L.A.S.T. But Not Least on Canyon Road

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Published November 2008, Local Flavor magazine, Santa Fe, NM. (1000 words)

By Ruby Peru

First dates and other get-to-know-you dates can be tricky, so for this one I consulted an expert, my friend Preston, who is what you might call a ladies' man. He advised me that romancing women, in the beginning, is often really about NOT romancing them. "Sometimes a woman feels obliged to you if you spend a lot of money on her. It makes her feel uncomfortable," says he. He also advises against white tablecloths, wine glasses, and complex silver service, in that it's too heavy handed for a first date. You want to do something, preferably in the daytime, preferably not involving alcohol, where the two of you can really talk. I concur and would add to this that it should be more than just meeting over coffee, because ideally you want to give yourselves something to talk about. Just in case the "magic" doesn't start right away.

It's also impressive when you can offer your date an experience that's off the beaten track, which is why when a Canyon Road insider passed me what I can only describe as a secret treasure map, I decided to make it into a date. The map is part of a new initiative called the "Living Artist Studio Tour" or "L.A.S.T.:  last but not least on Canyon Road." These are artists who live on Canyon Road in the couple of blocks just past the intersection with Palace, which is where most tourists stop their exploration. These artists are opening their home studios to foot traffic and have released the L.A.S.T. map to remind people that working artists still do live on Canyon and have open studios. I invited Preston and his date of the moment, Mimi, to double date with my friend Tilly and me in two bicycle rickshaws run by Santa Fe Pedicabs.

Dan Koffman and Morgan Martino are two very easygoing and extremely hard working pedicab drivers who agreed this treasure map idea was so crazy it just might work. So we met them at 225 Canyon, a good spot for parking, and ambled up the famous art strip on a sunny Saturday when dozens of plein air painters were out and musicians were playing on the street. It turned out to be a festival called the "first annual paint-off" apparently so designated by a mayoral proclamation and largely organized by Giacobbe-Fritz Fine Arts. The rickshaw's cheery little awning popped open to shield us from the sun as we enjoyed a terrifically smooth ride past sights and sounds and a festive atmosphere that made us feel like we were someplace in Europe.

Dan, the owner of Santa Fe Pedicabs, is a man who could make entertaining banter with pretty much anyone and has his "showing the sights" schtick down pat, but my friend and I enjoyed simply chatting the minutes away and needed very little else to stay entertained. I peeked over at Preston and Mimi and noted that Preston had used the seating arrangement to his best advantage, suavely resting his arm on the back of the cab while sliding it around his lady. Smooth, I thought. Very very smooth. I observed that they were also deep in conversation and had starting almost to snuggle under the warm blanket their driver provided to keep off the slight October chill.

When we got to the Tea House, Dan asked if we were absolutely sure that we wanted to venture further into the unknown territory of upper lower Canyon Road. We steeled ourselves for an adventure and soldiered on. At the home and studio of Bill Drugan, the painter, no one was home, so we ambled on to Milagro Herbs. Again, not open for business. Well, treasure wouldn't be treasure if it were that easy to find, now would it? Our next stop, the Faith Gallery, yielded results. Tristan Faith invited us into her living room, where framed art, sculpture, hand-woven baskets, delicate jewelry, and an actual Salvador Dali sketch were displayed for sale. Faith is also a regression therapist and displays fliers detailing her work right there on the dining room table. It was strange but fun to just wander into someone's house and look at everything and then say—well, thanks. Bye!

We then turned on Camino Cerrito and stopped at the home and studio of Marjo Gill and Don Blake, which fed the treasure theme nicely. Marjo and Don's colorful necklaces feature unusual stones and beads and offer Don a chance to talk about his fascinating life as a geologist and "pocket miner" all over the world. Their house is also a veritable jigsaw puzzle of Marjo's abstract paintings.  

A little further up Camino Cerrito, we left our panting pedicab drivers and walked fifty paces down a gravel drive to "For the Love of Paper," the cozy home studio of Caline Welles, book maker. Not that kind of book maker. Her crafty handmade books, beaded jewelry, and embroidered "dream pillows" emphasize detail and romance. This is the stop that really made our adventure into a date for Mimi, who was observed batting her eyelashes while looking longingly at a sparkly thing, and for Preston, who was observed buying said sparkly thing on the sly while Mimi got distracted by the Champaign and chocolate-dipped strawberries.  Afterward, we took a wonderful scenic ride down the tail end of Agua Fria, that sweet windy little storybook enclave, then stopped off at the Tea House to talk about our adventure.

Preston firmly believes that Canyon Road's Tea House is the ideal first-date location. The casual atmosphere lends itself to sitting and talking for hours, while the prices are reasonable and the selection of teas is impressive. The four of us did indeed sit and chat for a good long time about the fun we had just had, enjoying the mild fall weather beneath the shade of a patio umbrella.

We unanimously agreed that this would be an ideal date for pretty much anyone and rated it on my scale of one-to-five kisses:

First daters: five kisses
Double daters: five kisses
Established couples: five kisses
Just friends: five air kisses

Tillly declared she was planning to bring her husband and their baby on a ride the very next day. Preston decided to add pedicab rides to his first-date repertoire. Mimi, well she was too busy admiring her new sparkly thing to say much at all. So, L.A.S.T. was certainly not least for us and I would recommend this combination studio tour and open-air pedicab jaunt to anyone looking for something unusual to do in town that truly celebrates locals at their best.