EL PASO DEL NORTE

[Music] so good evening ladies and gentlemen this is jack douglas i had never been to el paso and frankly i did not relish this vacation i mean i've heard all these stories about texans who cry in their beer because their ranch is only a measly million acres whereas their neighbor has two million acres well in all my travels throughout america i have never been so utterly and completely wrong in fact when the trip had ended i sat in a cab outside the airport cab 101 driven by a mr manuel sanchez and complained bitterly to manuel that i had to leave one of the friendliest most colorful most fascinating most charming most exciting cities in all america this international city just across the river from juarez mexico this vacation wonderland known to the pioneers as el paso del the pass of the north we are flying past christo ray christ the king in concrete in new mexico but literally just a stone's throw from el paso in texas and juarez in mexico a few seconds later we see mount franklin which overlooks el paso in the valley below and by the way those white letters represent el paso high schools and these mountains are the tail end of the mighty rockies mother nature outdid the high schools she created this rust pink outline of the thunderbird on the west face of mount franklin here we're flying on the juarez side and there's the rio grande in the lower foreground and beyond downtown el paso the welcome signs are at every highway entrance inviting us to take time to enjoy texas hospitality but el paso as we shall see and hear is texas apart from texas and not typically texan at all mountain park is one of el paso's newer residential areas and what a magnificent backdrop some of these homes have the houses accent local stone and they remind you instantly of the better homes in arizona new mexico and california now there are many reasons why this giant border town seems more like other places than the rest of texas the author of the best-selling border town mr frank mangan furnished us with one of the major answers jack i think the uh thing that makes el paso different from all the rest is uh is probably the accident of geography more than anything else you know uh out here in el paso we're more than 600 miles away from our own state capital in austin and consequently we we wind up being closer to new mexico and old mexico than we are to most of the rest of our own state we even feel a very close tie with the west coast so uh all in all even though we are texans we're proud to be texans we have been called the most typically texan city in the state el paso is el paso and psychologically we feel like we're in a world of our own here geography may well be the major factor for as the crow flies los angeles is almost as close to el paso as dallas this remodeled old mansion reflects the elegance of the west coast of san francisco and los angeles for this is eamon wardy's boutique shop at the corner of mesa and nevada just outside the downtown district a smiling smartly dressed doorman assists you from your car and once inside you're greeted by an even younger man who merely happens to be the owner eamon warty still in his 20s he started his first shop at the age of 15 and thanks to this young genius el pasoans who formerly flew to dallas or houston to do their fashion shopping now drive just a few minutes from the downtown district and here is a boutique shop to match anything i've ever seen and thanks to my wife i've been dragged and pushed into more of these meccas for madame than i care to admit to as we're seeing in these pictures the shop isn't limited to fashions this stately beauty whom we saw earlier is mrs beverly gruett but listen mrs leo jaffe with her daughters watching was trying on this chinchilla lined suit jacket and when we asked her to model it for the camera she said oh my goodness now i'll have to buy it and you know that's just what she did eamon warty's the boutique shop that is already a well-known tourist attraction when you're downtown look up at the slender light standards and you'll notice that every one of these lights fans is adorned with flowers and this goes on all year long we were here during the christmas season notice the christmas tree on the roof of the car and our host mr conrad bryson drove us out to mount franklin shortly after sundown now scampering around a mountain after dark isn't my idea of enjoying a long life but being the guests we kept quiet halfway up the slope we were introduced to beauty queen mary gannock which made a big hit with our crew and finally mary reached up with that pole pulled the lever and flooded the mountain with light well this is el paso's famous star on the mountain 450 feet high and clearly visible from a distance of 35 miles the star is lighted on the 15th of december and it's the unofficial signal that christmas has arrived downtown one of the buildings matches the star with the cross an effect achieved simply by keeping certain office lights on while the rest of the building is in darkness and speaking of downtown the corner of el paso and san antonio avenue is the address of the hotel paso del norte it flies the flag of the united states texas and mexico and its vaulted glass dome was created by tiffany of new york in 1912. the lobby of the hotel is the meeting place of the so-called typical texan ranchers oilmen cattlemen the lobby is their office away from the office they even have their own ticker tape machine to keep abreast of what's going on anyway they sit here they buy sell and trade with a smile and a handshake as casually as if they were discussing the weather and incidentally we saw more boots in this lobby than on the streets of el paso during our entire stay and most of the handcrafted boots in texas as well as throughout the world are made in this factory in the mexican sector of el paso the name is tony lama now the making of a handcrafted boot involves more than 30 major procedures and as many different specialists these are merely a few of the procedures and notice here that small wooden pegs are used in the instep and place of nails most of the work is done with the leather wrong side out but in a single second this machine reverses the leather so that it's right side out tony lama senior shown here with his sons came to el paso as a boy serving the cavalry as a boot repairman he then started handcrafting his own boots in 1913. this attractive pair stitched with the presidential seal were made for president lyndon b johnson and this pair cost ten thousand dollars because those are real rubies diamonds and star sapphires well what's this an aquatic show yes and no for this is sunland park where the major attraction is racing but after each race the huge lake in the center of the track offers a variety of water acts what with all that takes place in between the races the weighing in the mounting and dismounting the picture taking it's a pleasant and a free diversion for the track fans while flying over the city we saw a group of buildings that reminded me of tibet and the high himalayas we later learned that this was the campus of texas western college now at first glance it doesn't look very much different from other college campuses but as you look at the buildings you suddenly realize that the architectural style is definitely unmistakably tibetan tibet in texas well here it is a landscape that can absorb tibetan architecture is certainly compatible to any other style for example these spectacular houses of worship [Music] isleta mission is the oldest of the four missions in the el paso juarez area and older than any of the california missions it has been in continuous use since 1682 and all day long the faithful come to the small chapel [Music] soccaro mission is a year younger than isleta and attracts many visitors who wish to photograph the unusual cross doors old fort bliss is also a nostalgic part of el paso's romantic past the reconstructed fort is near the entrance of modern day fort bliss el paso's large army camp there are numerous covered wagons placed around the small adobe fort and this one is of special interest an old ambulance wagon in use between 1867 and 1906 old caissons and artillery pieces are irresistible to people with a camera and these visitors are mr and mrs henry straub and their youngsters of chicago illinois and here private charles david hunt inspects a real collector's item the gatling machine gun model 1903 made by colt of hartford connecticut inside the building there is an excellent collection of guns some are old army models others are not now we have in time to show each individual piece but i just thought we should make mention of the collection for those who are interested in old firearms and incidentally try to visit fort bliss on the day i think it's each wednesday when the mcgregor missile range is open to the public what you will hear and see is primarily of interest to men and youngsters but even women will not find it dull the first of these aerial targets i'd like to discuss is oq19b is the oldest type aerial target in use today the second pipe aerial target is the 1025 target like the oq19 it is also radar observed radio control and parachute recoverable 3 2 1 5. [Music] almost any downtown street in el paso will lead you to san jacinto plaza and at this tiny time-honored square mexico and america meet on texas soil there isn't too much to see or do talk take in the sunshine feed the pigeons or envy the gators in the cool clear pool the plaza does have one touch of history this is the first mule drawn streetcar used in el paso before the turn of the century the streetcar service del paso and juarez a service performed today by this modernized trolley quite possibly the only international trolley in the world the trolley crosses one of three bridges that span the rio grande and tens of thousands of mexicans and el pasoans shuttle back and forth every day in just about the time it takes to visit your next door neighbor the two cities are separate and distinct yet each is a part of the other if that sounds like a contradiction consider this fact half of el paso's population is of mexican descent from the air however juarez and el paso are decidedly different there aren't any skyscrapers or high risers in juarez and very few buildings more than a few stories high that perfectly shaped bowl is as i'm sure you've guessed the bullring and on a sunday afternoon this same scene would be a blaze of brilliant colors downtown juarez is a scramble but colorful this street by the way is called avenue of the 16th of september the city hall dates back to the early 1800s but far more imposing is this magnificent mission church it would be an untruth to say that the people of juarez are well off but we found them to be amiable gracious and quite happy with life in general in the better residential areas the influence is unashamedly that of old spain [Applause] just inside the border the mexican government has erected the stunning new museum the frontier museum is the name given to it and it's part of the government's long-range plan to beautify the border inside the visitor can wander back through the centuries recalling mexico's great and ancient civilizations [Music] an illustrated color map shows the origin of the main pieces on display and these are identified separately by cards printed in spanish and english [Music] an art form of a different kind originates in this small factory in juarez these are the famed mexican glassmakers creating glassworks using the techniques of the 15th century glassblowers the factory has become so much a tourist attraction that seats have been placed a safe distance from the furnaces for the visitors you know it's an eye-popping revelation watching these artisans at work you keep telling yourself that you've seen enough but somehow you wait for just one more creation and one more and then another well anyway in the showroom which is the entrance to the factory you can see and buy the finished work and if you don't see what you want they'll make it for you and lovely as these are the prices are ludicrously low they average roughly the price of a steak dinner in the states what a bargain [Music] at nighttime juarez looks much bigger than it is a sort of broadway below the border and on a per capita basis i'm sure the city has more clubs bars and restaurants than all of broadway and times square put together it's different in el paso texas state laws confine the sale of hard beverages to private membership clubs such as the mardi gras room in the sheraton el paso motor inn musically however you might as well be across the river in juarez because el pasoans dig the sweet sound of spanish lyrics the vocalist is miss pat lanez [Music] also [Music] the tortilla is to mexico what the hot dog is to america but the biggest and possibly best tortilla factory in the world is to be found that's right in el paso usa the town of la messia in new mexico is only about 40 miles from el paso and it's one of many interesting side trips you can make while visiting the el paso area in this bar billy the kid was imprisoned and sentenced to hang the macia town hall looks its age but next door to it is one of the finest book shops i've ever seen it specializes in books dealing with el paso texas and the southwest in general and these are just a few of the random titles not easily come by elsewhere but of special interest to us however was the hands of cantu by el paso's distinguished author painter tom lee this special leather bound edition was limited to a hundred copies each signed by the author and the price was a hundred dollars yet when we tried to buy this copy we learned it was the last of the hundred printed and not for sale well back in el paso at his studio home on savannah street we met this literary luminary who has achieved fame while shunning the spotlight and what a talent he has this tom lee noted as a writer he can paint with the best we have today and in almost any school or style of art this is a portrait of his wife sarah painted in 1947 and in that same year lee painted his good friend manoletti in spain seven months later the great manoletti was killed in the ring and a sketch now of robert mitchum as he appeared in the movie of lee's novel the wonderful country we talked with mr lee of el paso and of why he liked living in this international city well i think a man is very lucky indeed when he's able to live and work in the place that he's most comfortable in i was born here at this path of the north here out in this desert country it's a grill to it to me in every way as a painter and as a writer i'm familiar with the material my friends are here my family is here and it makes it kind of a place where i'm happiest to do the things that i want to do best the west of which mr lee has written so often literally surrounds el paso just 30 miles east you'll see riders jogging along a time worn trail it leads to waco tanks once a well-known stop on the butterfield stage circuit waco in spanish means whole or hollow and the natural cisterns collecting water gave the area its name the indians knew of these cisterns and one especially is still remembered hereabouts geronimo waco tanks is also noted for its rock formations and many families will picnic here allowing the youngsters to go exploring or to probe the old ruins or just to toss pebbles at the smooth surface of the water and here's a scene i won't soon forget any more than these last twilight scenes of one of america's most exciting cities a city richly endowed and richly named el paso del norte [Music] [Applause] there is so much we have been forced to omit cotton fields for example and the nighttime sporting events in juarez as well as el paso and historic relics by the hundreds yes the legendary rio grande is also here just a trickle in the off season but romantic all the same but it's the warmth of the people the el pasoans and mexicans alike will make you feel that you belong here almost as if you had lived here most of your life speaking for myself rarely have the people of any city affected me so emotionally as the people of el paso del norte the pass of the north