Judging from the crowd at last night’s performance, Ms. “What made her stay? Who knows for sure, but she saw something, and she made that indifferent something work. You’ve got to wonder alright out here–miles from nowhere the wind can howl and some of her first companions were kangaroo rats. They’d had a flat tire, but when she saw the old Adobe structure she saw something that no one else saw. “Marta came here in 1967 when she was in her early 40s,” said Hank, “and when she and her husband arrived at Death Valley Junction, I believe she had an epiphany. Hank continued his story, and the gist is that he felt a kinship with all that Marta had accomplished. But then we came to Death Valley, and after a failed marriage, when I needed inspiration most, there was Marta Becket.” “It took me a long time to grow up,” he said, “and because of Vietnam I guess you could say I didn’t mature until my late forties. At the northeast end of the complex was a recreation hall used as a community center for dances, church services, movies, funerals and town meetings.Įn./wiki/Amargosa_Opera_House_and_HotelĮn./wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_.Hank Humphreys, one of the Vets, explained the circumstances in personal terms. The U-shaped complex of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture style adobe buildings included company offices, employees' headquarters, a dormitory and a 23-room hotel with a dining room, lobby and store. The theater was part of a company town designed by architect Alexander Hamilton McCulloch and constructed in 1923–25 by the Pacific Coast Borax Company. The Death Valley Junction Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places. Resident opera artist Marta Becket has staged dance and mime shows there since the late 1960s.

Amargosa Opera House, Death Valley Junction, CaliforniaĪmargosa Opera House and Hotel is a historic building and cultural center located in Death Valley Junction, in eastern Inyo County, California near Death Valley National Park.

Amargosa opera house tour