Visitors 12
Modified 14-Dec-11
Created 27-Nov-11
42 photos
These are unedited images (with the exception of those that are titled) that give a general sense of this amazing place painted by Marta Becket. The paintings are all over-coated with a glaze or varnish which is highly reflective. Interior shots with no outside light tend to have red and yellow tones, the red reflecting from the red paint used in most areas and the yellow from the incandescent lighting. Please contact Platinum Portraits through this website or the Amargosa Opera House for information about edited images.
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In early November 2011, we took a few days to fly to Las Vegas, spending one night in the surreal place. We didn't gamble but spent a lot of money on an excellent dinner there on that night. The next day we drove two hours and spent the next three nights in Death Valley Junction, CA (Population 3), a place no less surreal than LV, but the complete opposite of it. The town was never incorporated, built as a company town by a borax mining company, and consisted of a C-shaped structure with a theatre at one end, a cafe at the other and a hotel occupying the rest of it. There were dormitories and a few houses on the land behind the C, with a gas station and general store across the 2-lane highway. Once the mining ended, the town began to dwindle. Now, nothing on the other side of the highway is in use and only about 15 rooms and the common areas of the hotel are used. The theatre, called the Amargosa Opera House, is completely painted on the inside by the woman who now owns the town, Marta Becket, and used for her performances. She moved there 40 years ago from NYC and performs a show weekly Nov-May that has evolved over the decades as skits incorporating her ballet, dance, mime, acting and writing talents. At the age of 87, her performances are limited in movement but her spirit is limitless. The performance we saw was to a full house (about 120) and the hotel was full the night before the show. (Images can be seen in the Interesting Places folder of our website.)
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In early November 2011, we took a few days to fly to Las Vegas, spending one night in the surreal place. We didn't gamble but spent a lot of money on an excellent dinner there on that night. The next day we drove two hours and spent the next three nights in Death Valley Junction, CA (Population 3), a place no less surreal than LV, but the complete opposite of it. The town was never incorporated, built as a company town by a borax mining company, and consisted of a C-shaped structure with a theatre at one end, a cafe at the other and a hotel occupying the rest of it. There were dormitories and a few houses on the land behind the C, with a gas station and general store across the 2-lane highway. Once the mining ended, the town began to dwindle. Now, nothing on the other side of the highway is in use and only about 15 rooms and the common areas of the hotel are used. The theatre, called the Amargosa Opera House, is completely painted on the inside by the woman who now owns the town, Marta Becket, and used for her performances. She moved there 40 years ago from NYC and performs a show weekly Nov-May that has evolved over the decades as skits incorporating her ballet, dance, mime, acting and writing talents. At the age of 87, her performances are limited in movement but her spirit is limitless. The performance we saw was to a full house (about 120) and the hotel was full the night before the show. (Images can be seen in the Interesting Places folder of our website.)
Terri St.Arnauld & Frank Yezer