Three Days in Marfa, Texas. August 19, 20, 21, 2016

August 21, 2016

Hi All –

I rarely document domestic trips, but Marfa is unique – and a bit out off the beaten path, so thought I’d post.

First a little explanation – five friends (including me) traveled rather unexpectedly for a get-away weekend to Santa Fe, NM about 8 years ago and we had a great time. Remarked then that we should make this an annual event. Somehow, our annual event became a twice in eight year activity. After a lot of emails (maybe 30 or so), we found a weekend that fit everyone’s schedule (for me, splicing it in between South Africa and Ireland), and we finally agreed to a location (which also took a bit of back and forth, with suggestions like Quebec City (one didn’t want to go out of the country), Vancouver (been there, done that), etc…. we agreed upon Marfa, Texas (despite the fact that all five of us groaned at the thought of going to that big red state).

But as I said we knew that Marfa was different – not the typical Texas location. And it fit the bill, because none of us had ever been there. So off we went – last weekend: two of us from the Bay Area, two from Chicago, one from LA.

FRIDAY, August 19th
To get to Marfa is a big deal — Fly from Oakland to LA, LA to El Paso, drive about three hours northwest. Marfa is pretty close to the Mexican border (near Chihuahua). Not much happens on the drive from El Paso to Marfa – flat, scrubby desert-like – but fantastic sky… big bold, blue and enormous cumulus clouds. Since our plane from LA to El Paso was late, we managed to drive the last hour in the dark, but still with the moonlight you could see that great sky, whose clouds turned ominous greyish black for part of the drive. Once you leave El Paso, it’s mostly a two lane road with very few cars or trucks on the road. (The two of us from the Bay Area met up with the one from LA at LAX and flew together to El Paso, and then drove together; the two Chicagoans were able to get a nonstop flight from O’Hare to El Paso, so they arrived before us and began their drive earlier)

About 30 miles south of Marfa you stumble on a “Prada Store” – an actual structure with a store window and display (shoes and bags) – that is a precursor to some of what will come later. It’s a full scale little building, that’s “art” – not a real store… We got out of the car to see it up close, but too dark to photograph and put it on the list for our drive back to El Paso on Sunday. Then about another 10 miles we spotted a strange circle of lights that appeared to be another sculpture.. But we couldn’t make out what it was… It seemed to circle some kind of giant white “fish” or maybe a static “plane.” Oh well, too dark – another thing to investigate on the return drive.

Finally arrived in Marfa, starving, and met up with Adrienne and Chris who were already at the restaurant. We managed to miscalculate a lot of things – like the time. Turns out El Paso and nearly all of Texas is in Mountain Standard Time, which we knew… but a tiny corner (sort of a little triangle of Texas) is in Central Standard Zone… So we kept calling the restaurant we were supposed to have dinner at to push the reservation later and later, but alas Adrienne and Chris changed to a restaurant that was open even later (Cochineal) and we arrived as they finished their main courses. Food at Cochineal was excellent and our drinks were even better… Exhausted, hungry – cocktails seemed appropriate. The menu had a bit of Western flair. Chatted with the waitress who was from Scotland, but has been living in Marfa (population 2,100) for about 20 years.

We chose to book the Thunderbird Hotel… Accommodations in Marfa are interesting and cover a big range – from a field with scattered 1950s trailers that have been renovated into “hotel rooms” to what looks like a 5-star ultra-modern hotel to camp sites and more. The Thunderbird seemed like (and was) a great choice. A former motel, renovated in minimalist style – Rooms have concrete floors, nothing on the walls, everything white and gray (suited me just fine).

We had hoped that Adrienne and Chris would have checked us in, given that we were coming so late and eating before getting to the hotel – making our “check-in” around midnight. But, the “office” told them that they needed to see identification from us in order to check us in. OK… I get that, but then they said that if no one was at the office when we arrived to check in, we should go to the Capri (a bar whose hours are a bit sketchy and whose signage is invisible) to get our keys.. And if the Capri was closed, then our keys would be in a mailbox across the street. Sort of strange, since then it would be impossible to “check” our identification!

Naturally, we couldn’t find the Capri and so we went to the mailbox – there were our three sets of keys… Welcome to Marfa – where the living is slow.

SATURDAY

Woke up and the five of us decided to stroll the town… starting with breakfast somewhere.. The town was super quiet – don’t think any locals stir until noon or so… and it turned out that there were very very few “tourists” that weekend (end of summer, school starting, whatever). While at dinner we asked the waitress for some breakfast suggestions and she mentioned a “new restaurant” (no name) – just across the street from the Dollar Store… All directions are given based on some other place – never a street name or an intersection. Things are across from the Post Office or next to the GetGo (a great little grocery) or just past the four-way stop light (the only stop light for miles), etc.

Figured we could find the Dollar Store, which turned out to be about 3/4 mile down the road from the Thunderbird, and figured out that this tiny structure with corrugated aluminum walls was the new place. No name out front. Turned out to be owned by a Chicano family whose English was halting. The space was about 150′ x 150′ at most… three tables. The “menu” was burritos: burritos with potatoes and cheese or with eggs and potatoes or with eggs and cheese or with jalapenos and potatoes etc. We figured we could mix it up, so we ordered “off menu”… The waiter was quite cute and he did get the order straight. They had coffee but only powdered cream. So by now we had seen two extremes in Marfa – a first class dinner place where only the wealthy of Marfa (and they exist as you shall soon hear) and tourists eat, and this little place where los madres are making the burritos that are served on paper plates with plastic utensils.

After breakfast we continued our stroll – I think we hit every street in Marfa. Stopped at a print studio (where they print lithographic and intaglio “editions”); the guy who owned and ran the place (transplant from Santa Fe – everyone in Marfa is from somewhere else) was totally willing to show us his studio and the presses (especially when he realized that some of us – Carol and I – had studied printmaking in graduate school and that Carol had actually worked as a printer in Cambridge following graduate school). The building that houses his studio (he’s been there for 20 years) was a former movie theater and he and his wife live upstairs in what was the former projection booth!

Marfa is filled with repurposed buildings – the gas station is now a museum – and our stroll revealed both the renovated former utilitarian buildings now standing as architectural designed homes or art spaces as well as very modern minimalist spare residences that are owned by professionals – some of whom have moved to Marfa and some of whom come to Marfa for weekends (there is a private airport just outside the town). There’s some farming in the area and a complex of about 150 public housing units on the outskirt of the “downtown” center core of the town.

On our stroll, we stopped to see the very historic El Paisano Hotel and learned that movies such as Giant and No Place for Old Men were filmed in Marfa. They had big blowups of Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Giant in the lobby, and in a little corner on a rather old television (not a flat screen) Giant was playing on what appeared to be a continuous loop. We also stopped to have lunch (and returned later for drinks) at the St. George Hotel – a very chic place with a great bookstore. Here we had homemade bagels (delicious!!) and great smoothies (and later cocktails). This became our main meeting spot; it was central, comfy, and they didn’t seem to mind that we kept coming back (and using their rather well-designed bathrooms, complete with top-of-the-line products).

We also checked out the various boutiques and in one we talked with a young saleswoman originally from Brownsville. She was wearing a fantastic one piece outfit – jumpsuit– (and she had the body to carry it off). Based on this and this alone, we decided she probably knew the restaurant scene pretty well (??) So we inquired about best places for dinner (we had reservations at Jett’s which is located inside the Paisano, but after walking through the hotel we weren’t sure that’s where we wanted to eat); she highly recommended Stellina which was naturally close-by.. So we strolled over to look at the menu (it was only about 4:00) and the owner/chef welcomed us inside and we learned a little about the restaurant (which was closed at that moment). Menu looked fantastic, so we said we’d be back (He explained – no reservations, and no sign-in list; it’s “self-monitored,” we learned – sort of an honor system as to how tables are allocated… would never work in the Bay Area! Or imagine this arrangement in NY!)

Eventually we strolled back to the Thunderbird, stopping to buy locally produced soaps and checking out the GetGo – the little upscale grocery that sells some pretty amazing brands – clearly for those architects and lawyers and successful artists who make Marfa home. By the way, the owner/chef of Stellina was from Austin as was the saleswoman whose advice we took, as was probably the dozen or so people we talked with throughout the day. Most of the reasons for the move to Marfa for these employed (and clearly educated folks: Austin’s too crowded; looking for peaceful location; like the quiet and yet the ‘culture’). Set up a bunch of chairs in the well-landscaped desert garden at the Thunderbird and discussed plans for the evening and next day.

By the way, although everything in the town is within one-square mile, I think we were the only people walking.

Walked to Stellina, and the woman in the jumpsuit did not lead us astray. Stellina would be a competitive restaurant in any big foodie city. We lucked out and got a table right away, although the place was consistently full. We shared four or five appetizers including a mackerel, bruschetta, cauliflower ‘cake’ (sort of frittata), salad, ceviche – pretty much everything that was on the menu (menu changes nightly – only open for dinner), followed by two orders of wonderful pasta with eggplant and tomatoes, followed by a wonderful whole fish and a steak… downed by two bottles of wine. Adam – our new friendly waiter (originally from Austin, but lived in NY for a few years, and trying to write a novel) treated us to three deserts which were quite amazing. Full, content, we walked back to the Thunderbird at around midnight.

SUNDAY

Woke up and headed to Do Your Thing – the place that makes “toast”… It’s really a shack with corrugated metal, a very shaky door that isn’t quite attached to all the hinges, and the interior has a big pot belly stove, bare wood walls, a very large communal table, and a few other little tables and random chairs. The menu is very simple (we knew this before we came, because we stopped in the day before because we were curious what it was; at that time we asked to see the menu and were told “you never know what will be on the menu – although it’s all toasts – because the guy who makes the toasts decides that morning; at that very moment the guy was home ‘brainstorming’” – the woman also said “it’s never for sure that he will show up.”)

We decided to give it a shot… and when we walked in, we were welcomed by Adam – the Stellina waiter-cum-novelist – who is the barista at the Do Your Thing… Ah, new-found confidence. Stellina was great so probably this would be good. Joined in with the “locals” (the upscale ones) and ordered from the many different coffee drinks and the toast menu which ranged from cinnamon toast to toast with avocado and eggs and what appeared to be a full salad sitting on homemade bread slices. All good, and naturally very slow.. One guy making each toast on a makeshift table .. Everything made to order. But we were all happy campers.

From the Do Your Thing we drove (about a mile or so, “uphill”) to the Chinati Foundation – a former US Army base that was “sold” or donated to Donald Judd in the 80s or 90s in a strange transaction that involved an argument with the DIA Foundation I think. Anyway, Judd had been coming to Marfa since the early 70s when he left NY. Apparently he loved the landscape and he needed large areas and open space for his minimalist structures. Initially, he bought the bank downtown and turned that into a studio and residence and later got the army base too.

Since his death, both the residence/studio and the vast acreage just out of town are open for viewing and other artists from the same era (minimalists such as Dan Flavin and John Chamberlain) also have work on site and/or in rotating exhibits. Some of the buildings (with exhibits) are only viewable if you go on the tour, but 15 Judd pieces out in the fields are open to the public without a tour. I opted for the latter and the rest of the gang decided on the 3-hour tour (I’ve never been good at tours – not so interested in hearing regurgitated interpretations of other people’s sense of history or purpose)… That said, the group’s guide, Ralph, seemed quite reasonable and knowledgeable. I asked if I could join the group when they got to the Robert Irwin installation, and he said that would be fine. Can’t get to see that if you’re going solo.

I walked the fields to see the Judd installations. Always felt his “open” cubes were more interesting than the opaque ones… and out on the fields that opinion remained. While they were all on the tour, I drove back to town to get beyond the center square mile and also to see where poor people who were doing all the service work in town lived. That’s when I saw the public housing. I also saw some older modest homes that looked like they were built in the 30s or thereabout and had not gone through any transformation to become minimalist structures. And I looked into the shocking pink fire house.

Met up with the group at the structure that was built to house the Robert Irwin installation – a sort of U-shaped building with windows carefully place (windows that didn’t have any trim so they looked a lot like parts of Judd’s concrete sculptures). Inside – and very hard to describe, but maybe the photos help – you walk through a lane of very fine silk stretched floor to ceiling (appearing to be seamless) and wall to wall – going about 10 feet high and about 100 feet long… initially black silk and parallel to how you walk.. And turning to white silk and perpendicular to where you walk. It’s all about the light and also about the vistas out the window – ever changing with the weather and sky conditions.

The Irwin installation was impressive and interesting, but I had to think about whether the vast sums of funding that was needed for this installation and for Judd’s stuff was really logical given the small number of people who can actually visit. According to the guide, they get 40,000 visitors per year — ??!! Ah, my old anti high-art position still questions all of this. That said, I’ve always liked the minimalists and many of them wrote well during those complex years of the 60s and 70s in the art world.

From there, we met up for lunch at a little Vietnamese place… with the clever name: “Marpho” – had various pho dishes.. And then headed out to El Paso. On the way there we stopped to investigate that big white fish or airplane that had the light around it on Friday night… only to find out that it was a Tethered Aerostat Radar System… Scary.

And we stopped at the famous “Prada” store (sculpture) .
Then we braved fierce and blinding rain storms that forced us off the road for a while… and eventually made it back to El Paso… to the “charming” (not really) Microtel by Wyndham, just across the street from the Airport. Before returning the car we headed to the L&J Bar and Restaurant – directly across from a cemetery for great Mexican food, margaritas, beer and more…