Smokey Bear Turns 80
“SMOKEY BEAR’S ‘GOTCHA DAY’ is in May,” says Smokey Bear Historical Park manager Mary Lavin, using the modern term for pet adoption anniversaries. The real-life orphan cub, who’d been badly burned in…
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Tag: Lowdown
Hotsy Totsy Haus Is Heaven Scent
WHEN LOS ANGELES NATIVE Christi Leonardi moved to New Mexico seven years ago, she found the perfect climate for crafting her delicate handmade bath bombs. “It’s much easier,” says Leonardi. “When it’s…
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Where to Travel According to Your Zodiac Sign
SEEKERS HAVE COME to the Land of Enchantment to find themselves for centuries. Perhaps as a result, New Mexicans have picked up a reputation for dabbling in what some might call woo-woo…
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Shop Unique Gifts at Power and Light Press
IF YOU’RE TEMPTED TO PURCHASE a souvenir depicting a saguaro cactus in the Land of Enchantment, make it a tote proclaiming the truth: There are no saguaros in New Mexico. Part of a new set of…
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Welcome to Wo/Manhouse
FOR 30 YEARS, a Belén home sat vacant on North Fifth Street, slowly becoming a time capsule of mid-century modern decor. From a well-kept lime shag carpet and floor-length doorbell chimes to a…
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Rael’s Serves Up Artistic Treats
APPROACHING THE COUNTER TO ORDER A DRINK at Rael’s Store & Coffee Shop, in Questa, you can’t help but notice the abundance of local art. An array of carved wooden religious figures, paintings of…
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Ice, Ice, Baby
WHEN 17-YEAR-OLD CLAUDIUS DIPO ALAM came to the U.S. from Indonesia as a professional soccer player, he had no clue what a paleta was. But a decade or so later, he couldn’t get enough of the Mexican…
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Navajo Cuisine Gets A Pop-Up Twist
"ARE YOU SURE we’re in the right place?” I ask my brother as we pull into a dimly lit strip mall. Entering a humble coffee shop, I spy a candlelit table with a nine-course menu card at each setting…
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From Suffering to Survival at Bosque Redondo Memorial
"I HAVE SEEN A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY it’s sad,” a recent visitor wrote on a whiteboard filled with responses to the new permanent exhibition Bosque Redondo: A Place of Suffering, a Place of Survival. “I…
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Soak Up Some Hot Springs History
THE OPENING OF A ROADSIDE HOT SPRINGS might not seem like an occasion for tears. But when the mineral baths on NM 65 outside Las Vegas, New Mexico, reopened last fall after 18 months of Covid-related…
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