Luhan Shimeji
Adabella Frierdich
The city of Santa Fe was established in 1610 as the provincial capital and the center of royal power of Nuevo Mexico, but also of all Spanish holdings north of the Rio Grande River and of the seat of the Catholic church faith.
Nuevo Mexico has undergone centuries of conflict and a continual series of battles for control. The Native Americans first had control, which was taken by the Spanish. Then in 1680, native villages cooperated together in the Pueblo Revolt to expel the Spanish from the Nuevo Mexico territory. However, their victory only lasted 12 years when the Spanish returned with revenge on their minds.
Santa Fe remained under Spanish rule until the Mexican War of Independence in the early 19th century. When Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, Santa Fe became part of the Mexico territory of Nuevo Mexico.
After the Mexican-American war, the area of New Mexico, which included Santa Fe, became American territory in 1846. It was even part of the Confederacy in 1863. Mexican Revolutionary Movement in 1916 attempted, but failed to gain control of the territory. In 1912, New Mexico, with Santa Fe as its capital, became a US state.
These commercial buildings and homes originally followed Indian designs. They used the same type of adobe materials and were often built with forced Indian labor. Some have walls that are three- to four-feet thick and many even used mud-brick fireplaces for heat and outdoor adobe ovens for cooking. The oldest of those still standing are the Palace of Governors (1610) and a house built in 1646. Few current buildings however, are true adobe structures.
Since the early 20th century, the city has imposed a number of rules governing the appearance of buildings. They must use earth-toned colors, flat roofs, timber ceilings and select among a few approved colors for doors and windows. In other words, they must be of the so-called Spanish Pueblo Revival Style. However, they can use longer-lasting stucco coatings rather than more fragile adobe coatings.
The romanesque cathedral provides a dramatic contrast t o the surrounding adobe and Spanish Pueblo Revival Style buildings. While the parish was originally established in 1610, the current church dates from 1869.
Built in 1610, the rather small and non-descript Spanish Mission-style church is the oldest current church structure in continental US. It was partially destroyed during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. The current building is from 1710, although it has undergone significant structural changes.
In 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state, albeit over considerable concern about federal government power within New Mexico and similar federal concern over the implications of admitting a relatively poor, largely Spanish-speaking state. This admittance, however, brought a new state constitution that ratified previous Indian treaties and at least nominally enshrined Indians as equal citizens.
Another section in the most historic section of the museum displayed historic clerical and lay images of Catholic saints, a series of Latin American paintings, and most interestingly, exhibits on the discoveries that archeologists made of the land beneath the 1610 Palace of the Governors. The artifacts included remnants from prehistory through periods of Colonial rule, territorial self-rule, and the Spanish return.
Of all of the exhibits, we most enjoyed learning about the origins and the evolution of her abstract works through her career. We ended up being less interested many of the works she produced in New Mexico which were more figurative than they were realistic.
A collective of local Santa Fe artists who work in different media combined their efforts to create futuristic cityscapes and neon forests from trash. Once they discovered they could make money from these installations, they began charging admission.
The 2023 exhibition called the House of Eternal Return, consists of 70 artist-designed rooms spread over two floors in a former bowling alley. After you enter through a forest of neon-painted trees alongside the exterior of a rather spooky two-story Victorian home, all bets are off.
Doors and passages go off in all directions. One way takes you through a simulated ice cave, another into a spaceship and yet another into courtyard with a huge tree with a sofa in its trunk and a winding staircase to the second floor. There is no prescribed or correct /incorrect way to go. But whichever direction you walk, you enter a totally different multi-sensory universe.
Whichever way you choose to go, be prepared to be unprepared; not to speak of disoriented. And be prepared for an imaginative reality of a groups of unbound artists with unlimited imaginations and in future instantiations, probably virtually unlimited funds.
Meow Wolf has proved to be so successful and so profitable that it has begun to evolve into a national, and likely international venture capital-funded program. Larger and more elaborate permutations are being built in Denver and Las Vegas, with plans to expanded into 15 more cities over the next five years.
Given the money being poured into these efforts, the new ventures are likely to entail ever more elaborate, stimulating immersive and interactive installations: dreamscapes that guests can take into any direction they wish. Many of these next-gen Meow Wolfs will likely offer options for augmented or mixed reality headsets or glasses. We shall see.
Although we ran into some interesting galleries during our walks through the city, two area in particular have large numbers of galleries: along West Palace Street in the town center and along a roughly half-mile stretch of Canyon Road. The later, according to the gallery map, is lined with close than 100 galleries, 30 boutiques and 8 restaurants. Virtually every media, other than audio and video, is represented, often ranging in price from several hundred dollars to $20,000. A few, especially on West Palace, exceeded six figures.
We enjoyed the food, atmosphere, and professional service at dinner here. Joyce had pan-seared Scottish salmon with Yukon old potato gnocchi, green peas, wild mushrooms and thyme beurre blanc. Tom was drawn to the fiery (not really) sweet chili and honey grilled Mexican white prawns on jasmine-almond rice cakes with red onion, yuzu-basil aioli and frisee. Our 2019 Archery Summit Chardonnay was a nice addition to the meal.
Our meal began with an amuse bouche of winter squash soup followed by two very different but very good meals. Crisp branzino with kefir lime coconut broth, forbidden rice, pickled shimeji mushrooms and shoji; and quail with preserved lemon masa, pepper salsa and aji amarillo coulis. We followed our main dishes with a pecan tarte with bourbon brown sugar ice cream and a ginger compote that did not at least for us, work with the dessert. While we were pleased with our server all along, she really shown when we ordered a bottle of Grand Cru Morgon Beaujolais. We expressed our disappointment upon tasting the wine, but did not believe it merited returning the bottle, even after she suggested she did After we had a few sips of wine, she returned saying that her manager had the same impression of the wine and told her to urge us to replace it. We did so with a reliable 2021 Belle Glos Clark & Telephone Pinot Noir.
We intended to have a small, heathy dinner of steamed mussels and clams with saffron broth, roasted pepper, and grilled bread; and seared diver scallops with truffle, gnocchi, corn, and truffle butter sauce plus a side order of sauted wild mushrooms, While the mussels and scallops themselves were good, we were less impressed with the preparation. And we were surprised to see that the mushrooms were cultivated cremini, rather than wild. Then after seeing a tower of onion rings come by, we made a fateful decision that transformed an otherwise healthy meal into a calorie and cholesterol-laded celebration of some of the best onion rings we have ever had. And for wine, everything, it seems tastes better with a 2019 Tablas Creek Esprit de Tablas Blanc white Rhone-style blend.
We had another nice lunch at yet again a casual, generally Mexican breakfast and lunch spot. A tasty southwestern salad came with mixed greens, grilled chicken, tomatoes, cheese, avocado and tortilla strips with cilantro-lime dressing in a crisp taco bowl. While the salad was indeed good, our culinary attention was diverted by a less healthful dish, a plate of nacho grande (with chicken beans, cheese, jalapenos, sour cream and guacamole) that proved to be some of the best nachos we have had. Regardless of how good the food was we left the table unable to finish either of the large dishes.
We were quite pleased with our lunch at this small Thai Caf on Canyon Road. Our dishes were pad thai and a cashew stir-fry with sweet red pepper, died chili, and chili paste which, despite the warning and ingredients, hardly qualified as hot or spicy.
Inn of the Governors, while technically a 3 star hotel, is a wonderful place to stay. It is located right by the plaza .The room is large and comfortable with a wood-burning fireplace. Comfortable bed and linens, bathrobe, refrigerator. No microwave and the in-room coffee pot is one of those cheap ones but it works. The bathroom is small but that is the only negative. While the bathroom is small and its tiles are dated, they are keeping within the architecture. But the hotel goes further on so many other ways. You have an option of a breakfast that is served to you. Everyday they have a sherry and cookie hour from 4-5. The staff is first class. They have free parking and a person in the parking area to help. In short, they have thought about lots of ways to make your stay more comfortable. A 5 star place with a 3 star official rating.
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