Per Google Maps, it is a 703 mi drive– about 10 hours 21 mins - from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Las Vegas, New Mexico where the Hotel Castaneda still stands as an historic property. LVNV was founded in 1905, some 70 years after LVNM was established.
Las Vegas was originally called Nuestra Senora de los Dolores de Las Vegas Grandes (Our Lady of the Sorrows of the Great Meadows) and was established by land grant in 1835. The history of Las Vegas is influenced not only by many different cultures, but also by two major forms of transportation; the railroad and the automobile. As a major trading point on the Santa Fe Trail, Las Vegas became a prosperous town. As trade on the trail increased, so did the variety of settlers in the town.
Unlike any other town in New Mexico, Las Vegas is home to a number of beautiful Victorian homes and buildings. With over 900 buildings on the historical register you are in for a treat.
--City of Las Vegas, New Mexico Chamber of Commerce website:
The website quoted above has a Where to Stay section that does not include the Hotel Castaneda. No longer used as a hotel, it is now a part of the Railroad Avenue Historic District. It's referred to as La Castaneda Hotel by the Las Vegas Citizens' Committee for Historic Preservation:
Built to be a jewel in Fred Harvey's famed chain of railroad hotels, La Castaneda is one of the early Harvey Houses to be built in the Mission Revival Style. Its main facade and courtyard face the railroad tracks. La Castaneda was a sister hotel to Albuquerque's Alvarado Hotel, which was demolished in 1970. A visit to La Castaneda should include a walk through the hotel's once grand lobby and dining room, both remarkably intact.
The Southwest Ghost Hunters Association (I am not kidding) website actually contains the only inside photos of the hotel I was able to find, as well as some very good shots around the outside of the hotel. I've never seen anything quite like the group's Investigation Report of the Castaneda!
The City of Las Vegas New Mexico Museum has its own blog, a feature I haven't found in research for previous old postcards featuring various American cities. With citizens encouraged to write on the blog this seems a marvelous community-building idea. It's a great blog. Good for them!
And how about the other one, Las Vegas, Nevada, whose official city website features right at the top of the page a banner for Earth Hour 2009. Of note: Las Vegas was selected by the World Wildlife Fund as an official flagship city and joins other U.S. flagship cities including Atlanta and San Francisco. ...........I am extremely curious to see how dark Vegas becomes on March 28 at 8:30PM.
There are far fewer lights to turn off in Las Vegas, NM, but it would be nice to know that the citizens there are also planning on taking part in Earth Hour 2009.
