The Bisbee buzz: The mining town turned funky artist hamlet is ...

Tag : zinc ribbon

One small city in southeastern Arizona gets slapped with a certainadjective so often you expect to see it listed that way on maps:Quirky Bisbee.
Although intended as a compliment, the Q-word pigeonholes as muchas it defines. Bisbee, a former mining town blessed with aspectacular setting and Old World architectural flourishes, hasemerged as a desirable and multifaceted destination garneringnational acclaim. Historic and artsy, creaky and classy, Bisbee hasevolved. Quirkily, of course.
Bisbee sits at 5,300 feet in the Mule Mountains. Unlike otherhamlets that cling to a hillside or nestle in a canyon, Bisbeeappears to be spackled into the nooks and crannies of the ruggedterrain. Clusters of houses zigzag up cliff faces, defying gravityand common sense. Others flow in and out of gulches and spill overledges. Narrow streets, often no more than a ribbon of like-mindedrubble, curl into the hills and vanish. Some houses can be reachedonly by stairs. Some stairs can be reached only by other stairs.
Think of the least likely spot imaginable to build a city. Got it?Welcome to Bisbee.
Yet it wasn't a skewed sense of humor that prompted such fancifulcivic planning. The city sprawled forth out of necessity,straddling one of the richest mineral sites in the world. Minesproduced nearly 3 million ounces of gold and more than 8 billionpounds of copper, plus silver, lead and zinc. By the early 1900s,Bisbee's population exceeded 20,000, making it a bona fide Westernmetropolis.
The inevitable bust followed the boom, and the last mine closed inthe mid-1970s. As blue-collar working folks moved out, those of anartistic temperament moved in. Shops and galleries opened, housesand shacks were refurbished, often set ablaze with color. Muralssplashed across walls, odd sculptures sprang up inpostage-stamp-size yards, and cars were adorned with paint, sod,even plastic toys. "Quirky" emerged as the currency of Bisbee'sfledgling tourism industry.
In recent years, a new wave of artistic types answered the sirensong of Bisbee, bringing with them different skill sets and vision.Building upon the off-kilter foundation already laid, they gentlynudged the city in a slightly more upscale direction.
Today, Bisbee boasts an array of activities, top-notch galleries,fine dining and some of the most individualized accommodationsfound in the state.