Poking About Las Vegas, New Mexico

Las Vegas, New Mexico has a great tourist and public relations outfit.  When we arrived, we opened up the Visitor Guide, read through it, and exclaimed, "Gee, there's a lot here!  How are we going to see it all?"  For example, Las Vegas boasts more historic structures than any other place in New Mexico - over NINE HUNDRED (that's 900!) buildings in the city are listed on the National Register of Historic Places - most constructed in the mid-late 1800's.  We can vouch that this is true, because we saw them when we drove into town.  However, only a few of the buildings have been preserved or rehabilitated to return them to their historic look.  So the town resembles more a Main Street from the 1950's (which is the last time anyone redecorated) than a mid-19th-Century Southwestern town.

That being said, we thought, "Hey, we'll still enjoy learning about the history.  We stopped at the Las Vegas Museum & Rough Rider Collection (the latter a large collection of memorabilia contributed by families of the original Teddy Roosevelt Rough Riders, who held their first reunion here in Las Vegas a year after their famous ride up San Juan Hill).  Trouble is, the museum and collection are permanently closed.  And there are no other significant museums in town.  Hmmm...things are not going as planned.

Never fear.  We arrived in the Historic Old Town and were greeted by the Homecoming Parade for the local New Mexico Highlands University:

The parade was just wrapping up as we walked into the Historic Plaza.  Chattery parade-goers were traipsing back across the plaza to their cars to head home.  What's not to like about a Homecoming Parade when, despite it being Friday, the schools let all the kids out early so they can attend the parade?

The Old Plaza does boast some original and interesting sculptures, including this statue of an Indian warrior, titled, "Cry to the Ages" --



-- and this quirky fellow, "El Campesino" --

-- as well as this traditional New Mexican wooden "santo" sculpture of the Virgin Mary:

Ambling across the Plaza, we caught sight of an antique car that had been part of the procession:

One building in Historic Old Town Las Vegas has a true claim to be in its historic condition -- the old Plaza Hotel.  It was built in 1882:

You may be interested to know that the recent film, "No Country for Old Men," with Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem, was filmed almost entirely in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and there are many locations in the city that appear in the film, such as the Plaza Hotel.

Another building that has a similar odd claim to celluloid fame is the E. Romero Hose & Fire Company building, constructed of brick in 1909:

While it is an old building and quite interesting architecturally, it's greatest fame arises because it was an extra in the film, "Easy Rider," which tells the story of two bikers (played by Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper) who travel through the American Southwest and South.  Part of their travels are on Route 66, which leads through Las Vegas, New Mexico.  In Las Vegas in the movie, they parade without a permit, are arrested and thrown into jail.  The ostensible jail was next to this firehouse:

Another historic building in Las Vegas is the Hotel Castaneda, built in 1898 by Fred Harvey for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and thus one of the "Harvey Hotels." The hotel is the oldest Mission Revival Style building in the state of New Mexico. Though the hotel was been closed since 1948, it was purchased for rehabilitation in 2014 and renovations continue, and all sorts of cultural and historic events are held at the site.  It even has its own Facebook page.

A much more modern and vibrant part of the city is the New Mexico Highlands University, whose campus occupies much of the downtown area between the Historic Old Town and I-25.  Many of the buildings are new, all are of interesting architecture, and clearly the university has spent a great deal of money recently on the campus.  Here is a shot of one of the older buildings, the Auditorium, built in 1916, which is still in excellent shape.

The Auditorium, as well as the Plaza Hotel and some other historic Las Vegas buildings, are said to be the homes of ghosts.  Check out these ghost stories.

All in all, our walking tour of the town of Las Vegas had decidedly mixed results.  But Kathy apparently did a great job of researching Mexican restaurants, because we chose to have lunch at the Original Johnny's Kitchen Mexican Restaurant, and we ate some of the best New Mexican food we've tasted anywhere, complete with those famous New Mexican green chiles!

Estancia hambrienta, mi amigo!