Message from Jim Long, Owner Heritage Hotels & Resorts
FEATURES
FOUR DAYS IN NEW MEXICO
Experience adventures in each of New Mexico’s four unique cities. By Ashley M. Biggers
WONDERS OF THE WORLD, IN NEW MEXICO
Three UNESCO World Heritage Sites call the state home. By Alissa Kinney Moe
PUEBLO MODERN
Hotel Chaco reflects the next phase of Southwest architecture. By Chris Wilson
ART IN MOTION
Lowrider culture is still cruising. By Steve Larese
WEAVING HISTORY
One Navajo trading post honors the past, present, and future of an ancient art. By Susannah Abbey
SACRED WALK, SACRED PLACE
Pilgrims flock to the Santuario de Chimayó during Easter week. By Steve Larese
BRICK BY BRICK
Cornerstones preserves historic buildings. By Ashley M. Biggers
GUIDES
New Mexico Hotels & Resorts
Culinary Team
Dining Guide
Spas & Poolside Retreats
Wedding Spotlight
RELAXATION AT ITS BEST
For those moments when you need to relax, unwind, and take a breath, our spas offer a sanctuary of tranquility and rejuvenation.
Indulge in luxurious treatments inspired by ancient healing traditions and modern wellness practices.
ALBUQUERQUE
Spa
TAOS
The Living Spa, El Monte Sagrado
SANTA FE
Nidah Spa, Eldorado Hotel & Spa
The Spa & Salon at Loretto, Inn and Spa at Loretto
at Chaco, Hotel Chaco
HERITAGE HOTELS & RESORTS
MAGAZINE VOLUME 10
Published by Heritage Hotels & Resorts, Inc.
201 Third St NW, Ste. 1140
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Phone: (505) 314-5152
Media@hhandr.com
HHandR.com
PUBLISHER/CEO
Jim Long
HERITAGE HOTELS
PUBLICATION EDITOR
Molly Ryckman
PUBLICATION
ART DIRECTORS
Alexis Hilty
Andy Plymale
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Susannah Abbey
Ashley M. Biggers
Alissa Kinney Moe
Steve Larese
Chris Wilson
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Jonathan Abdalla
Jeff Caven
Steve Larese
Douglas Merriam
Nick Merrick
Barb Odell
Emily Okamoto
Dear Guest:
Thank you for selecting Heritage Hotels & Resorts for your stay in New Mexico. Our mission is to share the history and culture of our state with the world. When you choose to stay at a Heritage Hotel, you are greatly contributing to our noble purpose. With each room booked, a portion of the revenue is donated to our cultural partners to help ensure that New Mexico’s cultural legacy is celebrated, preserved, and advanced.
In recent years, the travel and tourism landscape has shifted and while some needs have changed, others have remained the same—among them, the innate human need to connect; to seek, to learn, to engage with something authentic and meaningful. We consider ourselves storytellers, and in the following pages, I hope you become inspired by the rich narratives we showcase, immersed in the experiences we skillfully craft, and deeply connected to our “Land of Enchantment.”
There are few things closer to my heart than my love for this state and I take representing it very seriously. None of our work would be possible without your visit to a Heritage Hotel and for that, we are eternally grateful.
BIENVENIDOS/WELCOME
Jim Long Founder/CEO
Heritage Hotels & Resorts, Inc.
FOUR DAYS IN NEW MEXICO
A day in each of the Land of Enchantment’s major cities offers unique experiences that will tempt you to stay longer.
BY ASHLEY M. BIGGERS
Get an aerial view of Albuquerque during the 2.7-mile ride up the Sandia Peak Tramway, North America’s longest aerial tram.
MORNING
After a sunrise power bowl complete with blue corn atole from De La Tierra at El Monte Sagrado, explore the Harwood Museum of Art’s galleries. Its collection delves into the work of the Taos Society of Artists, who in 1915 established this mountain town as a
TAOS
From New Mexico’s grandest canyon to some of the highest peaks in the state, and from rich Indigenous culture to modern art history, Taos and its environs are endlessly fascinating. These are fertile grounds for any kind of vacation—family-friendly, arts weekend, outdoor getaway, spiritual retreat. What’s a perfect Taos day? That depends on whom you ask. This agenda gives a taste of it all.
creative haven, and explores the work of modern masters and local residents such as Agnes Martin.
Take a short drive to Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and tour the ancient buildings of one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in North America. If you happen to arrive on a Feast Day, take in the mesmerizing traditional dances.
AFTERNOON
Hop in the car and travel 15 minutes to the world-famous Taos Ski Valley for four-season fun: fall, spring, and summer adventurers can hike and mountain bike in the vast national forest surrounding the valley. During winter, skiers and boarders take on Taos Ski Valley’s legendary challenging terrain in more than 300 inches a year of fluffy Rocky Mountain powder. Or head south of town, for dizzying views of the Rio Grande Gorge from the 565-foot-high bridge, which spans the crevasse and rushing river below. As the golden hour for photography approaches, visit the San Francisco de Asís Church which Ansel Adams captured on film.
EVENING
Head back to El Monte Sagrado for superior De La Tierra cuisine, with drinks at the Anaconda Bar.
Head south of town, for dizzying views of the Rio Grande Gorge from the 565-foot-high bridge, which spans the crevasse and rushing river below.
The Santa Fe Plaza, a living center of New Mexican history and culture, is home to eclectic shops, live music at the bandstand on summer evenings, and Fiestas de Santa Fe each September.
MORNING
Start the day in the Santa Fe Plaza, a living center of New Mexican history and culture. It’s also home to eclectic shops, live music at the bandstand on summer evenings, and Fiestas de Santa Fe each September. The Palace of the Governors, the building in longest continuous public use in the country, borders the north side of the plaza. Underneath its portal, shop for authentic Native American jewelry or step inside to begin exploring the New Mexico History Museum.
Continue your stroll up Canyon Road—a mile-long stretch of Western and modern galleries that helps make Santa Fe the third-largest art market in the United States. Dip inside the galleries to see how Santa Fe’s famous light, landscape, and people have influenced visual artists for centuries.
AFTERNOON
Hop in the car for a short drive to Museum Hill. Although you can’t possibly see all the attractions here in one day, pick among the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of International Folk Art, and the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, all of which feature world-class collections.
SANTA FE
Legendary Santa Fe brims with history, heritage, and art.
For more than four centuries, Pueblo, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo cultures have left their architectural, historical, and culinary marks on Santa Fe. A perfect day in Santa Fe includes strolling the capital city, exploring art galleries, and tasting the only-in-New Mexico cuisine found here.
On the city’s south side, explore the state-of-the-art “House of Eternal Return” at the Meow Wolf Art Complex, an immersive installation that sprawls through a former bowling alley. While playing the laser harp here, you’ll see how Santa Fe earned the moniker “The City Different.”
EVENING
In summer, you’ll want to pack a tailgate dinner (check with your concierge) for a must-do in Santa Fe: The Santa Fe Opera. The pre-opera parking lot is an elegant outdoor party, and the opera house itself is
world-renowned for its architecture and performances.
For another vibrant cultural experience, enjoy a world-class flamenco performance at the Inn and Spa at Loretto in Santa Fe. Or enjoy a cocktail at Agave Lounge at Eldorado Hotel & Spa before taking your seat in the lovingly restored Lensic Theater for live classical music or a talk by a world-renowned luminary.
ALBUQUERQUE
New Mexico’s largest city (pop. 560,000) is not only the state’s metropolis, it’s also one of the most culturally diverse and historic in North America. Puebloans have farmed the fertile Rio Grande Valley for hundreds of years; modern Albuquerque was founded in 1706 as a Spanish settlement on the banks of the Rio Grande and named for the Spanish Duke of Alburquerque.
MORNING
After a breakfast burrito at Garduño’s at Hotel Albuquerque, stroll to Old Town where the modern city was founded and, today, narrow streets lead to shops and galleries. Join Tours of Old Town to discover the plaza’s hidden history.
AFTERNOON
Get an aerial city view during the 2.7-mile ride up the Sandia Peak Tramway, North America’s longest aerial tram. From the more than 10,000-foot crest of the Sandia Mountains, take in the scenic Rio Grande Valley or hike Cibola National Forest trails from short and easy to strenuous.
Old Town is where the modern city was founded. Today, narrow streets lead to shops and galleries.
Back in town, explore Native American cultures at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, owned by the state’s 19 Pueblos. The museum’s permanent history exhibit includes interactive exhibits that relate Puebloan history and culture. If time allows, take a tour of the art gallery at the National Hispanic Cultural Center; it’s just a taste of what this top center has in store.
EVENING
Back at Hotel Chaco, enjoy a seasonally inspired menu highlighting local and regional ingredients and check out some of the most stunning rooftop views in the city. After dinner, sip sangria or nibble authentic Spanish tapas during a world-class dance performance at Tablao Flamenco. By the end of this perfect day, you’ll know why residents and visitors alike so fiercely love the “Duke City.”
MORNING
Start the day with a New Mexican power breakfast: huevos rancheros— eggs, potatoes, and beans over corn tortillas, smothered in chile. Once you’ve stoked the breakfast fires, stroll through Old Mesilla, a historic plaza of low-slung adobes filled with galleries and shops, including Heart of the Desert, where you can taste local pistachios and wine.
Next, head to the Organ Mountain foothills, where a tranquil desert trail at Dripping Springs Natural Area will rope in some of the area’s history as it passes a stagecoach stop and other sights. On your way back to the city, lasso Old West history and today’s ranching culture at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum.
AFTERNOON
With 300 days of sunshine on the calendar each year in Las Cruces, it seems almost required you hit the golf course and soak in some sun by the pool. Tee off at Red Hawk Golf Club, a perennial winner of best-in-state from Golf Digest. Before dinner, relax by Hotel Encanto’s palm tree lined pool.
EVENING
Treat yourself to dinner at Mezcla where you’ll find delicious cuisines, inspired by the ancient highway, El Camino Real, and the many cultures that traversed along its path throughout history. The renovated Rio Grande Theatre is your next stop for live music or classic films.
LAS CRUCES
Las Cruces blends university hip with old Mexican charm. Just a half hour from the Mexican border, Las Cruces sizzles with the smoky heat of green chile (much of New Mexico’s famous crop comes from the nearby Hatch Valley), Old West ranching history, and Mexican heritage.
Dripping Springs Natural Area, a part of Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks National Monument, has over four miles of easy hiking trails and excellent wildlife viewing opportunities.
Located east of Pueblo Bonito, Chetro Ketl is the second largest Chacoan Great House covering more than 3 acres.
WONDERS OF THE WORLD IN NEW MEXICO
SIGNIFICANT CULTURAL AND NATURAL HISTORY IS ONLY A DAY TRIP AWAY.
BY ALISSA KINNEY MOE
A road trip through New Mexico can bring visitors faceto-face with ancient ruins, one of the oldest continually inhabited villages in the United States, and a geologic marvel. Indeed, significant cultural and natural history is only a day trip away. The state’s Chaco Canyon, Taos Pueblo, and Carlsbad Caverns are globally recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. What, exactly, is a World Heritage Site? According to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), it is a place “of outstanding universal value” that “meets at least one out of ten selection criteria.” Among those criteria: to “represent a masterpiece of human creative genius,” “be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history,” “contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty or aesthetic importance,” or “bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared.” Clearly, these are high standards for any historic or cultural site; yet, perhaps unsurprisingly, New Mexico contains three, the most of any state in the U.S. (there are only 25 UNESCO World Heritage Sites total scattered throughout the country).
CHACO CULTURE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK
First up on our local UNESCO tour is Chaco Culture National Historical Park, located in the remote northwestern corner of the state. This extensive, breathtaking complex of ruins was a key destination for the pre-Columbian Chacoan peoples of the region. The complex was used for ceremonial, trade, and political purposes. Even in
the unforgiving desert environment, the walls, multi-story buildings, and kivas—constructed of sandstone, mud mortar, and pine beams—have remained beautifully preserved over the centuries. The hallmarks of this site are the remote location, extraordinary craftsmanship, and clear dominance of the Chacoan culture, which reached its height about 1020–1110 CE. When architects were designing Hotel Chaco in Albuquerque, they visited the site and modeled the building after the structures at Chaco Canyon.
TAOS PUEBLO
A stunning historical site set against the Taos Mountains in the northcentral part of the state and marked by a stream that flows from the sacred Blue Lake (critically important to Taos
culture), Taos Pueblo consists of adobe buildings, kivas, the San Geronimo catholic church (Geronimo is the Pueblo’s patron saint), and the ruins of a previous church and Pueblo. Built in the late 13th to early 14th centuries, the Pueblo has been continuously inhabited ever since. Residents practice both their Indigenous religion and Catholicism, and they are known for fiercely protecting their privacy, despite the fame of their community and the large numbers of resulting tourists. Running water and electricity are not allowed within the Pueblo’s historic walled village, though an increasing number of residents now maintain homes outside the walls.
CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK
In the Chihuahuan Desert in southern New Mexico lies over 100 limestone caves. Carlsbad Caverns National Park is recognized for both its natural beauty and its ongoing geologic processes, leading to the creation of new speleothems, or decorative rock formations. Carlsbad Caverns is among the best preserved and easily accessible cave sites in the world. The park continues to act as a key location for the scientific study of various geologic specimens and formations, such as the stunning gypsum chandeliers that can grow to over 18 feet. Carlsbad Caverns is also the site of the Big Room, which measures approximately 4,000 feet long and 255 feet high. And if you’re curious about the cave’s wildlife, park rangers provide evening talks about the daily flight of the hundreds of thousands of bats that call Carlsbad home in the summer months.
LEFT: Pueblo Bonito, the largest Great House in Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
TOP RIGHT: Taos Pueblo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited villages in the United States. BOTTOM RIGHT: Temple of the Sun formation is surrounded by stalagmites and stalactites on the Big Room Route in Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
Hotel Chaco’s lobby is a kiva-type structure, featuring stacked stone and Native art.
PUEBLO MODERN
HOTEL CHACO REFLECTS THE NEXT PHASE OF SOUTHWEST DESIGN.
BY CHRIS WILSON
SANTA FE STYLE. NEW MEXICO MISSION. PUEBLO STYLE. CONTEMPORARY SOUTHWEST.
PUEBLO MODERN. Or, putting on my academic hat: the Spanish Pueblo Revival. All are names for an ongoing tradition of regional revival architecture that started in New Mexico at the dawn of the twentieth century.
This idiom draws inspiration from Pueblo villages since 700 and Spanish Colonial architecture starting in 1598. But the very idea of reviving a historic regional vernacular, as well as the style’s underlying design aesthetic, stems from nineteenth century Romanticism, also known as the Arts and Crafts movement. As it evolved, successive generations reinterpreted the style in response to changing tastes and the rise of Modernism.
Rapp, Rapp and Hendrickson’s 1921
La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe, John Gaw Meem’s addition to La Fonda only five years later, and Antoine Predock’s 1969
La Luz townhouse village in Albuquerque typify three phases of the style. The 2017 Hotel Chaco in Albuquerque by Gensler Architects puts forward a strong contemporary interpretation of the style, which, given time, may well predominate as the next phase.
The earthen buildings and the sacred mountains each constituted a metaphoric Earth Bowl, made into a spherical whole by a Sky Basket of stars at night, and shape shifting clouds…
PUEBLO AND SPANISH INSPIRATIONS
Pueblo farming villages along the upper Rio Grande and west into the Four Corners country combined dozens or hundreds of flat-roofed modular rooms into massed community buildings. Two to four stories in height, they turned blank walls against the northwest winter winds, and stepped down to the south and east to face the rising sun. Their rooftop terraces served as the primary daytime living spaces. The residential rooms wrapped ceremonial dance
plazas and their circular religious chambers known as kivas. The Chaco Great Houses, the largest at over 500 rooms, took formal, south-facing U and D-shapes.
Each village aligned to the cardinal directions and to four sacred mountains of the containing sacred landscape. The earthen buildings and the sacred mountains each constituted a metaphoric Earth Bowl, made into a spherical whole by a Sky Basket of stars at night, and shape shifting clouds— the very embodiment of a life force that translates roughly as water-wind-breath.
The Pueblo Great Houses of Chaco Canyon inspired Hotel Chaco.
While Spanish colonists also built flat-roofed adobe buildings oriented to the southeast for passive solar heating, they organized their communities on the scale of the extended-family courtyard house. They introduced both the mission form with large church interiors, and carved wooden detailing concentrated on porches and church interiors. They projected a transplanted Catholicism onto the surrounding landscape when they named their capitol, la Villa de Santa Fe (The City of Holy Faith) and the nearby la Sierra de la Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ Mountains).
ROMANTIC CONCEPTIONS
A primary response to the rapid industrialization and urbanization of the nineteenth century was to wrap institutions, celebrations, and buildings in the mantel of history, which provided reassurances of cultural continuity in unsettling times, casting Washington, D.C. in the classicism of imperial Rome, for instance. The Romantic/Art and Crafts movement, which would have the greatest impact in New Mexico, drew inspiration from pre-industrial, handcrafted building traditions, which were
often used to create regional identities in an increasingly homogenized world. Although large new buildings might be built all at once, architects broke them into smaller components, which they composed picturesquely (that is to say, into balanced asymmetric compositions) to simulate the piecemeal accretion of pre-industrial buildings. They further grounded their buildings in the region with local natural materials, and by porches and windows that framed stunning landscape views—a new secular, aesthetic relationship to the
landscape. In contrast to the increasing standardization of the industrial world, this Romantic aesthetic reveled in variety of all kinds, in composition, materials, details, and furnishings.
SPANISH PUEBLO REVIVAL I
Starting about 1905, The Santa Fe Railway, University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and city of Santa Fe took the lead in developing an architectural style appropriate to the American Southwest—a style that might attract tourists while also representing the U.S. Territory and, by 1912, the newly
During the rapid industrialization and urbanization of the nineteenth century, designers responded by wrapping institutions, celebrations, and buildings in the mantel of history, which provided reassurances of cultural continuity in unsettling times.
recognized State of New Mexico. Based on a shared regional vocabulary of modular flat-roofed adobe rooms, the new style drew elements equally from Pueblo and Spanish Colonial buildings. Multi-story terraced forms come from the Pueblos.
Carved wooden details, porches, and church interiors from the Spanish. Rapp, Rapp and Hendrickson, for instance, picturesquely composed terraced Pueblo forms with a Spanish portal and an entrance based on the façade of Laguna Mission Church. This first phase of the style (popular 1905 to 1940) joyfully
ABOVE: UNM’s Zimmerman Library reflects John Gaw Meem’s design hallmarks. RIGHT: Santa Fe’s Fine Arts Museum helped establish regionally identifiable architecture.
MARY BRINDLEY FERGUSON PICTORIAL COLLECTION, #2014-002-0009, CSWR, UNML
multiplied wooden details over taught, stage-set facades—underlying modern brick construction often revealed by the thinness of stepping buttresses. Heavy oak Mission furniture inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, and the muted earth tone palette of the Navajo blankets fostered by the Santa Fe Railway’s Fred Harvey Company completed the Romantic, pre-industrial aesthetic.
SPANISH PUEBLO REVIVAL II
But by the mid-1920s, a Modernist approach calling for the direct
expression of the zeitgeist of industry and urbanization began to challenge Romanticism. Zealous Modernists banished ornamental details in favor of the forthright expression of steel, glass, and concrete. But Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem argued that the contemporary spirit could be expressed by what he called the fundamental form of the time, a mixture of time-tested forms fused with contemporary conditions and aesthetics.
By the mid-1930s, Meem had begun to orient his houses to the
southeast for solar gain, reviving Pueblo and Spanish vernacular wisdom. Meem conceived the entry sequences into his houses as experiential pathways, much like the hide-and-reveal paths of English Romantic period gardens. Along these paths, he arranged a rich collection of what he, his clients, and the architectural journal of the day described as features: a flight of flagstone steps, an antique door, a long porch with reused carved Spanish corbels, a log viga ceiling within, Navajo rugs, Pueblo pottery in wall niches, landscape painting from
the art colony, a sculptural fireplace, and framed view out to the landscape.
SPANISH PUEBLO REVIVAL III
After the Second World War, the Modernist prohibition of revival styles and historic details, and their call for the honest use of modern materials dominated the architecture profession. To distance himself from direct historical evocation in his 1969
La Luz, Antoine Predock argued that any similarity to Pueblo or Spanish buildings resulted from responding to similar conditions of desert sunlight
and surrounding mesa landforms, not from quoting historic forms or details.
In place of historic wood details, Predock could justify a few functional, cast concrete details: lintel beams over windows and angular roof drains. The curving patio walls evoke the earlier rounded forms of the style, while crisp edges and repeated forms embrace a contemporary aesthetic. Glass curtain walls, held back in shadowy recesses, capture commanding views to the east of the Rio Grande and beyond to the Sandia Mountains, while also serving as solar green houses.
ABOVE: Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Culture National Historical Park. RIGHT: Antoine Predock’s La Luz development typified the Modern Regional approach prevailing until 2000.
If regional architects favored Meem’s interpretation of the idiom from 1930 to 1960, the more through-going Modernism typified by La Luz predominated from 1960 to 2000. Since then, some, especially in Santa Fe and on the University of New Mexico campus, have drifted back to Meem’s sculptural, historicist interpretation of the style, while others have continued with Predock’s Modern Regional approach, typified by his own 2007 design for the UNM School of Architecture.
…the contemporary spirit could be expressed by… a mixture of time-tested forms fused with contemporary conditions and aesthetics.
—Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem
MODERN PUEBLO: HOTEL CHACO
Heritage Hotels & Resorts has achieved notable successes over the last two decades reconceiving existing hotels by grounding them in the history and cultures of the Southwest. With the opportunity to develop a hotel from scratch, Heritage CEO Jim Long sought a fuller realization of their vision by setting a fresh direction for this regional tradition. The resulting Hotel Chaco, designed by Gensler Architects (Adam Gumowski, lead architect), reinvigorates the regional idiom with an experiential aesthetic,
while drawing inspiration from the Great Houses of eleventh century Chaco Canyon.
The south-facing U-shaped massing of the hotel, with a courtyard protected by a curving wall, and its alignment to the cardinal directions owe a particular debt to these Great Houses. As in the Pueblos, the roof terraces connect visitors to an experience of sun and wind and of the expansive Southwest landscape. While the terraces face south and east as in the Pueblos, the focus on the picturesque view of Sandia mountains reflects Euro-American
Romantic aesthetic inclinations more strongly than pragmatic passive solar orientation. As in the designs of Meem and Predock, views come first, with passive solar design where possible.
Brought to the sidewalk’s edge on the north and east, the hotel begins to form an urban street wall for a projected district of three- and fourstory mixed-use buildings. (Architect Stefanos Polyzoides first suggested the Chacoan massing and orientation for the hotel while developing a master plan with Long covering the surrounding urban district.)
In lieu of the carved wooden details of the early Spanish Pueblo Revival, or the Modernist rationalization of these into functional cast concrete, Hotel Chaco deploys a picturesque variety of design and details, of natural materials, textures, and colors. This updated Romantic aesthetic of variety embraces meeting room doors, lobby tables, and a bar top of rich-grained reclaimed wood. A back bar illuminated by light shining through thin-cut agate; a lobby floor of brown tinted concrete, ground and polished to reveal pebble aggregate; wood grained
wall coverings; inventive, striated stuccowork; cortin steel left to weather in the elements, the water streaks developing over the years like those down the sides of Chaco Canyon walls.
EXPERIENTIAL DESIGN
These experiential aspects of the hotel design parallel Meem’s staging of a series of distinctive features along the entry paths into his houses. Approaching Hotel Chaco, you glimpse a wall of sandstone blocks, offset to enhance the play of sunlight. The rusted corten steel panels of the porte-cochère are similarly
THIS PAGE: Hotel Chaco’s U-shaped enclosed courtyard and alignment to the cardinal directions reflect the design of Chaco Canyon Great Houses. OPPOSITE:
Detailed masonry walls in the Great Houses (L) inspired the stacked sandstone entryway (R).
offset for variety. Stepping out of the car, the burbling sound of water draws your attention to a fountain of five megalithic stones set in a vignette desert garden.
Stepping through the heavy double doors, stacked sandstone lines the contained passageway, with again the sound of burbling water and now humidity from a cascading wall fountain. Then the space opens suddenly up and out to a round two-story volume. Here, some of the best pieces commissioned from contemporary Native American artists suggest a connection with circular kivas.
In the elevator ride up to your room, the end-grain wood blocks lining its sides echo the earlier offset motif of the sandstone facade and rusted steel. The textured fabrics of the distinctive easy chairs in your room, like the couches, and cushions in the public spaces, embrace an ivory, buff, black, brown, and gray Navajo blanket palette—their abstract geometric patterns resembling the playful primitivism of some mid-century modern graphic design. After freshening up, a ride up to the rooftop bar and restaurant brings you to a sublime view over the city to the
mountains, a view of the changing clouds that turn brown and golden at sunset, which completes your carefully choreographed entry into the spirit of the hotel. A leading pleasure of staying here is the chance to explore the variety of materials, details, and art that constitute this fresh Pueblo Modern interpretation of a revered regional tradition.
Who knew a car could be so cool?
ART IN MOTION
BY STEVE LARESE
They’re mechanical marvels and kinetic art celebrating family and community. They speak to individualism and precise craftsmanship, but also to whimsy. Lowriders have stoked the passions and imaginations of generations of New Mexicans, and, more than ever, they are being recognized as cultural icons. They are celebrated at Hotel Chimayó’s Low ‘n Slow Lowrider Bar in Santa Fe with its lowrider photographs, hubcab accents, and chain-link steering wheel tables. The specialty cocktail “La Familia” honors Sonnie Jaramillo and his son,
Gabriel, who restored their 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline together before Gabriel passed away in 2011. That silver-and-black classic is now a moving memorial to Gabriel. It was also one of many lowriders featured in the 2016 New Mexico History Museum exhibit Lowriders, Hoppers and Hotrods that combined photos with oral histories from northern New Mexico car enthusiasts. “Back when I started out in the ’70s there was no history,” says Fred Rael of Española, a town 26 miles north of Santa Fe. “It was just a bunch of people with similar interests building
Kimberly Jerrera bought husband Jimmy his classic Chevy. He preserved its details and added custom elements, like chrome accents.
lowriders and cruising and having a good time. But so much time has passed and there are so many stories that there is an interesting and fascinating history now that needs to be preserved.”
“Lowriders have always been about creativity for me,” Rael says. “They’re art in motion.”
FROM CALIFORNIA TO NEW MEXICO
Lowriders captured the attention of New Mexico’s youth in the 1970s, mostly through friends and family who had spent time in California. In the optimistic years following World War II, Americans of all backgrounds embraced car culture. America’s pent-up youth saw cars as a way to freedom and expression, and began to define themselves through customized hot rods, muscle cars, and dragsters, all set to a rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack. James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Steve McQueen drove fast and furious on the big screen, and those images ignited automotive passion that still defines America. Young Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles further bucked the status quo by going low and slow. Mexican-American kids establishing their identities in postwar American culture cut suspension springs to give a new look to late-1940s makes inherited from grandparents or saved from salvage yards. Bright colors and paintings added to the look as kids cruised the streets of Los Angeles. When California passed laws establishing a minimum distance between the body and pavement, kids added hydraulics from truck lifts to lowrider suspensions to cleverly raise the vehicles when necessary, ushering in a new dimension to the art form. Lowriders received
“And it’s always something we do as a family … and the friends you meet along the way, they become part of the family, too.”
their cultural blessing with War’s 1975 hit “Low Rider.” “Low rider don’t use no gas now/The low rider don’t drive too fast.”
In New Mexico, the arid climate preserved forgotten classics, and many wrecks left to rot in fields were hauled into garages or under shade trees and given new life.
“My dad was a car guy, but he was not into lowriders,” Rael says. “I had a cousin who was into lowriders; back then they were kind of frowned upon, thought of as troublemakers or outlaws. A lot of it was probably the way we looked. You’re fifteen or sixteen, wearing baggy clothes, and the style was pretty different. But over the years my family saw that lowriders probably kept me out of trouble, just putting all of that time and effort into my cars. So, it was kind of something I figured out on my own, and it turned into an obsession, and then you start meeting people and going to car shows. If you see my house it’s like a lowrider museum with pictures and trophies.”
Rael still has the first car he dropped, a 1971 Super Beetle, as well as ’64 and ’67 Impala convertibles, and a ’94 Cadillac Fleetwood. He explains that the older cars are best suited to turning into lowriders because enthusiasts can work on them themselves, they have lots of chrome, are rear-wheel drive, have a longer body that makes for a sleeker look, and—most importantly—they have plenty of steel and solid frames that can accept modifications such as hydraulics.
“They just look better as lowriders,” he says. “There’s a nostalgia to them. You see an older car, and you think of your family and friends and your
TWO BOOKS ARE A MUST FOR LOWRIDER ENTHUSIASTS:
LOW ’N SLOW: LOWRIDING IN NEW MEXICO by Carmella Padilla, Juan Estevan Arellano with photography by Jack Parsons. Museum of New Mexico Press, 1999
¡ ÓRALE! LOWRIDER: CUSTOM MADE IN NEW MEXICO by Don Usner.
Museum of New Mexico Press, 2016
youth. New cars are good, but they’re plastic. They don’t have metal bumpers anymore. The last cars made that make good lowriders are Cadillacs and Lincolns from the early 2000s.” Bobby Chacón of Chimayó, a town 28 miles north of Santa Fe, bought his first car, a royal blue 1951 Chevy Deluxe, when he was seventeen in 1997 after completing Army basic training. “I would work on cars with my dad, and my brother was into lowriders, so I was just always surrounded by cars,” Chacón says. He has a stable of other lowriders, most of which have already been claimed by his three young daughters. Scores of battered classics sit on his rural property awaiting resurrection or parts transplants into other cars.
FAMILY TRADITION
“The stereotypes of the past are long gone, I think,” Chacón says. “Lowriders used to be associated with gangs and stuff, but for us it was always about family here. You work on cars with your family, and then you cruise them in town and see all your friends. I go to car shows with my girls and it’s just one big family.”
Rael agrees: “Lowriders got a bad rap in the 1990s, I think through a lot of movies, because they would always put the gang bangers in lowriders, and
Jimmy Herrera's classic Chevy Impala lowrider.
“But for those of us who have always been involved, it’s always been about the cars.”
drugs were a bad problem in rap music and rappers wanted that image of being from the streets of L.A. and lowriders were a great visual for that,” he says. “But for those of us who have always been involved, it’s always been about the cars.”
In a small town like Española everyone has a pretty good idea of what you’re up to and how you make your money, Rael says.
“If all of the sudden someone’s sinking thousands into a car and never working, people would know if you’re doing anything illegal, and you can bet that would get back to your whole family,” he says. “My dad didn’t know what to think at first, but then he saw how focused I was and how hard I worked and realized it was a good thing. You take pride in your car, and you can’t do that if you didn’t earn it.”
Rael says the increasing scarcity of suitable cars and their prices is lowriding’s main challenge.
“As far as young people doing it, there aren’t as many because it has become very expensive to build a lowrider,” Rael says. “When I first started out, you could buy a ’64 Impala for five hundred dollars. Now, they’ve gotten very expensive. And if you find any sort of car that is suitable for a lowrider you’re going to be looking for parts because of the age of the vehicle. Add in the paint job and other
customization, it gets really expensive. In the day if someone had ten thousand dollars into their car, they had the nicest ride in the state. And now, there’s people with upwards of a hundred thousand dollars into their car. The cost of parts and labor have gotten very expensive; it’s not as do-it-yourself with friends as it was.”
Pamela Jaramillo, Chacón’s girlfriend and mother of their three girls ages five, eight, and eleven, shows that lowriding isn’t just for the boys, either.
“My family was always into lowriders, and it was just something we always did,” Jaramillo says. “And now Bobby and me and the girls all go to car shows and everything, and they’re really getting into it.” Jaramillo says some of her high school friends in the ‘90s asked her why she was into lowriders, but quickly figured it out.
“When I first started driving everyone was like, ‘how can you drive those ugly cars,’” she says. “But then they saw all of the attention I was getting. No matter where you went you would just stand out and people would talk to you. Now I see a lot more women drivers, even though it’s really hard without the power steering and disc brakes.”
Jaramillo says being female seems to make her more approachable than male drivers. “People everywhere come up to me and ask about my [’65
Impala],” she says. “The guys are really nice, too, but people seem intimidated by them at first. But they come up to me, and we all start talking and that’s how we make new friends.”
Rael says that he’d like to encourage younger generations to continue the lowrider tradition. “It’s changed since the mid-2000s or so,” he says. “It used to be about everyone building their cars and cruising them; that was our social life. But I think over the years the presence of lowriders on the street has diminished because kids are more into gaming and stuff, everyone’s social life is online now, it seems. And us old guys are with our families or at work or going to car shows.”
Still, he says, more “old guys” such as himself are making the time to take their prized lowriders around town with their families more now, and that’s inspiring younger generations.
“We’re still cruising, even if we can’t stay up til midnight anymore,” he says. “And it’s always something we do as a family. We go cruising, we go to car shows, we go as a family. And the friends you meet along the way, they become part of the family, too.”
WEAVING HISTORY
A legendary trading post honors the past, present, and future of an ancient art.
BY SUSANNAH ABBEY
A rug by master weaver Daisy Taugelchee, ca. 1948, 43”x70”
Toadlena sits at the far western edge of New Mexico, on the Navajo Reservation border with Arizona. To get there from Interstate 40 you cross a sequence of landscapes: from the red sandstone bluffs of Gallup, through dry scrubland along New Mexico State Road 666/491. Turn off the highway and ascend through open range where horses nibble sparse grass, past the Mormon church, the Navajo Fish Hatchery (public welcome) to the lush shade of a cottonwood grove. A spring trickles from the base of the Chuska Mountains and flows through the Tó’Háálí Community School grounds. Here the historic Toadlena Trading Post and Weaving Museum, one of the last remaining posts on the reservation, sells handmade textiles to dealers and individual buyers from all over the world. Fifteen miles northeast, Bennet Peak and Ford Butte rise from the valley floor. These are the Two Grey Hills for which the regional weaving style was named, in a region with a tradition of producing the highest quality Navajo textiles in the land. The trading post guards that tradition.
In 1909, the same year that the Bureau of Indian Affairs opened a boarding school at Toadlena, brothers Merit and Bob Smith built a one-room adobe trading post across the road. A few years later the brothers sold the lease to George Bloomfield, who more than doubled the size of the building and clad the adobe walls in quarry stone. It changed hands a few more times before finally ending up, in the late 1950s, under the management of R.B. Foutz, who also ran a store in Shiprock, New Mexico.
In 1997, Foutz talked Mark Winter into taking over the business, which was not a hard sell. Foutz had given up on Toadlena—it had been closed almost a year when Winter fell in love with the place and took over the lease (the post itself is owned by the Navajo Nation—the traders are simply leaseholders). Winter subsidizes post operations through antique rug sales.
“We never intended to make money...[but] to support the weaving tradition,” says Winter. “We support between 150 a and 175 weavers within 12 miles. ... Our local region [is] still the most active weaving community left on the reservation and a lot of that is because of our efforts.”
Mark Winter has always been a collector. Growing up in San Bernardino, California, he collected bugs, stamps, comic books, and slot cars. Later it was Native American jewelry, bought at pawn shops and shows across the Southwest and sold to wealthy musicians and actors in Los Angeles. One day
a stranger offered him seven antique blankets. One, Winter recalls, was “a beautiful storm pattern.” The encounter, like any fairytale meeting with a magical stranger, changed his life. He began buying and selling blankets and rugs and continues to do so today.
Winter soon developed an interest in the people behind the art. The traders of the ninteenth and early twentieth centuries didn’t see the need to give the weavers credit for their weavings; it simply wasn’t important for marketing purposes. Winter was curious about the artists: He began taking antique rugs to the reservation in the hopes of collecting background information about them. He brought one rug to renowned weaver Clara Sherman who was able to produce a photo of herself standing next to that very rug. Winter knew this was an important revelation; it would establish clear connections between the weavers and their work and help him identify the early and midcentury rugs he had. He began asking for and taking photographs. It was “a way for the weavers to reflect on their works,” he recalls. “They would scan a rug with their eyes and sometimes remember doing a specific thing in the weaving and associate it with a time in their lives.” Many of the weavers of those antiques were gone, but Winter interviewed everyone he could, finding out who was related to whom, who wove and who didn’t, and how the clans and families fit together. The result was a massive genealogy project that went into his 2011 book “The Master Weavers.”
SHEEP AND COLOR
Navajo country is sheep country, and about 6000 roam the desert plains north of Gallup today. It hasn’t always been this way. The Spanish conquistadors introduced the Churro, famed for its hardiness, long fibers, and soft fleece, to the Southwest some 400 years ago. But in the 1930s sheep all but disappeared from this area during a government mandated slaughter to reduce overgrazing in the arid desert landscape. Today, there has been a concerted effort by the Navajo and others to bring sheep, and the sustenance they provide, back to Navajo land.
On the large flagstone patio behind the trading post, where Winter and his wife, Linda, hold demonstrations and museum openings, weavers Irene Bennalley and Victoria John are busy restoring and mounting antique rugs for an upcoming show in Santa Fe. Bennalley is the Regional Shepherd Coordinator and Navajo Churro Sheep Association board member. She keeps a large flock which she selectively breeds for the colors of their wool.
Winter at the trading post. Courtesy: Toadlena Trading Post
Indeed, one of the main distinctions between the Two Grey Hills weavings and others is the use of undyed wool. “Right now, I’m focused on nonfading black and brown,” Bennalley says. She explains that sheep’s wool lightens over time. “You’ve got to go to different breeders but you can’t really know until they age for two years. If they stay the same as their birth color you keep that ram. ... I keep the best ewes and get rid of the rest.” Bennally is skeptical of the legendary Churro sheep. “What I was told when I first got into the Churro sheep—‘oh they’ve got a lot of sheen, they’ve got softness and luster.’ After working with them for a few seasons,
I went ‘where the hell is the luster?’ When I was shearing my hands got cracked and dry.” Bennally prefers Navajo sheep, a hybrid of Merino, Churro, and Rambouillet. Recently some sheep breeders have attempted to bring back the Churros, but Winter maintains that the breeding program hasn’t resulted in the soft wool of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which he attributes to “a magical moment in time.”
The Two Grey Hills style developed in the early twentieth century when traders convinced weavers to adopt Persian-type designs in keeping with Victorian tastes. The style features
a central diamond pattern on a gray background with a black border. Unlike those in other regions, weavers here eschew reds, preferring the natural black, white, grey, and brown hues of the sheep themselves. They card shades together to create sub-tones and because they spin the wool as fine as thread, their work tends to be tight and crisp. The number of wefts, or horizontal threads, is another distinguishing feature of Two Grey Hills. Where typical rugs average 30 wefts per inch, Two Grey Hills average 45. During her life the celebrated twentieth century weaver Daisy Taugelchee made tapestries of 115 wefts per inch.
MAINTAINING TRADITION
In the museum, Winter points out different rugs: “That’s Mrs. Police Boy,” he says. “She was born in Bosque Redondo in 1865 and lived 100 years.”
We move to the next one. “And this is her daughter, Police Girl.” He points to a large, old rug. Propped at its base is a faded photograph of a young woman standing by her hogan with that same rug hanging behind her. “This was the very first rug whose weaver I was able to identify,” he says.
Linda Larouche was working in New York City’s garment industry and had started to collect East Coast Native American arts. She had heard about the art shows in New Mexico and in 2003 decided to see one for herself. She never went back to New York. At first, she helped Winter with antique sales in Santa Fe. Then she began accompanying him to Toadlena to help in the store.
“When I came out, I said ‘oh my God, I love this place and I want to be here.’”
In 2011 Linda and Mark married at the trading post, attended by “a thousand” friends, family, and members of the Two Grey Hills community.
“People ask me if I’m bored out here. I’m never bored because it’s so busy.” Linda describes a typical day—some people coming in to sell rugs, others to buy groceries (the store offers a selection of nonperishable foods, soft drinks, and cigarettes), sightseers and, of course, rug buyers. “If a couple walks through the door thinking they’re going to look at a few blankets and leave, three hours later their plans have changed.” They receive visitors from the Heard Museum in Phoenix and the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, other weaving groups, and once—possibly because collectors like collections—a Model A car club. People come to admire the rugs, farming equipment, and other antiques that fill the store.
Toadlena used to be on the mystery writer Tony Hillerman tourist map; two of Hillerman’s fictional characters, detectives Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, live in Toadlena and Two Grey Hills. Although the map is no longer published, Hillerman fans still drop by to look around.
Thelma Brown wasn’t raised on the reservation—her family had relocated from the Two Grey Hills area to Uravan, Colorado, a now-abandoned uranium mining town
ABOVE: An installation view from The Weaving Museum’s 2020 exhibit, Eye on the Storm, Storm Pattern rugs from 1910 and 1940. Photo by: Susannah Abbey. RIGHT: Todalena commissioned rugs are featured prominently in Hotel Chaco’s guest rooms.
where her father worked and where children would get a good education. But in 1984, after the uranium industry failed, the family returned to Toadlena. Brown says that was when she wove her first rug.”
“My mom said, ‘you’re gonna weave’ and set up a rug for me. Most people start out with small rugs. My mom set up one that was 44x66 inches. It was a big rug.
“I used to think it was corny when the weavers would say [of their designs] ‘oh, it’s all in my head.’ I used to draw them out, I admit it.” She’s since learned to do the same. “I would walk back and forth in front of [the loom] and pretty soon I started saying ‘I know what I’m going to do’ ... things started falling into place.”
“Thelma comes from a great weaving family. Her great aunt was Clara Sherman, and her grandmother was Clara Sherman’s older sister,” says Winter. “It’s really magical that what Thelma’s great-great-grandmother did I’ll sell and it’ll help support Thelma and her daughter.”
“And her daughter Jamie, who’s seven, is starting to weave. She can card wool,” Linda says.
“It’s pretty typical if they’re going to learn they start around seven or eight,” says Brown. “My daughter keeps seeing spiders—when she says ‘mommy, there’s a spider’ I say ‘they’re trying to tell you to weave.’” She’s referring to the Navajo deity, Spider Woman, who, in mythical stories, teaches weaving and agricultural practices to the people. Jamie now does carding demonstrations at the store like her mother and grandmother.
Brown enjoys working at the trading post, learning more about rug designs
and being at the center of what has become a de facto community center. Locals come in to buy a soda or a bag of chips, stay to chat and pretty soon Brown knows who is looking for whom and where they can be found, about who has seen a bear and where (black bears are active in the Chuskas), and other important news, including reports of “bigfoot sightings.”
and said ‘oh good, now we can eat.’” She explained that all their money was going to feed the sheep. The family hadn’t been able to afford food for a couple of days.
GIVING BACK
In 22 years, the Winters have bought and sold about 7800 rugs. Recently Jim Long, CEO of Heritage Hotels & Resorts, commissioned 130 of them for Hotel Chaco guestrooms. In addition to supporting the artists, Winter found he had more to offer. It began during the recent drought when a master weaver in her 90s brought in a rug. Winter describes her standing silently in a corner, waiting for him to finish what he was doing.
“She finally asked me ‘are you going to buy my rug?’ and I said ‘yes, I just need to finish up here’ and she looked relieved
That was the start of Blessingway, a nonprofit organization that helps the community of Two Grey Hills. Blessingway takes donations from people all over the country to pay for necessities from sheep feed to school supplies. It might be one of the Winters’ enduring legacies.
“When this post closes this whole era is gone,” Mark says. From hundreds of trading posts in the early twentieth century, only a dozen or so remain.
“We have no plans to retire,” Linda says. “We’re here as long as they’ll have us.”
With its Beauty and Grace, El Santuario de Chimayó is One of New Mexico’s Hallowed Places.
SACRED WALK SACRED PLACE
BY STEVE LARESE
SOME WALK FOR LOVED ONES.
Some walk to heal themselves. Some walk for their Catholic faith, and others for an undefined spirituality. Reasons are many but the destination is the same every Holy Week in New Mexico: El Santuario de Chimayó. To many El Santuario de Chimayó is one of the most sacred places in the U.S., similar to Lourdes in France.
Every Good Friday, an estimated 30,000 people of all walks of life join together in a pilgrimage to this humble church in northern New Mexico, swelling the rural village’s population of 3,000 tenfold. Some walkers wear bright athletic gear; others walk barefoot.
Some are festive; others somber. They come from just outside of Chimayó and from as far away as Albuquerque. Some years, the intense New Mexico sun adds to the hardship. Other years walkers brace against cold spring rain or snow flurries. If you’re driving Interstate 25 between Albuquerque and Santa Fe during the week before Good Friday, you’re likely to see pilgrims on the side of the highway.
El Santuario de Chimayó is a humble structure, made of meterthick adobe without a straight line or right angle to be found. For centuries, it’s been believed to be a place of miracles and answered prayers, with dirt from
its grounds being collected by the faithful. Its twin bell towers cut into dark blue skies, and the Acequia del Potrero gurgles past its courtyard wall and arched gate. The painterly scene poses against a landscape of taupe hills specked with dark piñon trees. Those hills in the Indigenous Tewa language are called Tsi-Mayoh, which the Spanish who first came here in the late 1600s transliterated as “Chimayó.” With the area isolated for centuries, vestiges of colonial Spanish are still spoken here. Chimayó chile is from a Spanish variety grown before the founding of the United States, and Chimayó weavings are prized for their beauty and
traditional craftsmanship. El Santuario de Chimayó’s cool interior smells of earth, wood, and wax, and it takes a minute for visitors’ eyes to adjust. Votive candles glow in the dim light, each one burning with the love of a person for a person. Retablos depicting the Stages of the Cross lead to the colonial masterpiece of an altar, past rows of wooden pews mirroring the heavy vigas and corbels supporting the roof. El Santuario de Chimayó is a blend of spirituality and culture, beauty and grace, miracles and mystery that define northern New Mexico.
It’s also steeped in lore. One story says that a farmer was plowing when
El
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El Santuario de Chimayó is a blend of spirituality and culture, beauty and grace, miracles and mystery that define northern New Mexico.
he uncovered a cross. Other stories say that a praying priest saw a beam of light emitting from the ground and found the cross. Three times the cross that’s now part of the altar was moved to a church in another village, and three times the cross disappeared, only to be found back in the hole in Chimayó. Understanding that the cross was meant to stay in Chimayó, a small chapel was built on the site. Historical records show that the land belonged to Bernardo Abeyta, who in 1810 built a small private chapel devoted to Christ of Esquipulas, which was replaced with the larger El Santuario in 1816. Official Catholic correspondence shows that
already miracles were being attributed to the church, and that people were taking dirt from there, believing it to be holy. El Santuario de Chimayó was donated to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in 1929, and is still an active Catholic church. In 1970, El Santuario de Chimayó was declared a National Historic Landmark.
Today, visitors may still enter a small side room and take a scoop of dirt from a hole in the floor. The blessed dirt is replenished by the priest and not miraculously, as once believed. In the sacristy, the walls are lined with crutches and braces left by those who attribute their healing to answered
LEFT: Pilgrims walk to Chimayó from all over New Mexico, arriving on Good Friday.
RIGHT: The Santo Niño de Atocha Chapel features Carved wooden pews, vigas, and stone flooring.
Santuario de Chimayó is open to visitors all year long.
It’s spiritual, it’s beautiful, and it becomes a part of who you are.
prayers. Hundreds of notes expressing thanks or praying for miracles are tucked throughout, and photographs of loved ones left by those who pray for them stare through the candlelight. It’s a powerful display of faith, love, and hope.
While Chimayó has always had a history of pilgrimages, the modern Good Friday tradition is believed to have taken shape in the 1940s. New Mexicans were among the first to see combat during World War II, and 1,800 were forced into what would become known as the Bataan Death March in the Philippines. Their families back in New Mexico, unsure of their fate, would themselves walk to El Santuario de Chimayó to pray for them. Later, survivors would make the pilgrimage to give thanks.
“You don’t have to be Catholic,” says Diana Sainz of Santa Fe, who’s made the pilgrimage seven times. “But for everyone, it can be an act of selflessness, an act of respect and love for other people.”
Sainz begins from Tesuque, 20 miles away from Chimayó, and takes about six hours to complete her journey. “My younger daughter invited me to join her the first time,” Sainz says. “It was
with a bit of trepidation that I said yes, because she and a college friend had walked the year before and they were crying because it was all so painful. They literally couldn’t walk afterwards and their legs were very swollen. I have been a daily walker and a hiker for years, but certainly not for 20 miles at a time.”
Sainz says the pain of losing her husband and father was foremost on some of her pilgrimages, and helped her feel connected to the meaning of Good Friday. The physical act of walking helped her cope with her losses, she says. Other years, her walks were filled with gratitude for her daughters and other blessings.
“I think the pilgrimage is important because of community,” Sainz says. “When we engage together for a higher purpose, I think sacrifice and mystery can meet head-on with spirituality. Somehow we can face our vulnerability, our sins, our pain, our hope.”
For Colleen Constance Franco, her walk from Albuquerque began at the behest of her mother-in-law. “My mother-in-law had always asked me to walk with her, but I never took the time from my busy schedule,” Franco says. She takes a week to walk
the 90 miles north to Chimayó, to arrive on Good Friday with thousands of others making the pilgrimage.
“My very first year, during the beginning of the week, I was ready to give up,” she says. “I was standing in line to take a shower, and met a 90-year-old woman named Sara who had been walking for years. She became my inspiration. I thought to myself, ‘If she can do it, I can do it.’”
Franco says she feels a range of emotions during her journey. “The beginning of the week is tough. You’re getting up at 3:30 a.m. every day to avoid the sun. Your feet are blistered and you’re tired. By midweek, Wednesday, you’re all in. You’re taking in all of the experiences. Some are so amazing, you decide not to share them and keep the warmth inside you. Come Friday, you’re sad to see it all end. By Saturday, an emotion comes over you that you can’t explain. It’s spiritual, it’s beautiful, and it becomes a part of who you are. The women I walked with became my family, and you feel closer to God than you could ever imagine... closer to those who have passed on, and closer to the people you will see when the walk is over.”
AT HOTEL CHIMAYÓ DE SANTA FE , Heritage works with the Chimayó Cultural Preservation Association to highlight the village’s intriguing blend of spirituality and creative traditions. The rooms and suites feature original artwork and furnishings created by more than 70 local artists. “We initially met with the Chimayó community to obtain their blessing to tell their story,” says Heritage Hotels & Resorts CEO Jim Long. “We support a program, Los Maestros, that links village elders with younger residents to share their community’s cultural and artistic traditions to reinforce cultural continuity.”
TOP: The interior of the Santuario de Chimayó, one of the state’s most beloved churches. Photograph by Steve Larese. MIDDLE: A carved rear doorway to the El Santuario de Chimayó. BOTTOM: The lobby at Hotel Chimayó de Santa Fe features artwork of several prominent Northern New Mexican artists.
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
Each time a guest elects to stay at a Heritage Hotel, a portion of revenue from every room night goes to support organizations such as Cornerstones for their cultural preservation efforts.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Cornerstones invites the public to join in adobe brickmaking on Saturdays in May. Visit cstones.org for details on times and locations. Adobe bricks must cure in the sun for thirty days before being used.
BRICK BY BRICK
Cornerstones preserves historic buildings—and New Mexican culture.
BY ASHLEY M. BIGGERS
PHOTOS BY BARB ODELL
Santa Fe’s San Miguel Chapel is believed to be the oldest continuously used church in the United States. Built shortly after the Spanish founding of Santa Fe in 1610, the church served the community of El Barrio de Analco. Although it was partially destroyed in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt and was rebuilt in the same location by 1712, archeological studies found remnants of Native American structures and architectural elements from the first church still standing. The wide adobe buttresses and bell tower stood the test of time, presiding over baptisms, weddings, and funerals for generations. Yet, San Miguel Mission was crumbling.
Cornerstones, along with partners and volunteers, completed a multiyear restoration of San Miguel Chapel in Santa Fe. The preservation effort included repairing the walls, coating the surface with three to six layers of mud plaster, and restoring the bell tower.
In 2010, Cornerstones Community Partnerships began restoring the oldest church. Along with numerous partners, the organization removed the exterior cement plaster and repaired the adobe walls. Over several summers, volunteers came together to coat the outside with three to six layers of mud plaster—just as community members had done for generations before them. Nearly a decade later, the plaster finish is still standing strong.
CORNERSTONES ORIGINS
Founded in 1986, Cornerstones originally operated under the umbrella of the New Mexico Community Foundation as an entity to oversee the historic preservation of the state’s mission churches. It incorporated as its own non-profit in 1994 with a similar mission: “to preserve the architectural heritage and cultural traditions of New Mexico and the greater Southwest, using a hands-on approach to teach and reinforce these methods.” The
organization has provided assistance on more than 380 architectural treasures and historic sites, from the San Miguel Chapel to the Picuris Pueblo church to public buildings on Chimayó’s historic Plaza de Cerro.
Cornerstones works only on publicly owned or publicly used buildings because it has found community-driven projects to be the most successful. Program Director Jake Barrow, who joined Cornerstones in 2009 after a thirty-year historic preservation career with the National Park Service, says historic preservation efforts often call upon outside groups or consultants. “They come in and do something beautiful, but the community hasn’t bought into it. So it can falter and not be fully embraced,” he says.
The group advises and teaches, rather than completing the project on its own. Occasionally, it hires out specific tasks, like roofing, to specialty companies. Barrow says, “We’re not contractors but when it involves community, training, and volunteerism, we’re there.” Cornerstones places a great emphasis on hands-on teaching of traditional skills during its projects—and in particular adobe brickmaking, a dying craft and culture in New Mexico.
MUD AND STRAW
For many of Cornerstones’ projects, restoration begins with brick making. They can burn through hundreds of bricks on a single project, and since the bricks take thirty days to cure, they need to have stacks at the ready. The bricks begin as a straw-filled mud that’s mushed into a wooden mold and left to bake in the sun.
Historically, every spring neighbors would gather to build bricks together.
If they made bricks in May, by late summer, they’d be ready for the next step: repairing walls and building new rooms for expanding families. They shared in the work of re-mudding each other’s homes. Barrow says, “That tradition has largely fallen by the wayside. We wanted to revive the tradition because it’s important to the heritage of New Mexico.” Each May in Santa Fe, Cornerstones invites the public to join them to learn to make bricks. The events not only help Cornerstones assemble materials; it also keeps the cultural tradition alive.
Bricks are essential to Cornerstones’ efforts. Many of the adobe buildings they encounter are literally melting away. When done properly and maintained, mud plaster is quite sturdy. However, in cases of abandoned buildings or those without stewards knowledgeable about the process, the exterior can erode. Even small cracks can let in wind and rain, which literally washes away the adobe bricks. Barrow says replacing adobe bricks with the same material ensures structural continuity for the historic buildings.
Over time, mud plastering was seen as laborious to maintain. It went out of vogue and ushered in a period of concrete plasters, like stucco, which now coat many adobe buildings across New Mexico. Unfortunately, that can cause more problems than it fixes. Adobe bricks breathe, expanding and contracting through the seasons. When finished with mud plaster, the coating follows suit. Putting concrete plaster over adobe is like putting a straight jacket on it. In some historic buildings, when owners remove the coating, they find piles of dust instead of bricks. The walls must be rebuilt from scratch.
TOP: Cornerstones can go through thousands of handmade adobe bricks on a single project. BOTTOM: Volunteers coat an horno (traditional oven) in adobe plaster, carrying on the traditional practice.
RINGING THE BELL
Heritage Hotels & Resorts guests joined the brickmakers at work at San Miguel Chapel during the initial push to restore the church’s main sections. That effort was completed in 2012. The hotel group came on as a financial sponsor as well, as efforts in ensuing years moved on to a 2013 effort to stabilize the sacristy and gift shop. In 2014, using Heritage Hotels & Resorts’ funds, Cornerstones oversaw the restoration and stabilization of the chapel’s bell tower. The bell hadn’t rung since 1872. In October 2014, it rang for the first time in 140 years. Although Heritage guests had initially joined the brick-making efforts at San Miguel, for the past couple of years, their bricks have gone to another effort to keep northern New Mexico history alive.
FROM OLDEST CHURCH TO OLDEST PLAZA
One of Cornerstones’ newest endeavors involves an off-the-beaten path area of the village of Chimayó. Spanish Colonial settlers constructed Plaza de Cerro during a period when area tribes frequently raided settlers’ homes. The compound includes four family houses around a central plaza. The enclave has only two entrances/exits. They’re so narrow that only a single person leading a horse is able to pass through, and they can be easily blocked in the event of an attack. “We believe it to be the only remaining totally enclosed defensive plaza in New Mexico,” Barrow says. “It has tremendous importance.”
Although the Chimayó area was thinly populated in the 1680s, the first mention of the plaza wasn’t recorded until 1785. In 1878, there were fortyfour people recorded as living in the plaza—eight
Trujillos, seven Ortegas, and five Martinezes. By the 1930s the plaza declined as older residents died and others left their homes to take jobs in cities. The plaza is now essentially abandoned. Its historic importance landed it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
The Chimayó Cultural Preservation Association, another Heritage Hotels & Resorts beneficiary, acquired one of the buildings set around the plaza, Casita Martina. The association has plans to use the casita for interpretive purposes, but a year ago it was far from that. The cement coating disguised adobe damage within, and the rear wall was in active collapse. The roof was deteriorating. The canales were gone, so there was nothing to channel water from the roof; instead, it was pouring into the walls.
In the summer of 2017, with funding from Heritage Hotels & Resorts and a handful of other organizations and donors, restoration work began. Since then, the community has stabilized the walls, repaired the canales and roof, and restored the windows and doors. Barrow says the work is ninety percent complete. All that remains is completing the earthen floor.
In future years, Barrow hopes to repair another building on the plaza—this one with less than fifty percent standing. “We hope we can come back and make another great achievement at Plaza del Cerro,” he says.
Cornerstones’ perspective on historic preservation has an eye to the future, Barrow says. “Rather than thinking about a building here and a building there, what’s at risk in New Mexico is the bigger picture of our cultural landscape. For those of us who live in or love New Mexico, there’s a fragile cultural landscape out there that’s challenged,” he says. Saving it means focusing on preserving culture as much as architecture and ensuring projects are sustainable. Barrow says Cornerstones is increasingly exploring solar as a way to keep historic buildings, particularly in rural communities, open to the community.
A volunteer packs a mud-and-straw mixture into adobe brick forms.
Each of our hotels and resorts in New Mexico celebrates the rich, multicultural heritage of the Southwest, drawing from its unique blend of Native American, Mexican, Spanish, and Western cultural and historical influences. Through architecture, interior design, original artwork, landscaping, entertainment, and cuisine, Heritage Hotels & Resorts provides guests with an authentic cultural experience in Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Las Cruces. Turn the page to learn more.
Immerse yourself in a world of serenity and wellness at El Monte Sagrado, the premier luxury resort in Taos. The hotel features the award-winning Living Spa, De la Tierra Restaurant, Anaconda Bar, and exquisite indoor and outdoor event and meeting space.
PALACIO DE MARQUESA
405 Cordoba Lane (575) 758-4777 MarquesaTaos.com
Palacio de Marquesa is conveniently located near the historic Taos Plaza. The design pays tribute to the remarkable women artists of Taos. This quaint eight-room inn offers visitors a beautiful mountain retreat in northern New Mexico.
Situated in the heart of the historic Old Town and new urban Sawmill District, Hotel Chaco beckons luxury travelers seeking authentic experiences. The newly-opened Spa at Chaco, Level 5 Rooftop Restaurant, Crafted Tasting Room, boutique shops, and a gallery elevate your experience.
HOTEL ALBUQUERQUE AT OLD TOWN
800 Rio Grande Blvd NW (505) 843-6300 HotelABQ.com
Offering historic grandeur, Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town exemplifies Albuquerque style and features Garduño’s Restaurant, Tablao Flamenco, Q Bar Lounge, an outdoor swimming pool, a romantic wedding chapel, and more than 62,000 sq. ft. of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space.
THE CLYDE HOTEL
330 Tijeras Ave NW (505) 302-6930 ClydeHotel.com
A 20-story landmark hotel in the heart of Albuquerque’s Civic Center, this hotel offers a place of connection and comfort. Features include 1922 Bar & Lounge, Carrie’s Restaurant, Mercantile Cafe, Little Bear Coffee Shop, swimming pool, and more than 30,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space.
SANTA FE
LAS CRUCES
INN AND SPA AT LORETTO
211 Old Santa Fe Trail (505) 988-5531 HotelLoretto.com
This iconic hotel is just steps away from the historic Santa Fe Plaza. Discover Luminaria Restaurant and Patio, bars, a newly remodeled outdoor pool with cabanas, an award-winning spa, salon, shops, and Santa Fe’s only penthouse suite. The hotel has 12,000 sq. ft. of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space.
ELDORADO
HOTEL & SPA
309 W. San Francisco St (505) 988-4455 EldoradoHotel.com
Conveniently located near the historic Plaza and The Lensic Performing Arts Center, guests will experience luxury amenities including an on-site restaurant and bars, rooftop pool and cabanas, world-class Nidah Spa, and more than 22,000 sq. ft. of indoor and outdoor event space.
HOTEL ST. FRANCIS
210 Don Gaspar Ave (505) 983-5700 HotelStFrancis.com
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and named for the city’s patron saint, Hotel St. Francis embodies Santa Fe with hand-crafted décor by local artisans. Wolf and Roadrunner Steak and Game, Secreto Lounge, and Gruet Tasting Room can be found onsite, one block from the Santa Fe Plaza.
HOTEL CHIMAYÓ DE SANTA FE
125 Washington Ave (505) 988-4900 HotelChimayo.com
A boutique hotel in the heart of downtown, Hotel Chimayó is conveniently located steps away from the historic Santa Fe Plaza and celebrates the culture of Chimayó, a distinctive northern New Mexico community. Low ‘n Slow Lowrider Bar featuring HAWT Pizza and Estevan Restaurante are onsite.
HOTEL ENCANTO DE LAS CRUCES
705 S. Telshor Blvd (575) 522-4300 HotelEncanto.com
A unique hotel that reflects New Mexico’s Spanish and Colonial traditions, Hotel Encanto has a beautiful resort pool lined with palm trees and 35,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space. Hotel Encanto features two on-site restaurants—Cantina and Mezcla.
Fresh and Traditional
A New Mexico chef returns to his roots, with a modern twist.
BY STEVE LARESE
As a young boy exploring the canyons and mountains of Tijeras, east of Albuquerque just off of Old Route 66, Sean Sinclair had no idea that he would someday become executive chef of one of New Mexico’s premier restaurants, Level 5 at Hotel Chaco in Albuquerque. But the skills and respect he was learning in nature would pave the way for his culinary career.
“My parents really instilled in me a love for the outdoors,” says Sinclair, who still loves to fly fish on the rare days he’s not in the kitchen. “I’d go hunting with my dad every season all throughout New Mexico, and then help my grandmother in the kitchen. This really gave me a sense of respect for where food comes from, how to handle and process it properly, and the joy of creating meals for your loved ones. When I discovered that I could make a career being a chef, it all came together.”
SEAN SINCLAIR
Chef Sinclair brings what he’s learned during his intense and traveled career back to New Mexico. The creative curiosity and energy that he brings to the kitchen is what eventually brought him back to his home state.
Sinclair began working at Chama River Brewing Company in Albuquerque when he was 15, and he soon earned a spot at the grill station.
“When I graduated high school, the chef sat me down and said that I should consider making cooking a career,”
Sinclair says. “He really pushed me and saw my passion. So I enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Portland (Oregon), graduated and then learned from some old-school chefs.”
Sinclair worked at some of Portland’s top-tier restaurants before returning to Albuquerque to become chef at the highly regarded restaurant Farm & Table. It was here that he first met Jim Long, CEO of Heritage Hotels & Resorts.
“I always appreciated what Jim was doing with Heritage, how he was really incorporating authentic New Mexico culture into the brand.”
Sinclair seized an opportunity to become sous chef under acclaimed Chef Patrick O’Connell at the AAA FiveDiamond, Mobil Travel Guide Five-Star, Inn at Little Washington in Virginia.
“I can’t explain getting a phone call that we earned a two-star Michelin rating,” he says. “Every second of every day you have to be excellent, and it paid off. You’re always in the spotlight at that level, every day is like playing in the Super Bowl. It’s intense.”
Long had been keeping track of Sinclair’s success, and when the position of executive chef at Level 5 opened, Long offered it to Sinclair.
“I’m excited to be back in Albuquerque, a place that I hold near and dear to my heart,” says Chef Sinclair. “Level 5 is always listed among the top places to eat in the city, and I don’t think this is just because of the stunning Sandia Mountain views.”
His menu celebrates the bounty of the modern world while showcasing fresh ingredients grown in our great state.
MEET THE TALENTED CHEFS ON THE CULINARY TEAM
GILBERT ARAGON
Born and raised in Albuquerque, Chef Gilbert spent summers with his uncle, a corporate chef. These experiences ignited his passion for the culinary world and started him on a career path that would lead him to become a top chef within the industry.
ISAAC CHRISTIE
Chef Isaac was born and raised in New Mexico. Pursuing his passion for food, he began his culinary career in Italian fine dining and has continued to perfect his craft while working under some of New Mexico’s top chefs over the last two decades.
ERNESTO DURAN
A sixth-generation New Mexican born in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Chef Ernesto’s early food memories led him to the kitchen where the opportunity to create memorable experiences has driven him during his nearly two decades of culinary experience.
JOSHUA GOMEZ
Born and raised in the Apple Valley of Velarde, Chef Joshua has been cooking for over a decade. He spent a lot of time in his grandparents’ kitchen where he learned new techniques, family recipes, and the key to cooking flavorful Northern New Mexican cuisine.
CRISTINA MARTINEZ
Chef Cristina discovered her passion for fine cuisine at an early age. Inspired by European, French, and Asian influences, she honed her skills at Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, California, where she graduated with honors.
JONATHAN PERNO
A native New Mexican, Chef Jonathan spent over 20 years training as a chef with Wolfgang Puck and Alain Rondelli among others before returning home. His passion for food has led to seven James Beard Best Chef nominations.
DE LA TIERRA
Enjoy local, seasonal flavors that make De La Tierra Restaurant the most popular restaurant for serving cutting edge regional cuisine and traditional favorites in Taos.
ANACONDA BAR
Named for the giant snake sculpture winding its way through the venue, this upscale lounge features libations and custom cocktails. The bar offers happy hour and a light dining menu.
EL MONTE SAGRADO
317 Kit Carson Rd, Taos (575) 758-3502
ElMonteSagrado.com
LUMINARIA RESTAURANT & PATIO
Luminaria Restaurant & Patio is recognized for its tranquil setting and inventive menu. Enjoy breakfast, lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch on the fabulous outdoor patio and discover the flavors of Santa Fe.
THE LIVING ROOM AT LORETTO
A warm and sociable environment, wines, and custom-crafted cocktails are the hallmarks of The Living Room at Loretto. Featuring a nightly happy hour.
CRAFTED TASTING ROOM
Enjoy handcrafted coffee and bakery items in the morning. Sample small plates while savoring local wines and spirits later in the day. Patio dining available.
INN AND SPA AT LORETTO
211 Old Santa Fe Trail (505) 988-5531
HotelLoretto.com
WOLF AND ROADRUNNER
Encounter fire in all its forms at Wolf and Roadrunner, where the “parilla” (grill) is the heart of the kitchen. The finest cuts of meat, game, and seafood are cooked over wood the traditional way and dishes continually flow to your table only being served at the moment they reach their peak in the slow-burning fire. Share your plates, savor your moments.
SECRETO LOUNGE
Join us for tantalizing drinks in a warm, relaxing environment. Located within historic Hotel St. Francis, just steps from the Santa Fe Plaza, it’s the perfect spot for enjoying Santa Fe nightlife or people-watching.
GRUET TASTING ROOM
Enjoy delicious sparkling wine in this elegant tasting room.
HOTEL ST. FRANCIS
210 Don Gaspar Ave (505) 983-5700
HotelStFrancis.com
LOW ‘N SLOW FEATURING HAWT PIZZA
Surround yourself in vibrant lowrider culture while enjoying specialty cocktails made with local spirits, and the best pizza in Santa Fe. HAWT serves up wood-fired Neo-Neapolitan pizzas with fresh mozzarella topped with classic and specialty ingredients.
ESTEVAN RESTAURANTE
Experience acclaimed Chef Estevan Garcia’s traditional New Mexican cuisine. Estevan has created an elevated menu using locally sourced, organic ingredients inspired by favorite traditional northern New Mexico dishes, including Chimayó red chile, chicos, posole, and calabacitas.
HOTEL CHIMAYÓ DE SANTA FE
125 Washington Ave (505) 988-4900
HotelChimayo.com
AGAVE RESTAURANT & LOUNGE
Enter a world of celebrated culinary delights and libations at Agave Restaurant & Lounge. Agave is a chic, casual dining experience offering bold clean flavors.
CAVA SANTA FE
Eldorado’s lobby bar, the heart of the hotel, is designed as a place to gather and enjoy a delicious glass of cava, a cocktail, or something off of our extensive wine list. Inspired dishes and shared plates round out your experience.
PAXTON’S TAPROOM
Located steps away at Eldorado Plaza, you can choose from 30 of the best local beers on tap and wine by the glass.
ELDORADO HOTEL & SPA
309 W San Francisco St (505) 988-4455
EldoradoHotel.com
YOUR NEW MEXICO DINING GUIDE
Taos and Santa Fe
GARDUÑO’S RESTAURANT
Enjoy authentic regional New Mexican and Mexican cuisine and world-class margaritas at this favorite Old Town Albuquerque restaurant and bar in the inviting hacienda-style interior or the lush outdoor garden patio.
QBAR LOUNGE
Albuquerque’s most sophisticated and upscale lounge offering an extensive wine list and craft cocktails.
TABLAO FLAMENCO
ALBUQUERQUE
Hotel Albuquerque is home to the Southwest’s first authentic Flamenco Tablao. Experience the energy of Flamenco with a delicious four-course prix fixe dinner show on Fridays & Saturdays. Also featuring special matinee performances on Sundays.
HOTEL ALBUQUERQUE AT OLD TOWN
800 Rio Grande Blvd NW (505) 843-6300
HotelABQ.com
LEVEL 5 RESTAURANT
Level 5 Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge is proud to serve a seasonally inspired menu highlighting local and regional ingredients.
CRAFTED TASTING ROOM
Experience a light bite and flights of New Mexico’s premier locally-made wines and spirits. Sit on the patio to take in the views of the Sandia Mountains and the Sawmill District.
HOTEL CHACO
2000 Bellamah Ave NW (505) 246-9989
HotelChaco.com
CARRIE’S RESTAURANT
Reviving culinary glamour in the heart of downtown Albuquerque, Carrie’s is perfect for a business lunch or gathering with family. Enjoy the lunch buffet and plated meals.
1922 BAR & LOUNGE
Make time to savor wine and craft cocktails designed around the time of Prohibition.
MERCANTILE CAFÉ EXPRESS
Seasonally driven menu, where quality ingredients are prepared simply and traditionally. Stop by for coffee, pastries, salads, and paninis.
LITTLE BEAR COFFEE
Locally-owned specialty coffee shop with options ranging from balanced blends to unique single origin coffees.
THE CLYDE HOTEL
330 Tijeras Ave NW (505) 302-6930
ClydeHotel.com
SAWMILL MARKET
The Sawmill Market brings to the Sawmill District a 25,000 square-foot food market with an array of local cuisine and culinary traditions. The market houses 28 individual local merchants including a brewpub, a cocktail and wine bar, and a mercantile. At the center is The Yard, an outdoor dining and play space.
Inspired by the ancient highway, El Camino Real, and the many cultures that traversed along its path throughout history, Mezcla offers delicious cuisines, resulting in a beautiful blend of multicultural recipes.
CANTINA
Cantina offers traditional breakfast items as well as delicious local New Mexican favorites. In the afternoon enjoy lunch or a light bite and cocktails.
HOTEL ENCANTO DE LAS CRUCES
705 South Telshor Blvd (575) 522-4300 HotelEncanto.com
YOUR NEW MEXICO DINING GUIDE
Albuquerque and Las Cruces
For those moments when you need to relax, the Heritage Spa Collection offers you a sanctuary of tranquility and rejuvenation
UNWIND
IN THE LAP OF LUXURY
LET YOUR JOURNEY BEGIN
Centuries ago, Chaco Canyon was a special place where many peoples gathered to share their traditions and knowledge while surrounded by sacred mountains and mesas; the region still has deep spiritual meaning for their descendants.
The Spa at Chaco honors our Indigenous roots by sharing that knowledge and offering thoughtfully curated treatments infused with functional botanicals and minerals inspired by the native herbs and plants of the high desert region. We meld these time-honored traditions with cutting-edge modalities and attentive, gracious service to bring a sophisticated, upscale, results-oriented wellness experience to our guests.
Select from an array of customized facials for both men and women as well as advanced skincare options such as microneedling or dermaplaning to deliver unmatched results.
Our body treatments have been created to reflect local culture while providing extensive benefits ranging from the relief of aches and pains to cleansing and hydrating the body. Discover the healing energy of a holistic wellness journey, each of which incorporates mindfulness, body work, hydrotherapy, and clarifying rituals to address specific concerns.
Our world-class staff welcomes you to join us for the ultimate destination spa experience. Nurture your body, mind, and soul with spa treatments found only in Santa Fe.
NIDAH SPA
309 W San Francisco St, Santa Fe, NM EldoradoHotel.com (505) 995-4535
Enjoy the best views in the city from Santa Fe’s most exclusive rooftop pool. Poolside dining and drink`are available seasonally.
THE CABANAS AT ELDORADO POOL
Our cabanas offer the perfect oasis of relaxation and comfort. Leave your worries behind as you bask in the serene atmosphere and make unforgettable memories. Cabanas are only available to rent for guests of Eldorado Hotel & Spa and are available seasonally.
THE CABANAS AT LORETTO
Elevate your pool day by renting a cabana by our newly remodeled pool. Let your cares go as you sip and savor by the water with poolside dining. Cabanas are only available to rent for guests of Inn and Spa at Loretto and are available seasonally.
IMAGINE A DAY OF BLISS
Soak in the splendor of Santa Fe with a range of spa offerings including treatments, styles, and ingredients honoring the different traditions of the high desert.
Stop by The Salon at Loretto for a manicure and pedicure or pamper yourself with a new cut and color.
Head to The Cabanas at Loretto where guests of the Inn and Spa at Loretto can indulge in refreshing cocktails and culinary delights while lounging poolside.
THE SPA AND SALON AT LORETTO
THE SPA AT LORETTO (505) 984-7997
THE SALON AT LORETTO (505) 984-7998
211 Old Santa Fe Trail Santa Fe, NM HotelLoretto.com
AWAKEN YOUR SENSES
BALANCE YOUR SPIRIT
Retreat to a serene setting surrounded by waterfalls, ponds, and towering cottonwood trees.
Immerse yourself in a world of serenity and wellness at El Monte Sagrado’s award-winning spa. Delight in our eco-friendly rejuvenation center at the heart of the resort. Ten perfectly designed treatment rooms, many with added benefits of a sunlit shower and natural waterfall cooling system, await you at our Taos spa.
The Living Spa only uses natural and organic products, such as “Sagrado” by Body Bliss, our own private label.
For post-treatment meditation, The Sacred Circle, a relaxation area revered for hundreds of years by the local Taos tribes, invites guests to unwind among towering willow and cottonwood trees.
After soaking up the warm sun, guests can enjoy the resort’s two hydrotherapy tubs or saltwater pool to further revitalize body and soul.
End your day with cutting edge regional and seasonal American dishes at De La Tierra.
If relaxation is key to your vacation at El Monte Sagrado, consider a visit to the pool as an official part of your spa regimen. The saltwater pool embodies the healing power of the sea. Rinse away the tensions of the day in a blissful soak surrounded by plants and flowers.
SPLASHES FOR
TEQUILA SUNRISE
Adobe-inspired buildings, vibrant colors, and two people madly in love—the inspiration for this look came from the location! El Monte Sagrado Living Resort and Spa is full of so much culture and beauty it’s hard not to be inspired for your special day. Drawing from the layered colors in a tequila sunrise cocktail, this look embodies the natural beauty of Taos and the iconic El Monte Sagrado Living Resort and Spa!
BY
PROVIDED
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BRIDE MAGAZINE
PHOTOS BY EMILY JOANNE
THE BESPOKE BRIDE
What makes a bride beautiful and radiant on her wedding day is the love she has for her partner. Stay true to your style and let your love shine through!
CIRCLE OF LOVE
Forgo your traditional aisle and have a circle labyrinth ceremony! With lush willows and waterfalls, the Sacred Circle at El Monte Sagrado Living Resort and Spa is the ideal place to create your circle. Guests will feel more connected to the words exchanged and it will give you and your beau an even more meaningful “I Do.”
DESIGN & PLANNING ALENA SWANSON LLC | ALENASWANSON.COM FAVORS WANDERER BOUTIQUE | WANDERERTAOS.COM FLORAL RENEGADE FLORAL | RENEGADEFLORAL.COM JEWELRY TAOS MOUNTAIN GALLERY | FB: TAOS MOUNTAIN GALLERY AND GIFT SHOP LINENS & RENTALS CLASSIC PARTY RENTALS | CLASSICPARTYRENTALS.COM MENSWEAR MACY’S | MACYS.COM MODELS MICHAEL, MARIELA, LOGAN, AND LAUREN PAPER LETTERPRESS MADE | LETTERPRESSMADE.COM PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEOGRAPHY EMILY JOANNE WEDDING FILMS & PHOTOGRAPHY | EMILYJOANNE.COM VENUE EL MONTE SAGRADO RESORT AND SPA–PART OF THE HERITAGE HOTELS & RESORTS COLLECTION | ELMONTESAGRADO.COM
El Monte Sagrado’s perfectly manicured grounds make an ideal setting for your wedding. This mountain retreat is part of the Heritage Wedding Collection that also includes hotels and resorts in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Las Cruces. Visit HHandR.com/Weddings to explore your options.
QUIET MOMENTS
While guests are mingling and enjoying cocktail hour, take a couple of moments together and take in how special this day is. Your wedding day is unlike any other event in your life. Slow it down and remember all the little things.
TAOS
El Monte Sagrado
SANTA FE
Eldorado Hotel & Spa
Inn and Spa at Loretto
ALBUQUERQUE
Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town
Hotel Chaco
LAS CRUCES
Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces
THE PERFECT DAY
Weddings are an unforgettable experience. From intimate gatherings to grand galas, you will find the ideal setting for this special day at one of our hotels & resorts.
