On any given weekend evening, Magic Kenny Bang Bang invites a dozen people into his “Victorian parlor” full of oddities three or four times a night for a seance. For 45 minutes he has a captive audience of strangers seated around a long table in his dimly lit space. These 12 will witness Bang Bang’s skill.
It is not ghosts or spirits they will see. It turns out Bang Bang is one skilled magician and a very engaging entertainer with a funny sense of humor. The Bisbee Seance Room is not, repeat not, a real seance. It’s a very amusing performance of sleight of hand and mentalist illusion. Most of us call that close-up magic.
This is a fitting cap to a visit to Bisbee, the most haunted town in the U.S. At least that’s what the brochures say.
This claim is not hard to believe when someone considers how many people met a violent end either in the copper mine that reaches far underground or in a room at the Copper Queen or Lyric hotels when an occupant may or may not have been shot in the head because he did not pay his debts. Either way it amounts to the same thing: their spirits appear to like to hang around.
Bisbee is a lot of things including an escape from the summer heat. It’s 10 degrees cooler than Tucson, less than a two-hour drive away and once off I-10 in Benson, a lovely drive through some fairly beautiful country (especially as you get closer to the town). It is a place that will help desert dwellers get through the summer.
There is no question that Bisbee is a strange place. It is. It looks as if it were glued onto a mountainside.
On the other hand, “it’s like falling down a rabbit hole when you come to Bisbee,” Magic Kenny said.
Everywhere you look there is some sort of public artwork, lots of it strange but lots of it beautiful and/or compelling. Also, the residents are friendly and welcoming. Many will greet you even if they don’t know you.
Here is a warning: If mobility is an issue, it may not be the place for a visit. Everywhere there are hills and not gentle slopes either, but steep climbs where concrete staircases take alpinists from one street to the next. These stairways are considered public walkways so visitors should feel free to use them. Here is another warning: Watch where you put your feet. Some of the steps are irregular and crumbly on the edges. It adds to the charm of the town and Bisbee is nothing if not charming but no one wants to take a tumble down these stairs.
Despite the steps, visitors should not shy away from coming because the main shopping drag, although steep, is also pedestrian friendly with sidewalks. Stroll up and see Optimo Hatworks Milliner/Renovator, a hat shop where the owner custom fits her wares on to anyone who comes calling. Be prepared, however, to put out some big bills. Custom anything comes with a price these days.
Across the street is a brand-new menswear store, Blue and Stone, which specializes in casual sportswear. Find clothing that leans a bit toward the western style, including T-shirts (Ride Hard, one said) and caps and shirts meant to protect exposed skin from the sun but still look good. It’s the only men’s wear shop on that street.
“(There are) just casual clothes, everyday clothes for men,” owner Casey Lau said. “I do polo shirts and I do button-up shirts, headware and T-shirts and shorts.”
Situated beside Blue and Stone is Classic Rock Couture, a women’s clothier. The interesting thing about this store is certainly the fashions. Shoppers are not likely to see themselves walking down the street, nor will they find these styles in large department stores. You might, however, find them on a movie screen or on the back of someone whose name we all know.
“These jackets (the Rising Sun jackets) are very, very famous,” Bisbee’s Eldorado Suites Hotel co-owner Lisa Head said. “They’re wearing them in Los Angeles, New York. It’s very cool.”
Retail associate Ashley Oliver agrees.
“I think (these clothes) are the perfect combination of retro and new,” she said. “The nice part about it is it’s still the vintage style but size inclusivity is really important to the designer (Claire Harlin) so we go up to 3X in all the things (from this designer).”
There are plenty of vintage shops, including Bitchin’ Pickins, where a shopper can pick up a Women’s Junior League cookbook published in 1979, pieces of Fiesta ware or any other number of oddities. The two-room shop is packed with stuff so it’s worth a poke around.
“We specialize in vintage and antiques, a lot of Hawaiian shirts and western wear for men, vintage and lightly used for women,” retail associate Darquise said. She goes by only one name. “We have jewelry, we have a lot of little knick-knacks.”
If shopping is tiresome and reality is more on the list, try the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum. It sits at the bottom of the mountainside that is Bisbee downtown. You won’t miss it, it has some good sized mining cars (including a commode car) right out in front.
While it is tempting to say, “Oh, let’s skip it,” do not skip it.
“Bisbee is unique because it was the first major copper mining center to develop,” volunteer Patrick Tilcock said. “At one point it was by far the biggest, most thriving community in the Arizona Territory.”
This two-story building used to house the headquarters of the Dodge-Phelps Mining Company and what’s in there now does its history justice. The exhibit upstairs focuses on what came out of the mine and how the miners did it. Look for extraordinary mineral specimens and the history of extraction technology. It’s not surprising the exhibit is so excellent; it was put up in association with the Smithsonian Institution.
On the first floor is a display on the history of mining in Bisbee, examples of some outstanding pieces of jewelry made from Bisbee turquoise and the spacious office of a former occupant.
This is not a large museum — allow about an hour or so — but it is a fascinating one.
Another important Bisbee museum is the Artemizia Foundation, located close to the top of a very tall hill. Don’t walk there; save all that energy for the museum itself.
For one thing, the parking lot is overseen by two zebras. Not real ones, of course, but from below they look fairly realistic. Then there’s a lovely outdoor sitting space in the back where the artwork is large and colorful. Walk around to the front entrance and begin the journey.
This is another small museum, only three rooms, really, but in the front room the artwork is for sale. Currently there is a collage exhibit with plenty to fill the eyes featuring such artists as Sandro “Sen2” Figueroa and Cey Adams. Even Tucson’s own Janny Taylor has wall space.
After a good long look at the collages, step into the next room for a peek at a different take on a fireplace and then into the hall where one creepy looking Madonna sits high above the walkway. This piece is really the stuff of nightmares.
Finally, in the largest gallery are permanent works by Banksy, Swoon and Ai WeiWei. There’s also an exhibit of Beatles ephemera of the type that people of a certain age will recognize.
Leave at least an hour for this.
Other sites to see are St. Patrick Roman Catholic Parish, a church with lovely windows, lots of dimly lit “vintage” bars with old signs that still advertise the likes of Hamm’s Beer and a pink bakery where patrons stand outside the front door to order.
Patisserie Jaqui is a march up one of those hills so there’s a pink patio where you can eat the goods you just bought.
There are plenty of restaurants including Le Cornucopia Café, where the diners may indulge in a fat meatloaf or egg salad sandwich and finish with a major wedge of peach pie. This is American comfort food at its finest.
“It’s all fresh, homemade, we’re rated no. one for lunch,” co-owner Gretchen Bonaduce said. “It is completely delicious, homemade quiche, homemade pies, homemade sandwiches, homemade soup.”
If visitors choose, there are plenty of places to spend the night. One excellent choice is the Eldorado Suites on OK Street, co-owned by Lisa Head. The 100-year-old building was originally constructed to house miners and their families, so the rooms are small apartments with enough tools in the full kitchens to make a turkey meal, Head said. There are creaky floors, two bedrooms, a bathroom with a claw-footed tub, a living room and two porches. Those porches are especially nice because the front porch, which gets lots of sun, overlooks one of the commercial district’s streets. They call it the Gulch. The other porch is shaded and looks down on a lovely patio that features a fountain and a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
It is a hotel that is in all ways comfortable and pleasant. The staff is welcoming and the owner’s husband is an artist, so his works grace the walls.
Head said the Eldorado is not haunted.
“So far I haven’t seen any hauntings and I’m here a lot,” she said.
Here’s a third warning: There is no elevator and the stairs are 100-year-old steep. Evidently, we were in better shape back then. Also, precipitous OK Street looks like an alley and is about as wide as one even though it allows two-way traffic. Look lively when proceeding up. There is good parking beside the hotel though.
So back to Magic Kenny Bang Bang. Step into his parlor and be amazed by his talent, then if a cup of coffee is in order, walk to the end of the street, cross it and get a cup from Bisbee Coffee. One patron who is a coffee snob reported that his cup was hot and smooth.
