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Popular Things To Do | Other Things To Do Tips | All Tips (54) This mission was far from the centers of the Rebellion and was spared from damage. As far as the missions are concerned this one built in the mid-1600's has been described as "the flower of them all."
This is on the Plaza de Armas that is the one place that you should visit in Juarez. In the picture is the Cathedral built in the 19th Century that graces the west end of the plaza, the mission is behind it on its west side.
In the plaza is an assortment of street vendors selling jewelry, handicrafts, cigarettes, hats, and shirts. In that area between the plaza and the market a man dressed in tribal garb danced as a couple of cowboys talked nearby. Leave a Comment Address: Av. Juarez and Av. 16 de SeptiembreDirections: enter Juarez on S. Santa Fe St. in El Paso and walk about one kilometer into Mexico on Av. Juarez.
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Camino Real Hotel is one of the most impressive buildings in downtown El Paso. It consists of new and higher (17 floors high) Camino Real Paso del Norte Hotel completed in 1986 and two older buildings of Camino Real Hotel constructed of reinforced concrete faced with brick and terra-cotta.
The buildings are 10-floors and 37 m (120 ft) high and were designed in an eclectic style with Sullivanesque influences in 1912 and named Hotel Paseo del Norte. Common characteristic of Sullivanesque style are terra cotta ornaments composed of lushly intertwining vines and leaves combined with sharp-edged geometric figures.
The first owner , Zach T. White ( a farmer and land developer, millionaire and philanthropist from Virginia), experienced the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and demanded a design of high rise building that was both fire- and earthquake proof. The hotel advertised as the first fireproof building in El Paso that time, with gypsum used as wall material . The interior features marble surfaces and a Tiffany-designed art glass dome.
Leave a Comment Address: 101 South El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas 79901Phone: +1 (915) 534-3000Directions: In downtown. Map hereWebsite: http://www.caminoreal.com/elpaso_i Other Contact: elpaso@caminoreal.com.mx
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El Paso Street is located in the heart of El Paso. This is the first and oldest street in the city. Famous folks have walked this street including Wyatt Earp (officer of the law in various Western frontier towns), Billy the Kid (a 19th century American frontier outlaw and gunman), Pat Garrett (an American Old West lawman, bartender, and customs agent who was most known for killing Billy the Kid), Pancho Villa (one of the foremost leaders of the Mexican Revolution, between 1911 and 1920), U.S. President William H. Taft, and the legendary El Paso Marshal Dallas Stoudenmire (an Old West gunman and lawman). On April 14, 1881, the infamous Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight took place on this dusty street between present day East San Antonio Ave. and East Overland Ave.
But for me the most attractive was architecture of a few old buildings along El Paso Street including this building in my pictures which stands on corner of West Overland Ave. and represents mixed style that reminded me a bit some buildings in Mudejar style I have seen in southern Spain.
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To be honest I didn't like this Art Deco styled, 19-story, 73 m (239 ft) high, steel-framed building that was opened on November 30, 1930 as the first Hilton's hotel. Conrad Nicholson Hilton (1887 – 1979) was an American hotelier and founder of the Hilton Hotel chain. He was born and lived in New Mexico, but he later moved to Texas.
Elizabeth Taylor briefly lived in the penthouse of the El Paso Hilton Hotel after she married Conrad’s son Nicky. The hotel was sold in 1963 at which time the name changed to the Plaza Hotel. As of April 2003 the building was vacant. Now, it is a landmark skyscraper in El Paso, Texas, built on the site of the Sheldon Hotel, which burned in 1929. The Sheldon served as the unofficial headquarters for many of the participants in the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920's) from both sides of the border.
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El Paso downtown consists of three parts of which only the first one is worth of seeing on foot, the other two parts have a few attractions to see but walking there is not a fan in my opinion:
1. The compact oldest part (El Paso Street, Overland and San Antonio Avenue) with 1 to 3-story old and mostly pretty renovated buildings, shops, restaurants and cute old-style street lamps.
2. Modern part around Civic Center Plaza with museums, theater, library etc. (read my next tip)
3. The typical American city with a few high rise buildings which form city skyline.
Other tourist attractions are located outside downtown in numerous, sometimes very far, neighborhoods and you have to drive there or use public transportation to get there.
Leave a Comment Address: El Paso, TX 79901Phone: +1 (800) 351-6024 toll freeDirections: From I-10 follow the signs to Downtown or Convention Center. Map hereWebsite: http://www.visitelpaso.com Other Contact: info@elpasocvb.com
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This bronze statue is 14 feet high and the tallest historical monument in Texas. The one and a half ton statue of Spanish Franciscan monk Garcia in Pioneer Plaza was unveiled in 1996. The priest has long beam with date 1659 and mysterious signs carved on.
There is a short information on the post: Fray Garcia de San Francisco, founder of the Pass of the North, 1659. El Paso del Norte (the present day Ciudad Juarez across the border from El Paso), was founded on the south bank of the Río Bravo del Norte, (Rio Grande) in 1659 as little church and mission built by Fray Garcia who came from Spain to New Mexico 30 years earlier. He introduced Native Americans (Indians) to agriculture, irrigation, raising of livestock and cultivation of grapes.
The Garcia statue is the first of 12 sculptures that form a greater project called XII Travelers Memorial of the Southwest. This project "promotes the rich heritage, cultural diversity and attractions of the great city of the Pass of the North and the surrounding region" (link below). The last sculpture is the world's largest equestrian bronze (Don Juan de Oñate) dedicated in El Paso International Airport on April 21, 2007.
Leave a Comment Address: Pioneer Plaza, El Paso, TX 79901Directions: In downtown. In front of Plaza Hotel. Map hereWebsite: http://www.12travelers.org
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A complex of modern buildings covers large area of downtown El Paso (at Civic Center Plaza):
1. Round building of Visitors Bureau (tourist information there),
2. Judson F. Williams Convention Center (picture 2): very modern complex, remodeled in 2002 and worth a quick look for every fan of modern architecture; some parts made of glass look similar to new houses of German parliament in Berlin; check events here,
3. Abraham Chavez Theater (picture 3) of interesting sombrero-shaped architecture, check events here
There are a few more points of interest next to Civic Center Plaza including:
I. at southern side of Main Street east of the Visitors Bureau:
- El Paso Museum of Art - American (mainly Southwestern) and Mexican fine art (paintings and sculpture), European old paintings (Baroque mainly); I paid attention to paintings of Venice by Italian painter Canaletto (1697 - 1768); his nephew Bernardo Bellotto (1720 - 1780) was also a landscape painter (called Canaletto younger) and he was a court painter of King of Poland Stanislaw August Poniatowski in Warsaw; his paintings of Warsaw were used for rebuilding the city after its near complete destruction in World War II.
- Plaza Theatre
II. at Miles Ave., south of the above buildings:
- Camino Real Hotel
III. north of Convention Center
- El Paso City Hall (Mexican architecture)
IV. futher northeast along W. Missouri St.:
- Insights El Paso Science Museum
- El Paso History Museum
- Main Branch of El Paso Public Library, the first public library in Texas (free internet up to 1 hour for every visitor there).
Leave a Comment Address: One Civic Center Plaza, El Paso, TX 79901Phone: +1 (800) 351-6024 toll freeDirections: In downtown, map here, take exit to Prospect St. off I-10 W or to Yandell St. off I-10 E.Website: http://www.elpasocvb.com Other Contact: info@elpasocvb.com
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San Jacinto Plaza in the heart of downtown El Paso is often called just Plaza by locals. This public square with trees, benches and fountains was also known as "La Plaza de Los Lagartos" (alligators) because alligators were placed in a plaza pond until 1965. Despite their teeth and reputation for ferocity, the alligators were not as much a threat to humans as the humans were to the alligators. They were finally moved to the El Paso Zoo in 1965 after two were stoned to death and another had a spike driven through its left eye.
I would like to see the reptiles there but now there are no alligators, fountains are dry and the Plaza is first of all a transportation center, and a place to watch local people, including some “strange characters", who gather to eat and socialize there. Add pigeons waiting for leftovers from your lunch and high rise buildings including the second highest in El Paso Chase Bank Building (76 m, 250 ft - picture 4) and Cortez Building (picture 5) from 1926.
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Back in the day, the US defeated Mexico in the Mexican-American War. The treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo which ended the war set the eastern border between the two countries at the "deepest channel of the Rio Grande" (Rio Bravo to the Mexicans, because frankly, it ain't all that Grande).
Unfortunately, the river moved a lot in the intervening years, leading to significant disputes as to where the border actually was. The nastiest dispute was just east of downtown El Paso, in an forty-acre area known as the Chamizal.
Kennedy eventually solved the problem in typical 1960's fashion: build a new drainage ditch to move the river to along the correct border. The disputed land the US kept became Chamizal National Memorial. The river became a nasty little drainage ditch which is often completely dry thanks to water consumption in El Paso, Juarez, Las Cruces, and points north.
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At the end of South El Paso St. is the "Paso Del Norte Bridge". You are about a mile S. of San Jacinto Plaza. The Stanton St. bridge is a short way West and is more for northbound vehicles. At the Paso Del Norte (Pass of the North) bridge you may pay a small fee (about 35 cents US) and walk into Ciudad Juarez entering at Avenida Juarez.
The bridge arches over the Rio Grande & canals ( Rio Bravo in Mexico). The river is really small. It was popular to stand and watch people making alternate efforts to enter the US.. The border area is popular for clubs, bars, gambling, shopping (souvenirs), pharmacies, medical/dental services, bridal & formal clothing and other items. The tourist markets are available. You may visit the market on 16th of Sept. Ave. ( 1.3 miles) or by the Cathedral. Taxis are availible. English is generally spoken and dollars are fine. A knowledge of Spanish is helpful. Border Spanish has its own style. Always watch your step and be aware of your surroundings.
Continue south and see the shopping area, the old & new cathedral and the Custom House Museum.
If you drive to the bridge, there is pay parking. This bridge is for vehicles returning to the US. A toll plaza at the Mexican entry charges fees to cross. At the US side you will need to provide ID and see Customs as needed. Be sure that you meet new U.S. border regulations that may require a passport or crossing card of U.S. citizens to re-enter the United States. Other nationalities need appropriate Visas, entry cards or such for both countries.
The photo shows the view at the precise border point looking North into the city and to the Franklin Mts. Be sure to have proper Identifications and permits or visas. Drivers passing into Mexico beyond the border area (frontera) will need special paperwork and insurance. Check the consulate or a border insurance agency found in the telephone directory. Leave a Comment Address: 10000 South El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas USADirections: A mile South of the El Paso central plaza and also at the end of the Border Highway. Open 24 hrs. Be aware of any border crossing regulations. At busy times (rush hour & holidays) the crossing can be crowded and hot in the summer.Website: http://uscis.gov/graphics/fieldoffices/elpaso/poes.htm
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on October 13, 2004
on March 27, 2007
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