Turn Left at the Sleeping Dog: Scripting the Santa Fe Legend, 1920-1955

by John Pen La Farge

Anglos have been coming to Santa Fe for centuries, and early in the last century the city's beauty and exotic cultural mix became particularly attractive to artistic immigrants looking for freedom from the greed and competitiveness of mainstream American culture. By the late twentieth century, many New Mexicans felt, Santa Fe's unique charm was nearly overwhelmed by the evils that people had moved there to escape. The interviews collected in this book preserve the old Santa Fe, the one people are still looking for. The interviewees represent a cross-section of Santa Fe during the best of native Santa Feans, both Spanish American and Anglo, artists, immigrants, those who came by accident, those who came intending to stay, those who fought to preserve the older cultures' traditions and values. The author, unlike most journalists, has known the people he interviewed his entire life. Most of these men and women were old timers when the interviews took place, and many have since died. Most readers of this book will not remember the good times it evokes. But the lively stories told here will enthrall all Santa Feans and would-be Santa Feans, as well as visitors who can only dream of living in the City Different. Interviewed in Turn Left at the Sleeping Dog are Amalia Sena Sánchez, Consuelo Bergere Mendenhall, Fray Angélico Chávez, Katherine "Peach" Mayer, Anita González Thomas, Josephine E. Baca, Chuck Barrows, Hazel Frederickson, Alice Henderson Rossin, Calla Hay, Letitia Evans Frank, Paul Frank, Tom and Doris Dozier, Samuel Adelo, Richard Bradford, J. I. Staley, Miranda Levy, Jerry West, Margaret Larsson, and Carol Smith. Interlaced with the interviews are comments from other Santa historian Myra Ellen Jenkins, cultural geographer J. B. Jackson, and anthropologist Oliver La Farge, the author's father.

408 pages, Paperback

First published December 18, 2001

Reviews

[Joan Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who adores visiting New Mexico and indulging in its beauty and history, this was a very insightful read about the changing fabric of ‘the city different.’ It can be read in fits and starts, and not cover to cover. You can read what interests you and can move on to another point of view. If you love Santa Fe and wish to learn more above its residents over time, give it a read!

[Nan Silvernail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful stories and amazing quirky characters from old Santa Fe, New Mexico. If you live there or dream of visiting the "City Different" some day, this book will bring Santa Fe to life for you.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd little book about Santa Fe. Reminds me of the pinon smoke and walks up Canyon Road to visit friends, pet the dogs, stop in for a drink at El Farol.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

31/2 to 4⭐️’s...lovely stories about Santa Fe from the people who lived it! I can smell the piñon smoke, see the snow and when I walk around the plaza, I will picture it the way the book portrays!

[Ronn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chatty, gossipy in parts...about what you'd expect from a social oral history. If you're interested in the history of Santa Fe, New Mexico in the 20th century, this will fill the bill.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A-, oral history, good but variable. Nice anecdotes [cat in punchbowl]. And the title story is wonderful!

[Ross Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was packed with interesting insights about old Santa Fe, and how it is changing. But some of the individuals interviewed by the author are hard to follow, and it was definitely a slow read.