By Jim Farber
They'd been traveling for weeks on the Santa Fe Trail, 20 miles on a good day, crossing the Great Plains — America's "sea of grass." They'd risked Indian attacks, wildfires, drought and disease. But now the great prairie crossing was at an end. They had arrived at Fort Union and traveled south to the village of Las Vegas at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. There they found trees, of which they'd seen very few, streets, a plaza with an inn and cantinas — civilization.
Mention Las Vegas to cross-country travelers today and their eyes will light up with visions of glitzy hotels, cacophonous casinos and Cirque du Soleil. Ask them what they know about the other Las Vegas — Las Vegas, New Mexico — and their eyes will glaze over with a "What are you talking about?" look.
It's unfortunate that so few visitors to northern New Mexico make Las Vegas a destination after visiting Santa Fe and Taos. But then, compared to those highly branded, highly publicized tourist havens, Las Vegas is a pretty sleepy town.
The heavily shaded plaza doesn't bustle with hundreds of visitors shopping for Indian crafts and the latest thing in Santa Fe chic. There are antique stores but not one internationally recognized art gallery. The food is hearty and provincial without a signature chef or a trendy bistro in sight.
What Las Vegas does have is a great deal of charm and a historic past that's as rich as that of Santa Fe or Taos. It's the place where Teddy Roosevelt recruited his Rough Riders, where the tracks of the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway arrived in 1879, where visitors came to take the waters at the Montezuma Castle Hot Springs Resort (now United World College) and where weary travelers on Route 66 could spend the night in an adobe motor court. It's also where the Hispanic community can trace its ancestry back to the arrival of Coronado in 1541, and it's a town with more buildings on the National Historic Register than Charleston, South Carolina.
The guidebook produced by the Las Vegas Citizens Committee for Historic Preservation boasts, "Whether touring on foot, or by bicycle, car or bus, Las Vegas, New Mexico, provides the visitor with an architectural experience unparalleled in the Great American Southwest." Sadly, many of the buildings are abandoned.
"Potential" is the word you hear mentioned most about Las Vegas, and people have been saying it for years. But now, guided by the risk-taking spirit of Allan Affeldt and his wife, artist Tina Mion (the couple that transformed the La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Arizona, into the hottest go-to spot between Los Angeles and Santa Fe), that potential is being realized.
In a bold speculative move, Affeldt purchased the historic Plaza Hotel (built in 1882), the adjacent Charles Ilfeld Building (built the same year), and the derelict La Castenada Hotel — the former Fred Harvey depot hotel — which was built in 1898 and closed its doors to travelers in 1948.
Currently Affeldt is in the process of restoring, redesigning and renovating all three properties. It's a long-term, high-stakes real estate venture that could, if it succeeds, forge a new tourist trail linking Las Vegas to Santa Fe (60 miles away) and Taos.
Affeldt is also hoping that his renovation projects create an entrepreneurial ripple effect that will stimulate additional investment in the city's abundance of historic properties. Real estate speculation of this type could produce a new generation of shops and eateries in the historic quarter known as Old Town, as well as along Railroad Avenue across from the old depot hotel.
Taking in the view of the town square from the sitting room of the Plaza Hotel, I asked Affeldt the multimillion-dollar question — "Why Las Vegas?"
"I've been coming to Las Vegas for more than a decade," he said above the clatter of construction. "I've spent lots of time in Santa Fe and Taos, but Las Vegas is my favorite town in northern New Mexico because it has this kind of gritty authenticity about it and this incredible inventory of historic buildings. There's nothing else like it. Taos doesn't compare. Santa Fe is all the same vernacular styles. Las Vegas has per capita more historic buildings on the National Register than any other city in the country — 900 buildings in a town of 14,000 people. I think it's the great undiscovered gem of the Southwest. And it amazes me that this town isn't filled with tourists."
Affeldt's master plan calls for completing renovations to the Plaza Hotel sometime in 2015. Demolition and redesign of its Byron T's Saloon is well under way. Affeldt said he has discovered a local chef who plans to turn the menu around by taking full advantage of locally raised produce, poultry and meats. He's also adding a pastry chef so the restaurant can produce a full line of freshly baked breads and desserts.
It took him 10 years to acquire the Castenada.
"With our renovation of the La Posada we already had a Fred Harvey connection. And for a decade people kept suggesting we should buy the Castenada. But the woman who owned the hotel (Marie Eldh) and had lived alone in a corner room for 30 years (like a modern-day Miss Havisham) was asking a stupid price for it. Eventually the cost came down, we made a cash offer and two days later the sale went through. That was on April 7, 2014. The Castenada is one of the architectural treasures of the Southwest and it had literally been boarded up for 30 years."
A week after the completion of the sale a celebration was held at the Castenada that included the governor of New Mexico, the secretary of economic development, the secretary of tourism and a host of Las Vegas city officials. A group of Harvey Girls from La Posada acted as hostesses.
"The reopening of the Castenada will take place in stages," Affeldt said.
The first stage will see the restoration of the bar and the hotel's historic dining room with the opening planned for summer of 2016. The second phase will involve the significant task of redesigning and reconfiguring the hotel's original 27 bedrooms into more spacious modernized suits.
"For a long time Las Vegas has had this flat-line trajectory as a tourist town," Affeldt said. "The purchase of the Castenada really gave the community a shot in the arm. People began to think this might finally be the turning point."
It would be nice to have a crystal ball to see what the future of Las Vegas holds. According to Affeldt, momentum is building with outside investors eyeing key historic properties and artists scouting out available studio space.
And then there are questions of how the community will respond. Will they embrace the changes or resist, fearing their sleepy town will become the new Santa Fe? It's going to be a balancing act, but right now Las Vegas is poised to enter an exciting new era in its long, illustrious history.
WHEN YOU GO
Las Vegas, New Mexico, is 60 miles east of Santa Fe on U.S. Highway 25: www.lasvegasnm.gov
Historic Plaza Hotel: 505-425-3591 or www.plazahotel-nm.com
Las Vegas Citizens Committee for Historic Preservation: 505-425-8803 or www.lvcchp.org
Jim Farber is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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