Corbis Sygma
Posted on 08/08/2005 3:21:26 AM PDT by Pharmboy
Corbis Sygma
Few buildings in this 1881 photograph of Tombstone are still standing.
TOMBSTONE, Ariz., Aug. 3 - George Spangenberg sold weapons to both Wyatt Earp and the gang he faced at the O.K. Corral. Today visitors can see the G. F. Spangenberg gun shop - "Est. 1880," according to its sign - standing on Fourth Street.
Well, actually, the shop was established only 16 years ago to cater to tourists and has no connection to the gunsmith whose name it borrowed.
"We don't say it's the same shop," said Jim Newbauer, a manager of the store, which is across the street from where the original stood. Nor does the shop go out of its way to say it isn't.
Just how true to history this famous Old West town should remain is the subject of a modern-day shootout. "The town too tough to die," as Tombstone bills itself, is at risk of losing its designation as a national historic landmark because some say it has been a little too kitschy in embellishing its heritage.
"It's becoming like a Hollywood set instead of an authentic historic Western town," said Sally Alves, a bed-and-breakfast owner.
Dates from the 19th century are painted on buildings erected in the last few decades. Some stores have simulated brick or adobe facades. Some are painted in colors like purple or turquoise that probably were not used in 1880's frontier towns.
The National Park Service, which administers the landmark program, last year listed Tombstone's status as "threatened" because of building alterations "that didn't have any basis in history," said Greg Kendrick, regional manager of the program. Only about 90 of the nation's 2,400 historic landmarks are considered "threatened," mostly because of deterioration, not decoration. Since 1980, 25 have lost their designation.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
You should have watched "Tombstone" with Kurt Russell. Much better than "Wyatt Earp." Val Kilmer gives a helluva performance as Doc Holliday.
The Birdcage Theater is very interesting. Old Tucson Studios has better "gunfights" than Tombstone but that is about it.
Red
Dodge is an example of a community that has passed the tipping point.
Every town, I don't care how nice or pristine, has some bad. But Dodge is an example of when the bad overwhelms the community. I've thought long and hard about why Dodge had to turn out the way it did, and there are no easy answers.
First, economics- the flight of decent paying jobs out of the community combined with the importation of illegals to work for much lower wages provided a one-two punch to the town.
The changes in the economy and the human tsunami of the last 15 years has pretty much ended towns like Dodge.
Secondly, the social situation in Dodge is an example of the "broken-window" theory of urban decay. This theory talks about how working class areas become ghettoes, and it applies to small town America as well. In Dodge, the community essentially threw up its hands and surrendered in the past 15 years. Things that were once eyesores or outrages now no longer cause so much as a glance.
For example. Driving into Dodge from the East 15 years ago, you would have first seen a truck stop, a feedlot, and then some small scale manufacturing.
Not fancy, but typical of small town America. There was John Deere, and numerous farm/Ag related industries along the road. Average Joe's worked here, and on Friday night, The Average Joes went to the High School football game (Go Red Demons!), and on Saturday night, they took the wife out for dinner. Just a typical town.
Further into town, there were houses, nothing fancy, just working class homes on the Eastside, homes to many of these Average Joes.
Driving further, you're in the town center, the Downtown, where there are shoe shops, hair salons, law offices, banks, etc. Most of the wives of the Average Joes work here. They are secretaries, retail gals, some have their own shops. It's not Wall Street, but the Local big wigs, Lawyers, Real Estate Boys, and Banker types work here. They provide some direction to the town, and they form the backbone of the leadership in civic organizations.
In the center of town is Boot Hill, tourist come from all over to see it, and the parking lot is full.
Now fast forward from 1990 to 2005.
From the east side you enter Dodge, but all of the plants, shops, and small factories are now empty. They have either shut down, or moved south of the border. The working class homes you once drove past are now dilapidated and serve as temporary housing for the hodres of illegals. The town went from roughly 10% hispanic in 1990, to well over 70% hispanic in 2005.
Picture rural Mexico, and you have a good idea of 2/3rds of Dodge City today.
The downtown is now half empty, the remaining open doors are for the immigrants shops that have opened up, and the occasional hold-outs, like grumpy old lawyers offices. Most sensible business/professional types have fled, gone on to greener pastures in Wichita or Kansas City, or other towns.
The center of the town now boasts fast food restaurants with taped up windows, Mexican taverns with iron bars on the windows, check cashing places, Pay Day loan places, liquor stores and pawn shops
and yes, Boot Hill.... though the parking lot is nearly empty.
The taxes rise every year, to pay for new schools for the immigrant kids, and new jails for their parents...this while the remaining taxpayer base is getting the h3ll out of Dodge as fast as they can.
So we have a situation in Dodge where the number of folks paying for the basic infrastructure of the community are dwindling, while the demands on the community infrastructure becomes greater and greater.
There is a point where the situation tips, and spirals out of control, and that is Dodge City, circa 2005.
Examples abound, such as The Hospital that is in such a condition that the Anglo population would rather drive an hour to Garden than wade through the East LA scene that the emergency room has become.
Crime is rampant, and the police are completly irrelevant. The cops openly admit that they fear certain areas, and they will pointedly refuse to go to some mexican bars, fearing for their lives. Meth use is so common, people are making the stuff in hotels, abandoned homes, and the beds of pick up trucks. It's the only expanding industry in town...Prostitution and drugs are so common, you'd think it was Tijuana.
How did this happen? it's hard to say.
But it's pretty sad nevertheless.
But as for our beloved old Dodge, stick a fork in it, it's done....
it's an area in the dragoon mountains that was one of cochise's favorite camping grounds. it's twenty miles from tombstone. very rugged area but easy to access.
So where's the picture of you as a "working" girl? :o)
Obviously.
We were traveling east from Los Angeles and San Diego and thought it would be nice to base the return trip through Yuma and on to Tucson, where I remember eating at a place called "Tia Elena's." Is that restaurant still in Tucson?
We also went through Tucson on another return trip from Seattle in 1998. That is a hot place too.
Will, what you have written here about once attractive Dodge City is unbelievable to me? Not that I am denying it, of course. How did Garden City remain stable while Dodge City went beserk?
I'd have to concur. There is undeniably some cheesiness. But there is also a genuine quality.
I usually pass through in the late afternoon or early evening. The "show" is over by then. And approaching sundown adds to the ambience...
Do not miss Rosa's Little Italy in Warren, just outside of Bisbee.
Perhaps the best Italian restaurant I've ever dined in. The quality of the food and service is competitive with the likes of Ernie's in SF, LeRuth's in NO, etc. Rosa knows what she's doing.
Bring your own wine, though.
The High Chaparral used sets in Arizona and in Hollywood to shoot scenes for the series. Most exterior shots were done in Arizona and most interior shots were done in Hollywood. The primary set for the main ranch was in Old Tucson. Compared to other Westerns of the time, the sets of The High Chaparral were especially rich with detail and authenticity. This was true not only of the regular sets, but of the saloons, cantinas, Mexican villages, and neighboring farms and ranches that appeared throughout the series. The primary sets were not static either, but changed through time as the ranch developed. Since we have had several decades to examine the sets in greater detail than the show's producers might have contemplated, we continue to notice irregularities and discrepancies. Like the Bloopers and Reality Bites, we point these out here as loyal fans who care enough to notice when a door or window has migrated from one episode to the next.
Ditto that, bert. Our family is Italian, and Rosa's comes the closest to our home-cooked meals of anywhere we've been.
And not at all expensive, either.
Be sure to stop by Kate's...food's decent, the beer's cold...and you can't beat the atmosphere!
Hate to say it, but this might be one case where "eminent domain" might work...
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