Gadsden Hotel—Douglas, Arizona
The morning after our foray into Puerto Palomas we broke camp and lit out for the Arizona border. We followed NM 9 to its terminus just before the Arizona border (completing our crossing of New Mexico on NM 9). From there we rejoined US 80 (which we had driven on from Montgomery, Alabama to the Texas/New Mexico border) on the roughly three hour drive from Columbus, NM to another border town- Douglas, Arizona.
We had passed through Douglas in 2019 and stopped for lunch at the restaurant located in the Gadsden Hotel. We made a note that if any future road trips brought us close to Douglas, we would stay the night and enjoy cocktails sitting in the Henry Trost designed lobby. As we were ultimately heading to one of our favorite weird towns, Bisbee, just west of Douglas, that is just what we did.
The Gadsden is not much to look at from the outside, but the interior, especially the lobby, is quite impressive. We have stayed at six hotels designed by the architect Henry Trost (1860-1933). His firm, Trost & Trost was based in El Paso, Texas and designed over 600 buildings in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona as well as Mexico. Trost & Trost heavily influenced the look of the Southwest and still does today with over 100 of their structures still standing.
The article embedded below provides a brief history of the hotel and the town of Douglas.
After our enjoyable night at the Gadsden Hotel we made the short trip to Bisbee. We had visited Bisbee in 2019 and chronicled the interesting history of the town at that time (see our post Bisbee, AZ 03.20.2019)
On this trip, we stayed at the Bisbee Grand Hotel right in the heart of downtown Bisbee. The Grand has been in business since 1906. The hotel describes itself as a place where “the rugged charm of the Old West blends with modern comfort”. Modern might be a bit of a stretch, but the hotel is great. Everyone on staff is friendly and helpful. The first floor has a great bar and restaurant, and there is live music just about every night. Booze, beds, food (and music)! The formula certainly works for us. We will come back to our stay at the Grand later in the post.
Bisbee is no longer a mining town, other than the daily tours of the Copper Queen Mine (we did the mine tour on our previous visit – it is excellent – you ride into the mine on the train that carried the miners deep into the mountain). After the mine closed the population decreased for several years but has reversed course as the town has become home to a plethora of artists, musicians and people who just want to do their own thing.
When we visited Bisbee in 2019 Stephen became a devoted customer of Optimo Hatworks. Optimo is a milliner and renovator. The shop has been in business for around 50 years. Knowing that we were heading back to Bisbee, Stephen planned on a renovation for his 2019 panama and having a new hat made. Below left, Karen fitting the hat with their hat fitting tool aka medieval torture device. Below right, renovated panama with new band.
Now that a successful trip is assured with a renovated hat in hand and a new hat scheduled to arrive at The Fort in approximately three months, let’s get to the coffee portion of our Bisbee stay.
https://www.optimohatworks.com/
Allen & Co Espresso House opened in October 2024. The space was previously occupied by Kafka, another specialty coffee shop, for many years. When Kafka closed, husband and wife John and Kelsey Allen jumped at the chance to open their own cafe. When we were frequenting the cafe during our stay they had just celebrated the cafe’s four month anniversary.
The timing of the opportunity worked perfectly as Scott and Kelsey had just returned from a one year, 29 state photography assignment when the space became available. Scott is also an experienced barista and he makes a mean cortado. Best of luck to Scott and Kelsey (and their newest family member Pip – pictured above with Maria)!
On a related topic Bisbee is home to Patisserie Jacqui. The patisserie was named a James Beard semifinalist in the outstanding bakery category. The patisserie has a line down the street each morning because they sell out quickly. As soon as we pulled up in front of the hotel, Maria bolted up the hill to get on line. She snagged a pistachio chocolate snail and a morning bun. Beyond delicious!
We mentioned earlier that Bisbee has become a hub for many artists. There is public art on display all around the town. We have included below several photos of artwork from around town and the Bisbee Art Wall located in the alleyway between 24 and 26 Broadway (the area below the alley is known locally as Beer Gulch — bars and brothels were located on this street in the mining era).
We spent an afternoon walkabout exploring some areas in the maze of streets and alleys that we had not visited during our previous stay. In particular, we walked out Brewery Avenue from the Old Bisbee Park until we reached Zacatecas Canyon. We followed the road up the canyon until we came upon a closed gate and private property signs. You do not under any circumstance trespass on private property in the West.
We spotted a number of interesting homes and buildings and nice views of the canyon walls (and great exercise at 5600 feet elevation).
On our last evening in Bisbee, we walked up Tombstone Hill for dinner at Thuy’s Noodle Shop. We had read an article about Thuy Dang in Arizona Highways Magazine; she moved to Bisbee from Vietnam nine years ago. Thuy desperately missed Vietnamese food and decided to address the issue by opening a noodle shop. She spent two years perfecting her recipes before opening the shop.
https://www.arizonahighways.com/business/thuys-noodle-shop
The food was delicious! We have to admit that we probably would not have tried a pho shop in Bisbee if we had not seen the article and then spoken with John at Allen & Company Espresso. Lesson learned (although we have learned the hard way that pizza outside the northeast is invariably mediocre at best).
We will finish up this post with the Grand Bisbee Hotel. We had originally booked one night thinking we would have dinner, take care of business at Optimo Hatworks and be on our way. But there is just something about Bisbee (for us)- the place, the people that kept us from leaving. Everybody has a story in Bisbee (and they are usually quite interesting). So everyday we ended up at the bar/front desk asking to extend our stay. Fortunately the hotel was able to accommodate our requests, although we ended up staying in three different rooms, all “unique” for lack of a better term (photos below).
One of the interesting people we met in Bisbee was Alice. She was a competitive shooter wielding six shooters at targets while riding her horse. Alice also owned a bar in Sonoita (a nearby census designated place, population 803) for 15 years. She shared with us how she kept the peace when her bar filled up with thirsty and eventually rowdy bikers. Let’s just say don’t mess with Alice!
Our next segment will take us west through the Coronado National Monument and across the magnificent and isolated St. Raphael Valley (which extends into Mexico).
Be seeing you!
ON THE ROAD with Maria + Stephen 