Pat French

Despite weakness in many economic sectors in New Mexico, the national film and media industries are thriving here, thanks to well-conceived incentives initiated by Governor Richardson and the state legislature. With an average of 12 major television or feature films in production throughout the state at any given time, a total of 115 major projects have been completed in New Mexico since Governor Richardson first took office. (These numbers do not reflect additional documentaries, commercials or music videos shot here.) The Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington and now shooting in the state, will jump the total to 116.

Major labor issues with the Writers Guild of America...

With the stock and bond markets in turmoil, we thought we’d ask Santa Fe real estate brokers how these unprecedented financial times might be affecting the ebb and flow of their sales. Rumors of doom abound, but reality can be a different thing. For the past 6 months, thirty nine sales have occurred in Santa Fe over $1.5 million—the same statistics for the same period in 07. We started by asking agents about the expensive end of the market, not only what has sold but why.

“The upper end has actually held up well despite all the negative media reports about the housing market and the mortgage crisis,” offered Alan Ball, the new general manager of Southwestern T...

Arroyo Tenorio is a narrow dirt road, a quarter mile long, running between Garcia Street and the Old Santa Fe Trail. It exemplifies some of the greatest gentrification on the Eastside in the last two decades while retaining its place in history. We asked some of its current residents (Ernestine Chavez, Eddie Garcia, Teri Hackler, Harry Moul, John Pen La Farge, and Will McDonald) to comment on the transformation, both literally and as a metaphor of change for the whole city.

What is Arroyo Tenorio’s early history?

Moul: On the N. L. King Map of 1912, Arroyo Tenorio is not a street but is shown as a continuation of the Acequia Madre (“Mother Ditch,”...

As you turn off Highway 285, only 20 minutes from Santa Fe, heading onto NM 522 and the lush Nambe Valley, on the left you pass a beautiful gate, rows of cottonwoods, a verdant pasture and, beyond, views of the New Mexico badlands and Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This is the home of the historic La Mesita ranch. Always a very private enclave, now on the market, we asked the house to tell us some of its stories.

Who were the first occupants of the ranch?

Native Americans first inhabited the Nambe Valley in the 1300s, establishing it as a religious and cultural center of the pueblo people. Many of their artifacts were excavated at La Mesita and are now found in museums....

The Matteucci Compound, the almost two acre “entrance” to the Eastside, at the corner of Paseo de Peralta and Acequia Madre and the home of one of Santa Fe’s most important art galleries, is for sale. The property consists of the gallery, attached main residence and guest quarters and three additional guest houses. With an incredibly colorful history, we thought we would ask If this house could talk:

What were the early days like?

House: The property then was an orchard and two farm houses that faced the Acequia Madre. There was farm land all along the Paseo from the Bandelier house, (now the Sherwood Gallery), to the farm outbuildings.