Thank You Santa Fe!
Being in the film business is sort of like being an insurance salesman, a circus monkey, or a CIA agent, in that you must be ready to pack a bag and move anywhere for months at a time, and assimilate as much as possible. Some destinations (such as Santa Fe) make this easier than others (such as Shreveport) but I always find the elements of a great lifystyle, even if it takes some digging. I always see it as a challenge, an anthropological experiment aimed at finding my home wherever I land. This means hitting the ground running, armed with nothing but Google, and an open mind.
For the last three months, while shooting my new film, Cowboys & Aliens, I have resided in an adorable adobe cottage steps away from the always hopping Plaza in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. Within a few weeks I had become a local, the kind that says things like “You know you’re right, Betty, the weather does feel a little dryer than usual. We’ll have to hope for rain this week or my tomatoes will never ripen!”
It doesn’t take long to reach this level of familiarity in a place as cozy and welcoming as Santa Fe. This might be due to the fact that everyone here seems to have come from somewhere else, desperate for a reprieve from the big city and eager to discover their inner cowgirl/gallery owner/wheel potter/yoga master/chocolatier.
I usually begin the process of assimilation with my most important priority: coffee.
Downtown Subscription
I take my coffee very seriously. I like the espresso strong enough to kick my brain awake with a steel toed boot, and the ambiance conducive to hours of uninterrupted reading. To my supreme delight, I discovered Downtown Subscription, a place that not only meets these two requirements, but goes above and beyond, offering me a packed newsstand of reading material, quiet indoor and outdoor seating, and a perfect soy macchiato (an almost impossible feat due to soy milk’s trouble frothing like it’s cow juice alternative.) The coffee chemists behind the counter are friendly enough, but sternly focused, which I find comforting, as I like to think they are taking my beverage request as seriously as I am.
I may be naive, but it does seem to be a local mainstay, and not packed with the hundreds of tourists (I don’t count. I’m conducting an experiment here!) found in most places in Santa Fe. I am convinced I can tell the difference by judging them on their shoes and level of skin damage. Birkenstocks and an unusually high melanoma level? It’s a good bet you settled here years ago and can therefore be categorized as a local! Congratulations. I will now judge all establishments based on your presence or lack thereof.
Garcia Street Books
Each morning I rode my bike through gorgeous tree-lined Garcia street to reach my coffee mecca, and after fueling up, wandered 10 feet next door to the greatest bookstore in Santa Fe, Garcia St Books. I have never left this bookstore empty-handed, which is why I am shipping home several boxes of books tomorrow so as not to unfairly weigh down the airplane. The owners, one of whom is pictured above, have impeccable taste, and offer a fantastic range of options. Whether you’re in need of Bukowski or Hergé, a Renaissance gardening book, or the latest Hitchens, it’s all laid out in irresistible, glossy piles for your splurging pleasure. I wish I could pack this bookstore in my bag and bring it back to Venice, CA, where we are desperately in need of a great, independently owned bookstore.
Body of Santa Fe
I don’t know what I would have done if not for the perfect storm of health and goodness that is Body of Santa Fe. I discovered it on my first day in town, literally an hour after landing, hungry and lost. I read about it on the world wide interweb, and once I saw the word “vegan” on their menu I tossed the laptop aside and set off on foot on what turned out to be a very long, but very worthy, journey to the other side of town. This is another place I’d love to pack up and take home with me. Their café is bright and airy, and absolutely delicious, with homemade nut milk lattes and tempeh tacos that inspire a full-mouthed, enthusiastic, “holyshitthesearegood.” I crave their cold raw soups, their vegan dark chocolate peanut butter cups, and basically everything else their wonder elves prepare freshly each day. But that’s just the beginning of the Body experience.
The yoga studio is gorgeous, and is single-handedly responsible for my not turning into a stressed out blimp this summer due to it’s enticing and calming atmosphere, and pro yogi teachers offering a variety of great classes. Emily’s Vinyasa Flow with Music is a fantastic 90 minutes of heart-opening athletic yoga, all to a great soundtrack. That Chaturanga flow is much easier with Janis’s raspy rendition of Summertime pouring through the speakers.
On the opposite side of the Body complex is their fitness studio with all the machines you’d want from a gym experience, but without the blaring TVs and 400 sweaty other people. Run by their super trainer, the beautiful Rainier, this portion of Body offers classes for those days when Yoga just isn’t enough to allow you to forgive yourself for last night’s pitcher of margaritas and bowl of guac. I should have gone there more often.
Body also houses an extensive boutique with lots of soft and eco friendly clothing, household linens, and other items. I never left without sampling at least 4 aromatherapy oils at once, leaving me smelling not unlike an Indian hippy wrapped in cedar bark and bathed in lavender sprigs. Restraint was never my strongest quality.
Pasqual’s
Whenever we had the chance, our jolly posse of cowboys from the film would gather for a meal, and more often than not, we would end up at my favorite spot, Café Pasqual’s, the James Beard award winning, mouth watering, and organic restaurant in the heart of downtown SF. Always packed and pulsing with life, this lovely and warm corner café serves truly excellent food and wine in a fun, festive atmosphere that, to me, exemplifies the greatest quality of this town: casual vibrance.
The Tea House
The Tea House, on the famous art gallery strip of Santa Fe, Canyon Road, is another place I’d like to unplug and relocate to my neighborhood in LA. But of course this gorgeous and tranquil spot belongs here, where patrons allow themselves more than 10 minutes for a meal, without balking at the polite request to buss your own table in exchange for your hassle free, peaceful, lazy afternoon on their warm cushions (not to mention their free wifi.) I was sent here by a blogger who recommended their homemade veggie burger, and was delighted to find much more than that on the menu to entice me, and bring me back on days off to sample the extensive tea list, and soak up the sun in their garden.
I have really enjoyed my experience in Santa Fe, and there is so much more I could write about (maybe I will) but for now, consider this a love letter to the above mentioned ingredients to my happy summer in my latest home away from home.