I live in "The City Different," Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is "different," first, because of its look. Although Santa Fe was founded in 1608 and has accumulated a variety of architectural styles over the centuries, in 1908, city wallahs decreed that all constructions in the central Plaza and in adjacent historic neighborhoods be in the "Pueblo Revival" style, that is, resemble ancient Pueblos, and especially Taos Pueblo about an hour-and-a-half's drive to the north. Garrison Keillor now describes Santa Fe as an "adobe theme-park."
Santa Fe is a city since it has a relatively large population (around 75,000), it is reasonably large (around 100 km2), and - in accordance wIth followers of central place theory - it serves a hinterland. Some of these services are retail establishments; there are TV stores and computer stores that don't exist in second - or third-order settlements like Espanola (although it now has a Walmart) or Chimayo.
Santa Fe is a tourist attraction, and its hinterland is national and international in scope. Visitors are attracted to the city's art market, and there are (according to the chamber of commerce) more art galleries in Santa Fe than in any other city in the USA, excepting New York and Los Angeles. In the summer, there is the Santa Fe Opera, an open-air theater that is one of the major venues for opera during this time of year. There is also concurrently a chamber music festival, various choral festivals, ballets, and jazz festivals. To cater to visitors, there are hundreds of restaurants, many quite fancy, many more featuring New Mexican food, which is food with spicy chile sauce. Whereas many states have a state bird, a state tree, or (in Utah and Arizona) a state gun, in New Mexico there is a state question:
Red or green? (meaning the color of chile you prefer over your flat, blue-corn enchiladas).
Santa Fe is also a market and ritual center. In the summer, there is Spanish Market, then Indian Market, where artists who are judged as appropriate sell their art in dozens of stalls set up in and near the Plaza. (The word "market" is pronounced by locals "mark-up"). Thousands of visitors from all over the globe come to these markets (and other events) and to ponder the state question. Following these markets is the Fiesta de Santa Fe, commemorating the reconquest of the city and region following the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 that expelled the Spanish immigrants for about twenty years. The highlight of the iesta (at least for tourists and many Santa Feans) is the burning of a 15 m high paper-mache marionette called "Zozobra," the invention of a Santa Fe booster in 1924. The burning (which takes place in a parK) is preceded by a performance of costumed dancers and much consumption of adult beverages by the onlookers (some of whom sit on hillsides above the park where they can barely make out the appearance of Zozobra).
Santa Fe also its urbanologists' criteria of cities because it is extremely heterogeneous. About 50 percent of the inhabitants are Hispanics (many claiming descent directly from Spain and so do not consider themselves Mexican-Americans, and many speak Spanish as their first language), around 45 percent gringos, several percent Native Americans, and others. Native American Pueblos ring Santa Fe and are not least one of the qualities of life that differentiates Santa Fe from other cities. Santa Fe is a city in that it provides an overarching identity of sorts for its various inhabitants, a critical variable for urbano-logical gurus (from Weber onward) who labor to deine city-ness.
Santa Fe is also legendary for its tolerance of many social, sexual, and cultural orientations. There is a substantial number of Tibetan refugees in Santa Fe, and they it Santa Fe well since there are many converts to Buddhism in the city, and cocktail conversation is often centered around the best places to meditate. Santa Fe is also home to New Age folk. The answer to the riddle, "Why did the Santa Fean cross the road?" is "she was channeling a chicken."
World History
