El Rancho, Gallup

 

While we stayed in a much more modest hotel next door, we did visit the El Rancho for a look about and breakfast. The mornings here in the desert are still sool so there is a fire in the lobby.

And the promise of a fire in the belly as well. We opted for the spicy kind, not the intoxicating kind of fire. It was only breakfast time, after all.

But what a lobby it is. The photos on the walls are autographed photos of every movie star who ever made a western (and some that did not) between the 40's and the 60's. This amazing bit of movie history combined with the wonderful decor made for quite an experience just walking through it.

As you can see, all the empty spaces on the wall are covered with these photos.

Even in the timber frame style of the old west, the elegance of a double stairway really gave this place a feel of just the sort of place you'd expect to Hollywood stars milling about with a cigarette or cigar in one hand and drink in the other.

Even from the outside, this place is interesting. Quite unlike the modern cookie-cutter styles we are used to seeing.

After a delicious breakfast and some retail therapy in the shop, we headed to the car and our next destination on our way back north and west.