A 48 Hour Holiday in Marfa, Texas

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I made a pilgrimage to the vast beauty of Marfa, a far West Texas town in late winter of 2024. Friends of mine in the creative and culinary worlds would speak of Marfa as the perfect intersection of art and desolate beauty. That was the truth, and the trip was an experiential visit to a cross section of America foreign to me, as most of my life has been spent residing on either the East or West coast of the USA. Marfa is a small town of less than 2,000 residents, and located far from cities— the closest airports are 3 hours away in El Paso and Midland, and a 6.5 hour drive to Austin or Albuquerque.

I love immersive art, especially large outdoor sculpture, and Marfa is known as the creative canvas for mid-20th century Minimalist artist Donald Judd, who died in 1994. Judd’s best known artwork is a stacked series of floating planks. His house, studios, and large works are open on limited days to the ticketed public through The Chinati Foundation. There is a no-photography policy at the Judd properties; the photo below is credited to The New York Times with permission from the Judd & Chinati Foundations:

El Paso airport is 12 miles from the border of Mexico, and I chose to stay at the historic Hotel Paso del Norte. The hotel boasts a stunning, glass domed lobby bar, and a portrait of Freida Kahlo welcomes you from behind the check-in counter.

The New Mexico border is just 20 miles from El Paso, and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to walk on the gypsum of White Sands National Park. Surreal…the light, the sensory deprivation and disorientation that happens in these gypsum “sand” dunes. The first hours of my visit was already a study of color, and non-color.

Turning back towards Texas on Hwy 90, I passed an installation called Prada Marfa, a curated political commentary on consumerism and pop culture. (Photo credit: Alexandra Kennon)

Prada Marfa and its presence on a barren section of highway, half-an-hour outside of Marfa city limits, is the perfect preview of what it was like to enter town, which appears like a mirage. After miles of high-desert horizons where sand and low scrub fauna meet the big sky, it feels like you drove onto a movie set. There are stately buildings from the 1830s, and at the very center of town is the Presidio County courthouse, looking photo-ready for a Wes Anderson movie.

Marfa does have a cinematic history: in 1955, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean were in town shooting, “Giant”, and in 2006, the acclaimed movies, “No Country for Old Men”, and “There Will be Blood”, were filmed in and around Marfa. This photo of James Dean goofing around on set with Liz Taylor hangs in the lobby of Hotel Paisano:

There is a wide range of lodging available, evidence for how varied and large the weekend population can swell. For my two night stay, I chose a sweet room at The Lincoln Marfa, a boutique hotel just around the corner from Hotel Positano, and across the street from the Courthouse. The town seemed pretty empty on my Wednesday arrival day; stores and restaurants are on “Marfa time”— they could be open… or not. Boutique stores selling unique and luxury homewares, art galleries, bookstores, candle and crystal vendors all make for some great browsing through downtown.

And the food—excellent. I had a delicious pistachio and jalapeño encrusted pork cutlet at Jett’s Grill one night; the following day, I had one of the best burritos at legendary Marfa Burrito, reviewed by Anthony Bourdain.

The second night’s dinner was at The Waterstop: “Come for the mediocre service, excellent conversations, and amazing drinks”. The phenomenal rotisserie chicken plate matched well with my frozen cranberry margarita, and cheese cake topped with berry compote was a great choice for dessert (though the Parisian flan and butterscotch bourbon budino were tempting).

The best souvenir from the trip was discovering the award-winning, independent journalism of Marfa Public Radio. The people who ran the station and the programming were exactly the cultural exchange I was seeking. Listening to the stories of people and events in Marfa, the local public announcements, the music which played in the background throughout my stay…that made my solo visit a success.