My City Different

“Santa Fe is known as The City Different. But not just because of its beautiful scenery, its rich traditions or historical heritage. I think it’s the people—those wonderful individuals whose proclivities have labeled them a little the other side of center and who have added the spice to the life I enjoyed there for so many years. I hope the reader will enjoy some of my memories.” With that, Betty Bauer turns us loose to ponder over why streakers never bothered to streak in Santa Fe, why one prominent publisher found solace in the lid of an ornate cigarette box, and how Santa Feans solve the problem of trees standing in the way of building sites. Did you know that one restaurant owner attracted customers by having a full-grown bobcat prowl the premises? Or that Santa Feans still have a yearly celebration that started in 1712 and includes the burning of a thirty-foot dummy? What about the “five nuts in adobe huts”? Not to mention the mysterious and color-coded worshipers of St. Germain, or what happened when a zealous cop insisted a local landscaper’s station wagon was filled with marijuana plants. One man even had a dream of building a major opera house just outside of town! It’s all here—fifty years spent in soaking up everything that truly makes Santa Fe “The City Different.” BETTY E. BAUER arrived in Santa Fe in 1948 and lived there from 1953 to 2000. She and her partner, Marian F. Love, founded and published “The Santa Fean Magazine” from 1972 to 1994. She was very active in civic, municipal and cultural pursuits, having served as the first woman President of the Santa Fe Press Club (now defunct), the first woman President (now Chairman of the Board) of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce, and President of the Santa Fe Festival of the Arts, as well as on numerous civic and municipal committees.