Update: Sal at Views from the Hill has a brilliant idea for the Mizpah, (find someone to) buy it and turn it into a writers' collective/retreat (parentheses mine). Thanks Sal. Lovely plan. She kindly provided the link to the Realtor's PDF pitch on the place. $1.5m. A steal! Most places in the country, $1.5m will only get you a cheesy McMansion.
Sal:
Sounds perfect for a writers' retreat, doesn't it? Out in the middle of nowhere, halfway between Las Vegas and Reno. Two bars. (for those convivial evenings) Two restaurants. (soze you don't have to go far to find eats). No gaming license. (fewer distractions for you) Gutted and rebuilt in 1976.
56 rooms, including 6 parlor suites, all with private baths and thermostatically controlled heating and air conditioning. Fine Brussels carpeting was laid throughout, new stained glass windows were hand-crafted for the first floor and the finest of wall paper was hung on all of the walls. The exterior was given a face lift and park benches and iron lighting fixtures installed along the sidewalk. The old bowling alley and other buildings were also incorporated into the expansion.
On the National Registry of Historic Places. Resident ghosts! Wyatt Earp tended bar here! Dempsey worked as a bouncer!
Only in Nevada, babeeee! As our new state motto says, WIDE OPEN.
Here are a few photos from our recent camp trip. Tonight, Tonopah, yes again if you're keeping track. The town prefers being known as the Home of the Stealth or #1 Stargazing Destination in America.
I like the ruins.
Half the town, including Main St. is boarded up. The Mizpah hotel/casino, the grand old relic from Tonopah's glory days, has been closed and on the market for years.
Shop on Burro Avenue, behind Main.
I found the polaroid of this man in one of the dirt and stone shanties on Burro and have been watching its disintegration ever since. This trip it was outside on the ground but for all the years, weather and neglect he still stares proudly and stubbornly back at the world.
The watch was up here, two tiers above where I found the photo this time.
I slid the photo between a couple of stones in the front wall. The watch I left out, a proper resting place for each.
Miner's burrow on Burro Avenue. Home sweet home.
Another window on Burro.
Main St. from Burro Ave.
Tonopah night life.
I finally got around to peeking into the Mizpah. A few lights are always on at night. The hotel is for sale and I'm guessing that the owners don't want the place to look like a tomb. I wish someone would restore it. I would love to stay there for a while. It's a wreck but I'm a romantic. The town is quiet and even in autumn Tonopah's nights are warm.
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