Gay Santa Fe

Santa Fe is known as the City Different, and it dovetails perfectly with the eclectic genius that infuses much of this Southwestern town. Nestled in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Santa Fe attracts a wide variety of visitors who revel in the unusual environment that is wholly Santa Fe.

In 2011, Santa Fe was named the second gayest city in America by The Advocate, which declared, “This is where seasoned gays come to center themselves, but not in a boring way.” Queer retirees have flocked to this city, drawn to its openness, its desert beauty, its history, and its art. This is no new phenomenon. A recent exhibition at the New Mexico History Museum, “Voices of Counterculture in the Southwest,” traced how the Beat Generation and voices from queer poets like Allen Ginsberg led a countercultural pilgrimage to America’s oldest (and highest, at over 7,000 feet) capital. With the assistance of Native Americans and the hallucinogenic properties of peyote, these transplants founded communes, practiced free love, and sparked an era of activism that still animates the region.

Santa Fe is one of the largest art markets in the world, and creativity is apparent at every turn in this walkable city. Legends like painter Georgia O’Keefe and photographer Ansel Adams found their deepest inspirations here, and artists and art lovers continue to find their muse in the City Different. Canyon Road features the highest concentration of galleries, and visitors can try their hand at making pottery or learning how to sculpt. Food is also a huge draw for travelers, as there are more restaurants per capita here than in any other city in the United States.

The seasons each bring their own distinctive flavor, contributing their properties to this small town of 75,000 people. Eye-popping colors arrive with foliage season in the fall; winter drops a soft white blanket, accented by the bright farolitos and luminaries festooned about town; spring brings blooms and fresh air; and summer delivers the rain-free outdoors, with temperatures averaging a balmy 89 degrees.

At over 400 years old, Santa Fe is a city with a rich history that continues to evolve. Outlined below are updates and happenings from the famed cultural and culinary scenes of The City Different.

Check out Kylie Condon's Article Lez Explore: Santa Fe!

What's New in Santa Fe?

CULTURAL:
New Artists, New Rooms & A New Portal To The Multiverse – Meow Wolf unveils 2018 upgrades
Renowned arts and entertainment group Meow Wolf completed a major series of upgrades to its House Of Eternal Return on February 14, 2018. Notable upgrades to the two-year-old space include new rooms by new artists including L.A.-based Cakeland creator Scott Hove, the new Float Café & Bar featuring authentic Cajun cuisine from Meow Wolf’s successful Trinity Kitchen, and a new secret portal into the multiverse. All of the new art ties into the fictional narrative of the Selig family, whose mysterious story transpires inside the full-scale Victorian home. After hosting half a million visitors in 2017, the entire facility has received a refresh from over 100 Meow Wolf artists, curators and docents.

Museum Expansion - SITE Santa Fe Redesign adds 15,000 Square Feet
In October 2017, SITE Santa Fe reopened an expanded, remodeled museum space designed by SHoP Architects, after a year-long renovation to the original beer warehouse structure. The distinctive new building is more welcoming to visitors and creates a bold presence on Santa Fe’s landscape fitting for this innovative cultural institution. Key features of the building expansion include: the SITElab, an experimental exhibition gallery open daily year-round with free admission; a new flexible Auditorium for lectures and events that can hold up to 200 people; a Learning Lab; new outdoor gathering and social spaces, including the Sky Mezzanine which can hold 150 guests; an expanded gift shop area named “Curated” and a snack & coffee bar. Coming in August, the 2018 SITElines Biennial exhibition titled “Casa Tomada,” will highlight the newest contemporary art from throughout the Americas.

Museum Extension – Georgia O’Keefe Museum adds the O’Keefe Welcome Center
A new extension of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum joins the historic Home and Studio site in Abiquiu as part of the regional experience of Georgia O’Keeffe’s legacy. In 2017, the Home and Studio had record-breaking attendance of over 13,000 visitors reinforcing the need for a new Welcome Center to accommodate increased tourism to the area. The O’Keeffe Welcome Center will enhance visitors’ experiences with the artist’s story and the inspiring surroundings, as well as promote engagement with the area’s many cultural offerings. Construction began this past fall and is nearing completion with a grand opening scheduled for May 19, 2018. The center will be on the property of Abiquiu Inn, a site owned by Noble Hospitality, in the location of the former ticket office.

CULINARY

New Coffee Shop – Sky Coffee
In a compact 800-square-foot space with an additional 2,000-square-foot covered and heated deck steps away from the Santa Fe Farmers Market, Sky Coffee expands the local specialty coffee horizons with a multi-roaster coffee program. Sky Coffee provides Santa Fe with a well-rounded variety of experiences by way of beans from Iconik, Wisconsin-based Ruby Coffee Roasters, and former Bay Area compatriots such as Four Barrel Coffee and Sightglass Coffee. In addition to the expansive deck, the outdoor portion of Sky Coffee will soon be able to seat an additional 20 people as it will be joined by an actual vintage caboose retired by the Santa Fe Southern Railway, befitting the café that occupies what was originally the railyard welders’ supply building.

New Teahouse - Opuntia
This new innovative café is part teahouse and part greenhouse. Located in the center of the Baca Railyard, Opuntia offers guests a light and inviting space to enjoy a curated selection of green, black, and tisanes (herbal) teas and browse for sculptural houseplants. Coffee is also available and is made with an AeroPress, providing an especially rich taste. Opuntia (that word, by the way, is the Latin name for the prickly pear) offers a menu designed by Chef Kim Muller, previously of Izanami and The Compound. The teahouse also acts as a niche retail space highlighting the very best of the global tea offerings presented in small glass kettles and smooth ceramics. Most of the café’s décor can be purchased.

New Chef – Vanessie
Vanessie of Santa Fe recently turned 35, and is celebrating 2018 with a full face-lift and new chef. The entire menu at Vanessie has been scratched and in its place, Chef Enrique Guerrero has created a fresh, Italian comfort food concept with a few moments of whimsy and attraction. Everything in the kitchen is now fresh and handmade, including all of the pasta. All wine on the menu is from smaller vineyards and small producers and is designed to be more approachable. Chef Guerrero encourages bottles for the table with his “29 per Ventinove” menu, 29 different bottles of wine, from bubbly to white to red, that are $29 each.

New Restaurant – Trattoria A Mano
A new Italian concept by the New Mexico Fine Dining group and Chef Charles Dale (known for Bouche French Bistro) is now open in historic downtown Santa Fe.  Trattoria A Mano focuses on handmade pasta and offers eight types of pasta made in-house daily.  In the fall/winter the menu will represent the flavors and styles from Northern Italy and in the spring/summer, it will honor the traditions of Southern/coastal Italy. 

New Winery Tasting Room – Noisy Water Winery
New Mexico’s, Noisy Water Winery, opened its newest wine tasting room in Santa Fe in early 2018. The tasting room features sample tastings, wine by the glass or bottle, and bottle sales to go of the state’s most highly awarded wine produced with 100% New Mexico grapes.  The shop also offers complementary gourmet cheese tasting, as well as olive oil and balsamic samplings.

The Gay Scene in Santa Fe

Santa Fe offers a unique and inspired destination for gay travelers. You won’t find a gayborhood, or even a gay bar for that matter. Santa Fe’s lack of a visible gay scene is one of its best features, because it is all about appreciating the other fine things in life: art, food and culture. That said, Santa Fe's artistic community is open and welcoming and LGBT travelers will feel right at home here - the city elected its first openly gay mayor in 2014. 

View the Gay Scene in Santa Fe

Related Blog Posts

View All Blog Posts in Santa Fe

Submit Your Content to be Featured on GayTravel.com

Are you well traveled? Want to contribute content to GayTravel.com, as well as to our widespread readership? From photos to recommendations to travel tips, we would love to see it all! Submit your content to be featured here.