An Overnight Stay in MARFA, TEXAS | Hotel Paisano, Downtown, Mystery Marfa Lights, & Prada Marfa
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
- With blue skies and a limitless landscape, Marfa, Texas is known as a hub for arts, culture, and food as well as the Marfa Lights. We spent the night in this town and explored a bit of this unique town including a hotel with 1950s film history.
The town of Marfa, Texas was founded in the 1880s, merely as a railroad water stop on a line running east and west. The town grew and served an important role in World War II when the Marfa Army Air Field was built to train pilots. Once the war ended, the town dwindled but in 1973, an architect by the name of Donald Clarence Judd began buying buildings. As a result, a bohemian and artistic community sprang up. Art galleries were created such as Prada Marfa and the Chinati Foundation.
Hotel Paisano, built in 1930, served as a place for cattle ranchers coming to Marfa to sell their stock to rest and get a hot meal. In the 1950s, it served as room and board for Hollywood celebrities filming in the area. Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, and Rock Hudson would call the hotel home for several weeks while filming Giant. The building would fall into disrepair over time but eventually, be built back up with old-world charm. These days, the hotel welcomes guests by offering 41 rooms, including suites, a heated pool, a ballroom, a conference center, and a restaurant and lounge.
VIDEO FILMED: 05/20/2022
▬▬ R E L A T E D V I D E O S ▬▬
⚪ CHISOS BASIN CAMPGROUND Site Exploration & Review | BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK | Texas - • CHISOS BASIN CAMPGROUN...
⚪ Walking Through SANTA ELENA CANYON - BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK'S Iconic Must-See Stop | Texas - • Walking Through SANTA ...
⚪ Remnants of WEST TEXAS | GHOST TOWNS of Terlingua, Lajitas, Fort Leaton & Shafter - • Remnants of WEST TEXAS...
▬▬ L O C A T I O N I N F O ▬▬
⚪ Marfa, Texas - visitmarfa.com/visit
⚪ Directions to Marfa, Texas - goo.gl/maps/4hAEWXgDFtjp6q5T7
▬▬ T I M E S T A M P S ▬▬
00:00 Landscape on the Drive to Marfa
01:21 Seeking Historic Marfa Buildings
09:04 The Hotel Paisano
12:24 Room 223
16:29 Marfa Mystery Lights
20:10 Prada Marfa
▬▬ L I N K S ▬▬
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Welcome to the Cactus Atlas! We are Glenn and Amy and invite you to join us as we visit all sorts of locations across the American West. We tour both natural and man-made attractions.
Our base of operations is in the Phoenix, AZ area. We do a lot of hiking and day trips as well as campground reviews and hope that we will be a great resource if you are planning a trip to the American West. We also hope to delight you with our exciting adventures!
I do like the style of this Clarence Judd. Very beautiful. I am surprised that it is so cold in the southwest. I never realized. ❤
Here in Arizona, we have a lot of elevation differences. It can be comfortable in Phoenix but freezing and snowing up north near Flagstaff. It's wild. 😄
i traveled thru Marfa about 30 years ago due to a stay in Big Bend Nat'l Park. Thats also when my father told us about the Marfa lights phenomenon.
I'm a Native Texan (and Native Houstonian), so I have heard of Marfa. I ate there about 20+ years ago but didn't stay there (we had a room in Alpine). Have seen the Marfa Lights twice. Impressive and strange.
Very neat, thanks for sharing that! I hope to pass through that way again in the future and give the lights another shot. Worth it for the food and accommodations too.
Grew up and lived in Marfa till graduated in '94..then came back 2013 post military..
Oh, cool! 👍 What is everyday life like there?
Marfa looks amazing, like the type of small town that you see in movies like Pleasantville. Would have been something to see it in its heyday.
It does have a very charming old-time feel. Stop many places (Marfa included) that would be cool to see in the day.
I lived in west Texas for many years and have visited Marfa many times. One of the old timers said the military had to shut down the base because of the Marfa lights. The story I was told that in night training the light would form runway patterns and the new pilots would fly straight into the mountain and be kill thinking it was the runway? Now they have investigators using drones to chase the lights but still no discovery has been made. I enjoyed the video, thanks.
Fascinating! I imagine using drones would be an interesting endeavor there at night. Thanks for watching and the comment. 😄
You do a good video. Thanks from Canada.
So nice of you! Thank you for watching! 😄
Never heard of Marfa before, thanks for the education. Looked like it would be worth the drive for that dinner. It looked amazing. The actual key blew me away. I can’t recall the last time I stayed at a hotel that needed one. Now you don’t even need keycards at some. Last few I stayed at we used the app on our phone to open.
Right? It's a blast to go back to old school charm and elegance at that hotel. 😄
Thank you for sharing. I haven’t been down there in prob 20yrs, planning a trip soon though
Our pleasure! Hope you have fun on your trip! 😄
If you haven't seen it Gilbert has a water tower just like the one in Marfa. Gilbert was my home town for 13 years and I loved it there. This was a very interesting video with the hotel and the stars that stayed there. I had never heard of Marfa. Looks like a pretty place to visit. Thanks.
We have been to Gilbert but I never really connected the two. They certainly do look very, very similar!
Thank you for the mention that Prada is NOT in Maria I am driving east today and really wanted to see this,
I’ve been to Maria. We lived in Cedar Hill TX for 12 yrs before returning to AZ and the one place we absolutely wanted to see in TX and did was Marfa…because of the lights! And we saw them! So cool that you visited and filmed Marfa.
I have heard of Marfa but only from other youtubers in recent years. I am fascinated by the light phenomenon- and I loved that historic hotel!!😍😍
It's funny to me in a way because Glenn never heard of it but living in Austin for years I would hear about it from musician friends who would head out there. I didn't realize it was a TH-camr stop as I wasn't into watching much of TH-cam those days outside of checking out old music videos from my teen years. 😂
I've known about Marfa; and it's definitely a place I want to visit! Thanks for the tour! Looks like such a cool place. I love little artsy towns, with lots of historic buildings. Add in the lights and it's downright magical.
Would have loved to have seen it at night especially with the hotel sign lit up.
Is there a commercial from Honda where they are in Marfa, Texas recently. My parents are from Marfa and my grandmother lived there till 1990 when she passed away. I remember the day of the funeral on the news on Television was when Selena was shot and killed. Everybody was talking about it because that same year early summer she went to Marfa and had a concert there. I have never heard of her till then. It has been 30 years since I have been there. It nice to see these TH-cam Video's because i have memories of when I was a kid.
Visit Jefferson, TX sometime. My favorite small Texas town.
Hey Glenn. Planning a Texas Road trip next April 2024 and booked just yesterday, a room in the hotel. Thought I would check out some TH-cam videos and yours jumped out. Very cool. We booked a patio room so thank s for the views from above. We stayed at the Twin hotel in Van Horn but this one looks way nicer as does the town, lol. The hotel is on par with The La Posada in Winslow. some of your other videos look great so will check some out. Take care and Thank you for our intro to Marfa.
Awesome! Enjoy Marfa and your road trip! What other places in Texas are you making stops at?
Have seen the Marfa Lights a few times. Dusk is when they start showing up. Whatever they are, there is intelligence involved. Better chance of seeing them is to observe the stars carefully and patiently as they start off quietly and slowly. Some visitors missed out seeing stars play leapfrog and change places and colors because they didn't wait.
If we ever have the time to return to Marfa and aren't on a super tight schedule (as we typically are due to needing to make a certain number of videos in a short amount of time to sustain this channel while keeping a day job) we will definitely have to give it another try. 😊👍
11:56 you can go in there when the gift shop is open and they even got a tv with a vhs to watch the movie if you want my friend used to work there and he had to keep it playing so rewinding it and restarting it lol
Interesting job duty. Hopefully they upgraded to DVD and there's no more need to be kind and rewind. 😅
Marfa is a great place to visit. It is becoming more eclectic over the last few years. We were out there for Christmas around 2010 and not a lot was going on. We were there again for Christmas in 2019 and found they now had a number of art shops, great restaurants and even cool places to stay, like El Cosmico. You were noticing a lot of buildings being built around 1931 in Marfa. I bet if you were to look it up you will find there were a few oil strikes out there starting around 1929-1930. --- As for movies shot there. Giant is the most noted movie that was shot near there in 1956. So was "No Country for Old Men" and "There will be Blood". Both from 2007. Giant was premiered at the Palace theater in 1956. For anyone that has seen Giant you will know that one of the main themes of the movie was the extreme racism against Hispanic people in Texas. It was still very much a real thing in 1956. As the Hispanic children and adults that were extras in the movie had to sit up in the balcony for the premiere. --- I treated the Marfa Lights with skepticism for some rime. But there seems to be something to it. They have been reported out there since 1883. So that predates any cars on a highway for sure. I have seen reference to other similar lights being seen in places in the deserts of the US southwest. So there is a good chance that some rare natural phenomenon causes them. But "rare" is the key word. You would probably have to sit out there every night for a few years before you see them.
Oh yes, every Texas town not only has to have a water tower but also a Dairy Queen. It's in the Texas constitution - trust me.
🤣 You're spot on about the Dairy Queen. I (Amy) lived in Central TX for a good while and now that I think about it... There's always a Dairy Queen every town I went.
Thanks for commenting! 😄
I just found your channel and i love your videos. Thanks so much for sharing. I am now subscribed. 😁
Welcome! Happy to have you here! 😄
9:00 for my highschool prom after party we rounded up by that hotel and I stashed a beer in a tree when we saw lights coming down the road lol
love your videos
Thank you! 😄
Thanks for the tour man! Artsy towns are definitely ones that deserve a visit. Hope you can visit there again sometime cause we'll never know you'll finally see their beautiful lights!
Would love to head out that way to West Texas again. Just gotta find the time, and research some more areas but definitely want to try and see those lights again! Thanks for stopping by. 👍
Yes, I had heard of Marfa before. There was a 60 minutes segment on it. I really want to go there! It looks so cool! Thanks for the tour!
Happy to share with you! Thanks for stopping by! 😄
Great video man! I actually have heard of Marfa before, but only because of the Marfa Lights! I have ALWAYS wanted to go see them! I hope you had a good time out east brother!
Thanks! Disappointed there were no lights at that time because, you know, camera... 😂
once again the cactus atlas has given us a great video so informative and fun to watch I too just love history what a cool place 👍😍
Thank you so much! Wish we could have done a deeper dive on the town but time...! 😅
thank you for video, my next motorcycle trip !!!!
Sounds awesome! Have fun! And thanks for watching our video! 😄
Been down all them roads on a Harley so many times I could probably do it with my eyes closed, if it weren't for the javelina. Marfa Planet and Pizza Foundation.
I saw the Marfa lights in the mid-1980s and they were just bizarre - random lights that would appear and flare and disappear, often red but also yellow or green - but when I went back in 1996, they didn't appear. So I guess they aren't visible every night.
That looks so good! I love spicy jalapeños!!! Yum! I haven’t heard of Marfa. Cool video. ❤️😊👍
That was one of the best things I’ve eaten in a long time, and one of the hottest. I think the two margaritas I didn’t point out in the video may have helped to numb the pain. 😂
@@CactusAtlas 😃👍
Hi from U.K., stumbled on your channel by accident, very interesting. Yes I've heard of Marfa, the plan is to visit Tx, next Autumn, it was planned for this year, but now delayed. A stop off is on the itinerary, doing the loop from Houston, head west, then back again. I'm into ghost towns, and the open roads, deserts and the old wild west culture. Marfa lights look intriguing! Looking forward to seeing your other travels. Cheers TCA!👍
Thanks so much! 😄
Just found you a few days ago...love your videos 🙂 I live by the Chircahua mtns
Welcome!! And what a fantastic place to live by! Kinda jealous. 😅
@@CactusAtlas 🤠
I’m so jealous lol
Have you been to Pearce Cemetary? One of Lincolns military escorts is buried there. He was sent outside the night Lincoln was shot.
Funny you mention it. I’m in a brainstorming phase for a video that would include that. I’m planning a video that is going from Douglas to Willcox with a focus on the history and ghost towns, stuff like that. Might even throw Clifton into the mix. But always on the hunt for the lesser known things, so if you know of more like that, keep em’ coming!!!
Well you got me. I had not heard of Marfa before. Looks like a great place to get re-civilized after an extended camping trip. The hotel looks great and very "of the era."
Those old hotels out there are so awesome, aren't they? And YES, great place to clean up and have a hot meal after camping and being in the middle of what felt like nowhere. 😄
My grandparents are buried there in Marfa and I was born in Alpine, Texas, but raised in Globe/Miami, Arizona. You just covered two of my towns, in the first two videos that I've watched. My Nana and Tata lived right by the water tower, across from the courthouse. Judge Scalia was the judge there and I used to go to Marfa and take the Christmas lights off of the courthouse with my cousins and throw the bulbs on the ground🤣👍 I've had many good times in Marfa, throughout the 90's and went there for my Nana's funeral last, in 2011. My father and younger siblings still live in nearby, Alpine and my father and a younger sister paint murals around those towns. I've seen the Marfa lights and showed my eldest daughter, who is now 17 years old.
Haha! I imagine that the townspeople loved the bulbs on the ground. 😅 Happy to have provided videos from places once familiar to you. And jealous about seeing the Marfa lights! Just didn't have time to stick around this time around.
@@CactusAtlas Bro, you've been taking me through my history. This is awesome👍 I'm almost 40 yrs old and it's crazy to see this, out of nowhere.
I was raised in Odessa my dad worked in the oil fields I never knew there was anywhere else besides Texas, seriously !
Last weekend we were at the Marfa Lights Festival. My girlfriend was Grand Marshall for the parade. She is representing the Jumano Indian Nation Of Texas. We had a great time.
How very cool! Would love to have been able to attend a festival there. I bet it is a lot of fun. 😄
@@CactusAtlas we had a blast.
I never heard of Marfa before.
I think I would stay an extra night just so I could eat that meal! Great choice on the room, I too would have selected the James Dean room. As you like to go to "mysterious'' type places on your travels, I think it's time you start investing in some equipment to "find" these spirits. You could set up the stuff, rent Rebel Without a Cause and see what happens LOL!
Not a bad idea! And yes, that was the best meal I’ve had in years. Also one of the most painfully hot, but so good that you keep eating it anyway kinda thing. Till your mouth goes numb. And maybe the margarita or two I had helped to numb the pain lol.
My wife and I visited Marfa, Marathon, and Big Bend N.P. the first week of June 2022. We stayed in Marfa two nights and saw all of the places in your video. Such a cool town. Then we stayed in Marathon 3 nights at the Gage Hotel, such a beautiful old hotel with lots of history. We drove to Big Bend for a day trip, also very cool. We watched the movie Giant when we got home. Thanks for the video!
Marathon looks awesome! Wish we could have fit it in our itinerary but just wasn't going that direction along 90. We still haven't watched Giant yet. Keep meaning to. 😅 Thanks for watching and commenting! We appreciate it.
@@CactusAtlas I thought the movie was a little boring but we pushed through it. Lol.
😂 Appreciate the info. Will go in prepared. 🤣
Next time in Marfa, ask for "China" he's a great local host! The best!😊
Hoping that there will be a next time. It's a long way away from Phoenix! 😅
I grew up in Marfa. I’m hoping to retire there!
Never heard of MARFA 🤪 nice hotel 👍
Maybe a Texas thing I guess. 😅
I remember seeing a Hysterical Channel program about the Marfa lights... That's about it..
The lights are fascinating. I know there's been a few programs about them... but still a mystery! 😅
I've seen the lights. The lights looks light traffic head lights in a row. At first that's what I thought it was. Then a person at the road side observation stop said that was the lights
Ah! Lucky! Wish we had time to really sit and observe longer.
A water tower in Texas is a natural method of building the water pressure without pumps and compressor demands
The hotel has got to be the best part of Marfa. So elegant. I was drooling over your dinner.
Too bad you didn't see the Marfa lights. I was hoping for a close encounter. Haha!
It really is a special hotel. Just wish there was more time for checking out the shops and small museum. As for the Marfa lights, you kind of have to wonder how long people are out there to see anything... and if that has anything to do with it. 😂
Hi I am guessing from most posts about Marfa,Texas it nearly killed the city covid 19 . A lot of things went for sale unfortunately. But I have desires to visit this place.
Can't say for certain if Covid had anything to do with the town or if that's how it is. Unfortunately it was our first visit.
OH YEAH! I REMEMBER " MARFA" ABOUT 2O YEARS AGO STOPPED TO SPEND THE NIGHT ON MY WAY TO PRESIDIO STAYED AT THE OLD THUNDERBIRD MOTEL I WAS REAL TIRED , 1 AM BORDER PATROL ALMOST KNOCKED MY DOOR DOWN ,I GUESS THE CLERK CALLED THEM ,😂😂 BECAUSE I FIT THE PROFILE ,ILLEGAL UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE!!
😶 That's awful. I'm so very sad to hear that happened to you. 😢
None of the Actors from GIANT stayed at the Paisano. That legend could be just recent Marfa tall-tales. Probably because it makes staying there a bigger deal and pricier, I've stayed there, it's okay. The Film and Production crew stayed there and then rather nice homes were rented for the all the stars. Same thing when NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and THERE WILL BE BLOOD were filmed in parts of the area. Ask a local.
Room 223?!! Well my boy, just be glad it was not room 237...
Maria lights don’t move
First time I went to Marfa was 1983. Really hasn;t changed much other than the hippster duffi.
1983 is a long time ago. You couldn't be more wrong. There's a profusion of new restaurants and cafes, Lodging has grown exponentially, much more Art. Two more Academy Awards movies were filmed there not too long ago. You might wanna revisited.
gaseous area.