George R.R. Martin’s Santa Fe Kingdom: High Sights

Forget dragons and dire wolves. In George R.R. Martin‘s nook of the realm — in any other case referred to as Santa Fe, New Mexico — energy appears to be like extra like a movie show, a short-haul railway line, a bookstore and a bar. And whereas winter is probably not coming anytime quickly, a stunning variety of enterprise ventures are.

Over the previous decade, the 76-year-old Game of Thrones creator has been constructing his personal offscreen empire — a unusual, culture-loving kingdom in northern New Mexico, the place he owns or funds a rising variety of establishments. There’s the Jean Cocteau Cinema, the beloved artwork home theater he rescued in 2013. There’s Meow Wolf, the psychedelic artwork collective he helped fund (and home, in an outdated deserted bowling alley). And there’s the historic Santa Fe Southern Railway, which he’s not solely introduced again to life however become one thing of a film star.

Martin could have left Westeros unfinished, however on this sunbaked enclave, his world-building continues apace — one actual property acquisition at a time.

“I fell in love with Santa Fe when I first visited in 1978 — you can get in a car and get anywhere in 10 minutes,” he’s stated. A 12 months later, newly divorced and able to write full-time, Martin left his instructing job at Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa, and relocated to the excessive desert, the place he would begin hammering out his epic saga about dragons, dynasties and deeply questionable household timber — the one that might make him Santa Fe’s most well-known scribe.

In 2013, he bought the Jean Cocteau Cinema — a long-closed, single-screen film home within the metropolis’s Railyard District — which he reopened as a venue for movie screenings, creator occasions and sport nights. Then, proper subsequent door, he opened Beastly Books, providing sci-fi and fantasy titles, uncommon editions and loads of GRRM swag. Tucked simply behind it’s Milk of the Poppy, a medieval apothecary-themed cocktail bar. All three are owned by Martin’s Highgarden Entertainment.

In true Martin trend, issues solely obtained extra sprawling. He purchased a shuttered bowling alley on the south facet of city — a steal at $2.7 million — and turned it over to what he known as “a group of young, weird-ass Santa Fe artists.” Those weirdos would go on to develop into the founding collective behind Meow Wolf, now a nationwide immersive artwork phenomenon. “None of the galleries wanted them because they were too offbeat,” Martin recollects. “They took me down to the bowling alley, explained their vision of other dimensions and weird aliens and pressed all my buttons.”

In 2020, Martin joined an investor group to revive the historic Santa Fe Southern Railway. “We’re bringing the railroad back,” he introduced on his weblog (known as Not a Blog) after the acquisition. “Not just as a means of transportation, but as a whole new kind of adventure.”

Today, the road runs themed journeys between Santa Fe and Lamy, a tiny rail city about 18 miles southeast, and consists of vacation excursions with onboard music and immersive performances. Two of its classic prepare automobiles have even made it to the massive display: Both have been featured in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

His accomplice on the venture, Bill Banowsky, provides Martin full credit score for the railway imaginative and prescient: “It was his idea to paint one locomotive like the head of a wolf, one like the head of a dragon,” he says.

Coming up, Martin can be about to interrupt floor on a city-street backlot for his Stagecoach Foundation, the nonprofit he based in 2017 to offer free movie and TV job coaching for New Mexicans and to draw manufacturing to the area.

Of course, not everybody in Santa Fe is thrilled about Martin’s rising affect. Some locals fear that the inflow of vacationers and GRRM fandom helps to drive up congestion in a city already scuffling with gentrification. And then there are the readers who would actually simply desire he end The Winds of Winter.

“I just want to make one thing clear,” he tells THR. “While I’m an investor and an owner in some of these things, I do not run them on a daily basis. Every time I announce something on the internet, there’s all this crazy talk. ‘Oh, he’s giving up writing the books!’ But I’m still writing. The [sixth] novel, the ‘Dunk and Egg’ story — those are what I’m focused on.”

Still, to many residents, Martin’s presence has helped protect and revive a few of Santa Fe’s cultural landmarks. Which is strictly what you’d count on from a person who is aware of a factor or two about constructing kingdoms — and preserving them alive.

You’re Not in King’s Landing Anymore

A short tour of George R.R. Martin’s Santa Fe points of interest.

1. SKY RAILWAY

430 West Manhattan Ave.

“Sometimes gunslingers raid the train,” says Martin of his rolling theater. “Occasionally, one of our riders is murdered and the rest have to decide who did it.”

2. MEOW WOLF’S HOUSE OF ETERNAL RETURN

1352 Rufina Circle

Otherwise referred to as the defunct bowling alley Martin bought and rented to a gaggle of “weird-ass” artists.

3. JEAN COCTEAU CINEMA

418 Montezuma Ave.

Since Martin restored the 49-year-old theater in 2013, it’s finished greater than display motion pictures — it’s hosted drag reveals, magic acts and creator occasions.

4. MILK OF THE POPPY

418 Montezuma Ave.

Try the MOTP Milk Punch, made with pisco, white Armagnac, coconut matcha and turmeric cream.

5. BEASTLY BOOKS

418 Montezuma Ave.

Best place to select up an autographed Game of Thrones novel, or a luxurious dragon.

This story appeared within the July 30 situation of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click here to subscribe.