So last time I had just gotten us to the town of Marfa. We had met the kids and grandkids at the AirB&B and were wondering what to do next. It turned out that David and Emily did have plans. The idea was that we’d drive to the town center and get pizza at a local restaurant, the Para Llevar.(1)
The Para Llevar offers pizzas, salads, soda...what you’d expect in a small town pizza place. Except...except...in addition to those you can also get charcuterie boards which “include a spread of cured meats and cheeses with accoutrements such as roasted nuts and olives.” To drink, you can get Margaritas, Herbal Beverages, and “Wellness Shots.” Whatever the heck those are.
In short, welcome to Marfa.
We drove down and unloaded the cast and crew at Para Llevar. But, we were distressed to see a sign on the door reading, “Sold Out.” Yes, they had completely sold all the pizzas, etc. they had on hand. (But, don’t worry, we did get in later, and it was, indeed, worth the wait.)
So, from there it was onto “Planet Marfa.” (2)
Okay, what’s that? Well, its webpage describes it as “a quirky little outdoor bar in West Texas.” And so it is. We arrived to find that it was not a single building but rather a sort of compound around a central courtyard where there are tables and chairs. Also, more or less at the center of the action, there is a large teepee (or, if you prefer, “tipi”) that opens up into a kind of covered area partly below ground where you can also sit and eat or drink with a bit more shelter from the weather.
It is, in short, the kind of funky, eclectic, eccentric spot that would appeal to young people and creatives of any age.
I looked around, wondering what to do, but finally followed David and Emily, who had been there before and knew the ropes. We ended up ordering sandwiches and drinks and then took them to one of the tables.
It wasn’t bad food, when it finally arrived, and the drinks -- an Old Fashioned in my case -- were very good. The one downside was that it was December, and we were sitting outdoors. In a word, Brrr.
About the photos: first, a shot of the Para Llevar. Then, the sign in the window of the Para Llevar saying they were sold out. (Yikes!). Next, here’s a shot of the courtyard at Planet Marfa (didn’t get any usable pictures of the teepee). And, finally, just cause I like it, a photo of Martha at a diner during our trip to Llano, Texas, in 2023.
We didn’t know it, but this was going to be one of the hallmarks of our trip. We were *always* going to be cold. As I said, Far West Texas is more like New Mexico than it is like South-Central Texas. Where there you get subtropical or even tropical weather year around, here you can get very chill, indeed. And, for reasons we never quite understood, the AirB&B proved to have an under-gunned furnace that never quite brought the temperature of the place above about 65 F (that’s just over 18 C.). Okay. Maybe 68. But still dang cold.
So it was that we spent our time there in our heavy coats, even inside the house. It’s surprisingly hard to look fashionable in pajamas, white socks, fuzzy slippers, and a down parka. I suppose it *is* possible. But not by me. At least not in this universe.
Anyway, we finished our meals, and by then it was getting dark and the kids were restless. So, David and I walked to where the cars were parked so we could come collect the rest of the family and transport them back to the AirB&B. As we walked, I looked up. On the other side of the street, coming the other way, was a great crew of very young people, maybe ten or fifteen of them, none of them out of their twenties, and all of them dressed to the nines. I mean, very chic suits on the young men. Colorful and fashionable dresses on the young women.
They were talking and laughing, and I could have taken them for any group of young people out on the town. But they were so well-dressed, so in vogue, that it was a bit startling. I didn’t detect accents (though I wasn’t able to hear much of their conversation), but for a moment I wondered if they were Europeans rather than Americans. They had that style.
But whatever their nationality, they radiated confidence and money. There is nothing wrong with either of those things, but it was...interesting...to see them here.
David saw me looking at them. “Yes,” he said, understanding me. “That’s the New Marfa.”
“I see,” I said.
And I wondered at what tensions there might be between the old town and new. For it struck me just how vast the gulf might be between the two. And by that I don’t just mean between cowboys and newcomers. That would be true, yes. But...also...also...
Between the artists who come here to work...and for whom money was an irrelevance...or an unobtainable dream...
And those artists’ admirers...for whom money was a given.
And art was there to be owned.
More to come.
Footnotes:
1. Para Llevar has its webpage here: https://www.marfaparallevar.com/menus/
2. Planet Marfa has its webpage here: https://planetmarfa.com/
Copyright©2024 Michael Jay Tucker
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