Cybercafé Landscape

Plants often are mute witnesses to the history of a homestead. Trees that sprouted along property lines define previous property lines, and species that were popular at specific times suggest when people were there.

The Cybercafé land on the south side of town has such a dense row of trees along its north boundary. The most important was an apricot that was still bearing that last time blossoms survived a spring frost. It’s mate was in the back yard. This particular tree seems to have evoke strong emotions and memories for people descended from early settlers.

There also were apple trees on the land that probably date back to the time when people in this part of the valley raised fruit to sell.

At one time there were forsythia bushes around the perimeter that probably were planted in the 1950s when that shrub was particularly popular.

They and everything else was cut down when Boomerang took over, and the grounds tamed to look like a lawn. The then current popular shrubs, purple flowered Russian sages, were planted near the door in a defined bed.

What couldn’t be altered was the lay of the land. The main building was on a rise, rather than on ground leveled by flooding.

The ditches were earthen, and water seeped out of them even when it was not being diverted to the land. That water often carried seeds that fell into the Santa Cruz river somewhere on its journey from Chimayó to town.

Sweet peas sprouted along the bank and spread inland as far as the passive irrigation extended. They could be found along ditch banks farther north and to the west. The trees of heaven and Siberian elms also took that route to the south and west boundaries of the land.

Mixed with the pink sweet peas were orange daylilies. These flowers are sterile and plants only spread by the roots. The perennials were popular in the 1950s and may have been planted then, or root fragments could have come in the water. The first is more likely, and that while they may have been planted near the main building, spread toward the water where they survived benign neglect.

Older vegetation also survived along the south ditch, including some cottonwoods back by what may have been the original house and the cluster of pines at the southeast corner. They alone indicate that ditch was old.

 

Photographs were taken at various times between August 2012 and August 2018.

Boomerang Murals

Anna Dillanne rented the main building at 814 South Riverside in 2010, and had friends paint murals on the outside walls. The main element was wisteria vines that went up the front corners.

The vines then spread along the front of the building like a frieze under the roof.

Pink flamingos marched around the base of the building.

The back building, where she began her business, was taken over by a daycare center. Fanciful fish were painted near the door with air bubbles around the window.

When she was interviewed by Horsetail Trails she didn’t provide their names. It would be nice to give them credit.

Notes: "Boomerang Thrift Boutique." Horsetail Trails website. 5 January 2010.

Notes on Photographs: 1 and 3 were taken 6 July 2012, 2 was taken 15 January 2012, and 4 was taken 9 November 2014.

Cybercafé Construction

The building at the corner of Riverside and Upper San Pedro mentioned in the post for 6 January 2019 was composed of a series of rectangles, that may have been built at once, or more likely, were added as needed.

From the north side, seen in the above photograph, the front part of the building was composed of two blocks joined by a recessed area. One chimney served the area. Another block was offset behind with its own chimney.

If windows were any indication, the northern front block had two rooms.

Behind the front block on the south side was a smaller rectangle. It too had two windows suggesting two rooms. The different style window, with a wider opening, suggests it was built after the main building where all the windows had been replaced with sliders. This windows on the south side were double hung.

Behind this block was the yard wall with one of the arches. The other that opened to the back was shown last week.

When the front wall was knocked down, you could see the thickness of the exterior walls. Interestingly, the interior wall was also adobe, with wall board laid against it. Since this may have been a requirement for adobe construction before balloon frames were introduced, it doesn’t signify the order of construction. However, it suggests it was built before Word War II.

The roof was thick, but its construction wasn’t obvious from a distance.

The fireplace, painted blue in the above photograph, and chimney were brick. The latter, at least, probably was added later. The backhoe operator waited to knock them down.

Notes on photographs: Pictures of original building were taken 15 January 2015. The demolition was photographed 10 July 2018.

Cyber Café and Boomerang

Española’s history continues to fall into backhoe buckets. Sometimes a story appears in the local newspaper, but even those few items provide little information.

The adobe compound across from Sonic at the traffic light for Upper San Pedro Road was leveled last July. All the papers revealed is what I already knew. When I moved here, before the internet was widely available, Oasis Cyber Café used the space.

While it still was operating, Anna Dillane open Boomerang Thrift Boutique in the back building in 2002. In 2010, she moved in to the main building, and closed her business in 2016. [1] Sotheby’s erected for sale signs. It since has been purchased by Sonic [2] for $329,000. [3]

I suspect it was a very old farmstead that once extended east to the Santa Cruz river. At that time, I think what is now Middle San Pedro Road was the main artery from Santa Fé to a local church. It probably drew irrigation water directly from the river.

By the 1930s, and probably earlier, farmland was opened to the west along what became Upper San Pedro Road.

A small house existed at the southwest corner of the lot, that probably wasn’t the first residence, but was the oldest surviving one. Later, after the highway to Santa Fé was built, land usage was reoriented toward the east.

The ditch probably was redesigned after the La Mesilla Ditch was constructed. A diversion point exists at the southeast corner. One branch goes along Riverside, no doubt replacing the feeds that were disrupted by the high way. Another curves along Middle San Pedro, and a third goes along the north boundary. The site became surrounded by a moat, which must have made it fertile.

I was never sure if the main building, in fact had been a home, or had been a tourist building, perhaps a small inn or restaurant. In 2010, it had eight rooms and two hallways. [4] The building on the south side of the road was once the Flamingo Bar.

A plain building was behind the main one that might have been a garage of some kind. If there had been more buildings on the north side, they disappeared under the paved drive. Ones knows there had to have been outhouses before city plumbing.

A yard wall went around the back with two arched entrances. The smaller house was beyond the back gate.

If anyone knows more about the original owners, please add a comment or send an email to NasonMcormic@Cybermesa.com.

Notes on photographs:
1. Main building, 15 January 2012.
2. Rear house, 17 January 2012.
3. Ditch entrance,15 January 2012.
4. Out building, 9 November 2014.
5. Yard wall and gate, 17 January 2012.

End notes:
1. "Boomerang Thrift Boutique." Horsetail Trails website. 5 January 2010.

2. Amanda Martinez. "Sonic to Change Address, Just Across the Street." Rio Grande Sun, 23 November 2018.

3. "814 S Riverside Drive." Sotheby’s Santa Fé website.
4. Horsetail Trails.