Santa Fe is one of the largest art markets in the world, and creativity is apparent at every turn in this walkable city. 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. 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.
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.
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. Santa Fe is known as the City Different, and it dovetails perfectly with the eclectic genius that infuses much of this Southwestern town.
