Friday, May 18, 2007 at 2:02am
Goodbye to The Pink
Column: Interesting Times
"When did you first come to The Pink?" I asked. We had ordered dinner: Grant, Patricia, Vicki, David, myself and Priscilla, the owner and daughter of the founder of The Pink Adobe. The occasion and the location demanded history, reminiscing. The evening was to be our last meal there together; the 300-year-old building, historical gathering place for millions, across from the even more historic oldest church in the United States, at the end of the historic Santa Fe Trail, after 62 years was being sold.
The Pink Adobe was established in 1944 by Rosalea Murphy. Known affectionately by locals as "The Pink," the restaurant grew into a local and national landmark since its humble beginnings serving Dobe Burgers, French onion soup and hot apple pie. Priscilla has been there since the beginning. In 1944, as a young, young girl, she was sent running down the Old Santa Fe Trail by her mother, with money taken from the till, to buy food at the army store for the next meal to be prepared. In the "olden days" young girls could safely run down the street and back several times an evening. While we waited for the Steak Dunigan, Chicken Enchiladas and Lobster Salad, Priscilla graphically described her runs down to the corner and back, the early days of her mother's endeavor.
Grant La Farge had come to the restaurant as a young man in 1949. His family history — artists, architects, writers, poets — is inextricably linked to New Mexico's. Patricia came first in the '60s and I too first came in the '60s, when the population was 12,000 and the state legislature was a unicameral house that met for a month every other year. The "olden days." Vicki and David came from Texas in the '70s, and since then all our children have eaten at The Pink and our grandchildren work there, celebrate milestones there. Now, it is our Last Supper — a modern Passover from one era to another. The nostalgia, the sadness, was mitigated by the promise of a freer life for Priscilla, new occasions to gather over meals. But, where? We all knew it would never be the same.
Perhaps you are one of the millions from Texas to Turkey, from Georgia to Germany, who ate at The Pink sometime in the past six decades? Or perhaps you are one who bought the cookbook or had it sent to you as a gift? Did you meet Rosalea? See her portrait on the walls? Work with Priscilla or her daughter Denise or son Joe or her grandchildren? Did you propose there? Do a business deal? Celebrate a 21st birthday? Decide to divorce?
Countless people have a connection to The Pink, to the family, and though the Oldest Church will go on as before, the Santa Fe Trail at that small end will never be the same to many of us. It was a religious experience to participate in the generosity of spirit that the restaurant, the family, the staff shared with us all over many years and many lives. If you were ever there, you know.
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Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Lynne Bundesen.
The Pink Adobe was established in 1944 by Rosalea Murphy. Known affectionately by locals as "The Pink," the restaurant grew into a local and national landmark since its humble beginnings serving Dobe Burgers, French onion soup and hot apple pie. Priscilla has been there since the beginning. In 1944, as a young, young girl, she was sent running down the Old Santa Fe Trail by her mother, with money taken from the till, to buy food at the army store for the next meal to be prepared. In the "olden days" young girls could safely run down the street and back several times an evening. While we waited for the Steak Dunigan, Chicken Enchiladas and Lobster Salad, Priscilla graphically described her runs down to the corner and back, the early days of her mother's endeavor.
Grant La Farge had come to the restaurant as a young man in 1949. His family history — artists, architects, writers, poets — is inextricably linked to New Mexico's. Patricia came first in the '60s and I too first came in the '60s, when the population was 12,000 and the state legislature was a unicameral house that met for a month every other year. The "olden days." Vicki and David came from Texas in the '70s, and since then all our children have eaten at The Pink and our grandchildren work there, celebrate milestones there. Now, it is our Last Supper — a modern Passover from one era to another. The nostalgia, the sadness, was mitigated by the promise of a freer life for Priscilla, new occasions to gather over meals. But, where? We all knew it would never be the same.
Perhaps you are one of the millions from Texas to Turkey, from Georgia to Germany, who ate at The Pink sometime in the past six decades? Or perhaps you are one who bought the cookbook or had it sent to you as a gift? Did you meet Rosalea? See her portrait on the walls? Work with Priscilla or her daughter Denise or son Joe or her grandchildren? Did you propose there? Do a business deal? Celebrate a 21st birthday? Decide to divorce?
Countless people have a connection to The Pink, to the family, and though the Oldest Church will go on as before, the Santa Fe Trail at that small end will never be the same to many of us. It was a religious experience to participate in the generosity of spirit that the restaurant, the family, the staff shared with us all over many years and many lives. If you were ever there, you know.
— — —
Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Lynne Bundesen.