Marfa

This morning we left Las Cruces, NM and headed to Marfa, TX. It's a town of less than 2,000 in the high desert of far West Texas. It originated in the 1880s as a railroad water stop and the population peaked during WWII when the Marfa Army Airfield served as a training base for pilots. In the 70's, artist Donald Judd moved from NYC to Marfa. He acquired property that enabled him to install his large art pieces. Thanks to the Chinati and Judd Foundations, his work and legacy have persisted. In recent years, it has become somewhat of an artists colony supporting arts and crafts, galleries, film and music events, theater productions, and a writers in residency program. We spent the afternoon checking out the architecture; book store; an artist, his gallery, and his 13 dogs; and some craft shops. We wrapped up the afternoon at the Hotel St. George enjoying some delicious happy hour snacks and drinks. 

Their are two beautiful hotels downtown, the Hotel Paisano and the St. George. The St. George is actually about 43 years older than the Paisano, but it has been modernized in a minimalist style.

The Hotel Paisano has a collection of photos of Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Dennis Hopper, and others, taken during the filming of Giant, which was made in the vicinity of Marfa. Coincidentally, you may recall that I posted our visit to the James Dean memorial near Parkfield, CA. Small world, huh.

Marfa is the seat of Presidio County, and the courthouse is beautiful. We walked up to the tower to see the view . . .

And a few more buildings from our stroll around Marfa.