL AND AN OWL began meeting at the Knights of Pythias Hall more than 100 years ago. By then, silver strikes and the railroad had turned Socorro into a boomtown, and the fraternal society occupied…
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109 East Palace
NEAR THE SANTA FE PLAZA, a narrow courtyard between two buildings on Palace Avenue holds ristras, Talavera pottery, and crepe paper flowers. Wander all the way back for a piece of what was once…
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Welcome to Cabinetlandia
A RUSTED METAL FILE CABINET rises from the earth as if it were a natural feature of an otherwise barren wilderness east of Deming, in southwest New Mexico, between an I-10 overpass and winding train…
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A Love for Valentine Diners
Above: Jerry Ueckert renovated this Valentine diner and dubbed it the Red Top Diner. Photograph by Kate Nelson. After they went into production in 1947, Valentine diners soon dotted the West—some…
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Atop Sandía Peak
Above: The Kiwanis Cabin was built from the limestone rock of Sandía. Photograph by Ian Beckley. THE LIMESTONE-BLOCK WALLS of Kiwanis Cabin cling to a craggy cliff atop Sandía Peak, looking both…
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This Sculpture Depicts the Cowboys of the Original JAL Ranch
Brian Norwood's sculpture The Trail Ahead depicts the cowboys of JAL ranch. Photograph by Brian Norwood. WHEN BRIAN NORWOOD WAS RAISING MONEY for a metal sculpture in Jal, a nearby rancher offered a…
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Lovely as a Tree
Our Lady of Sorrows statue stands in the northeastern section of Plaza Park, in Las Vegas. Photograph by Kate Nelson. IN RETROSPECT, CITY FATHERS SHOULDN’T HAVE planted elms in Plaza Park, the…
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