Bisbee

Melissa Reaves, a powerful singer and master of improvisation on blues and rock, jams at St. Elmo on St. Patrick's Day in Bisbee.

​Bisbee is cool on so many levels 

It is easy to imagine that Bisbee -- with its narrow, crooked streets,  alleys and steep flights of stairs -- resembled turn-of-the-century San Francisco before the 1906 earthquake leveled it.

Bisbee has endured without any major natural disasters of that magnitude. But the town's blessing and its burden has been the rich mineral wealth -- $6.1 billion dollars worth -- beneath the town.  Those natural resources created jobs for miners and fabulous wealth for mine owners. But there's also scars from deep-pit copper mines right up to Bisbee's doorstep and 250 miles of tunnels beneath the town.

​The mines have been closed more than 40 years. But the colorful town, with its quirky layout of rustic homes piled on the hillsides, is still here as a great treasure of Arizona.  

It's a getaway town for urban Arizonans, most of the them from Tucson and Phoenix. Bisbee is the perfect place to unwind, to sit out on a hotel deck, linger at a coffee shop and browse in the galleries, shops and bookstores.

​Start your day walking the empty streets at dawn. There are countless alleys and stairways that lead to fascinating art walls, sculptures and quirky homes clinging to hillsides.

​Warm up with some coffee at the Bisbee Coffee Co.  or get a full breakfast at the Bisbee Breakfast Club  in nearby Lowell on Erie  Street, frozen in time in the 1950s.

Take yourself out to the Warren Ballpark. Built in 1909, it  is one America's oldest ballparks. 

A gem of a restaurant

​It's a good idea to reserve a table for an evening at Cafe Roka, an affordable fine-dining restaurant that's cozy and vibrant. Chef Rod Kass and Sally Holcomb opened this gem  in 1992 and it's become an  immensely popular spot for weekend dining. The Bisbee Herald-Review once again in 2018 named it the town's best place to dine, get a cocktail and for its wine cellar.

End the evening in Bisbee with some music at St. Elmo or the Stock Exchange Saloon, which operated as a brokerage until 1961. But it has been closed for quite some time now. 

​St. Elmo, a lovable dive that opened in 1902, is one of Arizona's oldest saloons. Back then, St. Elmo advertised itself as "A Gentleman's Resort."

There's also a comedy club that opened in April 2019 at 41 Brewery Avenue. Chuckleheads features touring comics and local  headliner Doug Stanhope when he's in town. It's next to the Silver King Hotel, which was built in 1907. 

 The  Silver King boasts that it has Arizona's smallest bar, with three  stools and  one friendly bartender. 

If you're looking for good craft beer, the Old Bisbee Brewing Co. can hook you up. It's behind the Stock Exchange.

Bisbee's infamous Brewery Gulch was  one of the rowdiest places in the West around 1900 with dozens of saloons  casinos and brothels.  It even had a wrestling bear at the Brewery Saloon in 1897, according to Arizona Capitol Times.

The Gulch's slogan  was: "Where There's Moonshine Every Day."

Warren Ballpark in nearby Warren is one of America's oldest ballparks.

 
​Hotels, lofts and vintage trailers

Bisbee has a wide range of lodging options, including B&Bs, vacation rentals  and hotels. The 1898 Copper Queen is Bisbee's best known historic and haunted hotel. Check out  Bisbee Grand Hotel, San Ramon, Canyon Rose Suites, Eldorado Suites, Letson Lofts, Inn at Castle Rock and Tombstone Canyon Inn. 

 Shady Dell in nearby Lowell hosts guests in vintage travel trailers, including a 1955 Flying Cloud Airstream,  at 1 Old Douglas Road. Each trailer has a patio, there's a gazebo, shower house and a restored 1957 Valentine diner. Shady Dell dates to 1927.

Don't miss Lowell's Erie Street, which is a throwback to the 1950s with vintage cars, signs and storefronts.

The Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum is worth a visit and visitors wanting a deeper understanding of mining can go underground on the Queen Mine Tour. It's cool down there and wet. 

Bisbee is small enough that visitors can park their car all weekend and walk to most everything in town. The Bisbee Breakfast Club in Lowell and the Warren Ballpark in nearby in Warren are within a few miles of  Bisbee. Best to drive there.

National Historic Register report on Bisbee: http://bit.ly/2wHS0fo

 Founded: 1880         
Elevation: 5,350       
​Population: 5,154

Homes are stacked up on the hillside above St. Elmo and other bars and businesses in Brewery Gulch. St. Elmo is own of Arizona's oldest saloons.

Shadows spill across the balcony at the Eldorado Suites on OK Street.

Stock Exchange Saloon is a fixture in Brewery Gulch. It originally was a stock brokerage.

Pythian Castle was built in 1904 for the Knights of Pythias fraternal group.

A couple on a motorcycle ride into Bisbee, with its colorful hills, along State Route 80 near the Lowell district.

Erie Street in nearby Lowell is part of an historic-preservation project and its streetscape is right out of 1950s Main Street

Lowell has the poplar Bisbee Breakfast Club and this non-working Shell filling station with a 1955 Ford Country Squire station wagon.

Shady Dell on the Old Douglas Road host overnight guests in restored, vintage trailers. There's also a gazebo, a shower house and outdoor movie screen.

Shady Dell features a vintage Valentine diner (left) and a 1955 Airstream.

Tombstone Canyon Road is the spine of old Bisbee, winding from the top of the town at U.S. 80 down past shops and hotels to Brewery Gulch.