LIVE/WORK ART STUDIOS | LOFTS | GALLERIES

STUDIOS NEW MEXICO

Live/Work Studios plus Gallery/Showroom Space
For Sale or Lease.

WHY LAS VEGAS, NEW MEXICO?

Las Vegas is a burgeoning New Mexico arts town with a rich and fascinating history.

This is not the bling Las Vegas that one is perpetually leaving. This is the authentic Las Vegas: a three-college town 45-minutes east of Santa Fe; the southeastern point of a spectacular loop to Taos along the east side of the Sangre de Cristo mountains; an impressive collection of architectural gems nestled between the tail-end of the Rockies and the western edge of the Great Plains. Settled in 1835, Las Vegas has been a key stop on the historic Santa Fe Trail; a hard-core wild west town; home to America's most notorious gun-slinging outlaws; and a gritty backdrop for numerous films including Easy Rider, the Academy Award-winning film, No Country for Old Men, and most recently, the sci-fi comedy, Paul. Las Vegas has also inspired work by many artists and photographers including photographic work by filmmaker Wim Wenders and photographer Michael Eastman. Downtown Las Vegas was named one of two pilot Arts & Cultural Districts by the State of New Mexico.

Its beautifully renovated historic train station carries travelers via Amtrak to downtown Los Angeles going west, and downtown Chicago going east. The Santa Fe railroad stopped in Las Vegas and Lamy, but not in Santa Fe. This is fitting, because the Las Vegas region has long served as a gateway between east and west, a densely layered locus for generations of people in motion: Apache and Comanche nomads, French fur trappers, Spanish conquistadors, pioneers migrating westward, fevered gold miners, outlaws on the run, east coast merchants, Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, Hollywood film crews, bikers on Harleys, Europeans in search of the authentic Wild West, and creative professionals in the midst of urban flight. Las Vegas is one of the two first New Mexico Arts and Culture District pilot cities. With great wisdom, the City of Las Vegas passed an ordinance declaring its historic downtown area a live/work zone. Studios are now emerging out of the historic buildings that line Bridge Street, and the Plaza.

Life in downtown Las Vegas is convenient and enjoyable.

If you live on Bridge Street, you'll find cafes, shops, restaurants, galleries, bars, the Plaza Hotel, an excellent bookstore, the historic society, a movie theater, the Highlands University library, the Carnegie Library, an art supply store, an organic grocery store and three banks... all within walking distance.

Within a five-minute drive you have a beautifully restored Amtrak station, a historic un-restored Harvey House hotel, multiple hardware stores and a golf course. In ten minutes you can visit Montezuma Castle at United World College and the Dwan Light Sanctuary above the campus. In fifteen minutes you'll be at the Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge, which provides habitat for over 270 species of birds. 134 of those species migraate annually to the United States from Central and South America.

Hit the road.

Hit the gorgeous nearby highways for motorcycle / sports car / family road trip and in ten minutes you are out of town and well on your way to fishing (at nearby recreational lakes), skiing (Taos, Sipapu, Angel Fire), boating, hiking, biking and horseback riding trails.

Stay in town.

Very unusual for a town of this size (14,000+), Las Vegas boasts three colleges, (New Mexico Highlands Univerisity, United World College, Luna Community College), offering numerous arts programs including film, media arts, exhibit design, graphic design, fine art, music and metal sculpture (including one of the top metal casting programs in the region). You'll have access to high-speed Internet (via Quest or Desertgate), clean air, sunny skies (even in winter), and easy highway access (to I-25). In town, you'll enjoy the Iron Tribe event at the NHMU foundry; the annual Rough Rider motorcycle rally; the tours and talks of Heritage Week; and the famous the 4th of July Fiestas. Las Vegas attracts international historic and cultural tourism with it's overlapping Indian, Hispanic, Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe Railroad and Wild West history and culture. It's colleges and local organizations provide a myriad of cultural events year-round including film screenings, lectures and educational talks, live music, literary readings, live theater and dance.

Las Vegas has a long history of being used as a location for film production, from early Tom Mix shows, to movies like Red Dawn, the Academy Award-winning No Country for Old Men, and recently, the movie, Paul.

The owners of the properties offered on this site are artists/educators/gallerists who have been actively involved in producing and overseening many arts and educational activities in town.

If you have a creative spirit and are looking for a laid-back, friendly place where you'll run into five friends on your way out for an afternoon espresso, Las Vegas is your town.

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