New Year's Eve at the Plaza Hotel!

230 Plaza, Las Vegas New Mexico 87701 505/425-3591 or 800/328-1882 Fax: 505/425-9659 e-mail: plazahotel@worldplaces.com

Way back in 1882, Las Vegas was rapidly becoming one of the West's leading commercial centers. Las Vegas' Old Town Plaza had been the center of the young town's commercial activity for Santa Fe Trail mercantile pioneers like Mr. Charles Ilfeld and Don Benigno Romero. The arrival of the AT&SF railroad in 1879 had fueled additional economic growth. So, to meet the demands of the burgeoning retail/trade center, Romero and Jean Pendaries raised the $25,000 needed to build the Plaza Hotel, the "Belle of the Southwest".

New management took over the hotel in 1886 and business was brisk. Many prominent political and business organizations made the Plaza Hotel their meeting place, including such groups as the New Mexico Medical Society, the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association and the Territorial Democrats and Territorial Republicans.

Notorious characters of the Old West who frequented the Las Vegas Plaza included Big Nose Kate, Doc Holliday, and Voodoo Brown. Pat Garrett once caused a commotion transporting a shackled Billy the Kid by wagon across the Plaza toward the Las Vegas jail for a temporary stay.

The year 1900 brought the Plaza's Victorian era to a close as a railroad strike coupled with depressed economic conditions curtailed many of the local and territorial activities that made the Plaza Hotel famous.

Soon, however, the silent film era of the early 20th century brought another wave of prosperity to Las Vegas and the Plaza Hotel. In 1913, the popular film director/actor, Romaine Fielding leased the entire Plaza Hotel for use as his Lubin Film Company filming and studio headquarters. The Plaza Hotel was renamed "Hotel Romaine" during his extended (five-months) stay. Though the paint is now faded on the brick, then name "Hotel Romaine" is still visible on the hotel's west facade!

Beginning in 1915, Tom Mix, one of the country's most famous cowboy actors, enjoyed the hospitality of the Plaza, and took full advantage of the remaining vestiges of the Wild West found nearby. Many scenes from Mix's movies were filmed in and around Las Vegas, and shots of the Plaza were incorporated into several episodes.

Near the middle of the twentieth-century, one owner of the Plaza Hotel, Byron T. Mills, was apparently ambivalent about the property. At one point he announced his plan to demolish the hotel, going so far as to sell some of its furnishings and fixtures. For reasons unknown, Mills did not carry through with the demolition. Today, the hotel's saloon bears his name and it's reported that the long-departed, guilt-ridden owner occasionally revisits the hotel in spirit after nightfall!

For the next several decades the popularity of the hotel waned. Mrs. Lucy Lopez, better known as "Mama Lucy," a local entrepreneur with considerable interest in northern New Mexico politics, caused resurgence in the late 1960's. Her Plaza Hotel Coffee Shop became a hotbed of regional political organization, planning and change through the early 1970's.

In 1982 eighteen partners joined in the Plaza Partnership, Ltd. to rehabilitate the Plaza Hotel, which had fallen into a state of neglect. Careful research, architectural documentation and historical/cultural studies were conducted to assure the accuracy of the rehabilitation project. The reconstruction took thirteen months and approximately two million dollars to complete. The rehabilitated Plaza Hotel reopened on December 31, 1982.

Movies continue as a tradition for the Plaza Hotel. "Red Dawn", "Convoy", and "The Last Kill" are a few of the filmings in recent years. Some actors from these movies have bought homes in the Las Vegas area and continue to frequent the Hotel.

Today, the Plaza Hotel is listed on the State Register of Cultural Properties and is part of the Las Vegas Plaza Historical District. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since 1882, local residents, tourists, architects, historians and film makers have continued to be fascinated by the glimpse of Old West elegance this stately structure affords. The Plaza Hotel is proud of its role as an accessible landmark of Las Vegas and New Mexico history.