The Historic Taos Inn—Adobe Bar

The crowd at the Adobe Bar shifts like sand, like leaves on pavement. Taoseños—hippies, artists, business owners—drift in and move from table to bar to fireplace, sharing village talk. Skiers slide in off the slopes, ruddy and wired. The music—on this Saturday night a funky, rhythm and blues band from Santa Fe—weaves everything together: the eclectic crowd, the fountain, the battered wooden floors, and the vigas and latillas of traditional adobe construction. From the leather loveseat to the roaring fire to the tile-topped tables a few feet from the musicians, everything at the Adobe is intimate.

Two hundred years ago, this bar was a plaza. The fountain in the center was a community well, surrounded by adobe houses which now provide accommodations. The largest of these houses belonged to Arthur Manby, whose mysterious decapitation is an artifact of local lore: Before he died, Manby sold the home to Dr. Thomas Paul (Doc) Martin (no relation to the shoe guy) and his wife, Helen. That home became Doc Martin’s restaurant. Martin was a humanitarian and Helen was a gifted batik artist. It was in their living room in 1912 that Ernest Blumenschein and Helen’s brother-in-law Bert Phillips gave birth to Taos’ identity as an artist colony, by founding the Taos Society of Artists. The Martins bought buildings around the plaza and rented them to writers and artists. In 1936, Doc Martin died and Helen Martin opened The Hotel Martin, later renamed the Taos Inn. 

Dubbed, the “living room of Taos,” the Adobe Bar has always been a hub of social, intellectual and artistic activity. Nestled in the bosom of old Taos, it hosts an incredible variety of acts—jazz, flamenco, bluegrass, Americana, alt-country, gospel, Celtic, world, and native folk music. Monday is open mic night, which means something completely different in a place where the very air seems to spawn creativity, and artists are made, not born. And there’s never a cover charge!

Doc Martin’s Restaurant, serving such local specialties as Buffalo Strip Steak and Blue Corn Dusted Boneless Trout, is open for dinner at 5:30 p.m. In the summer, the patio that spills onto Paseo del Pueblo, Taos’ main drag, is always full of both locals and tourists, many enjoying the Adobe’s own “Cowboy Buddha” margaritas. The inn is only seconds away from Taos Plaza, dozens of galleries, restaurants, and shops. Most of the rooms have pueblo-style fireplaces that burn fragrant piñon, luring passers-by.

But the rustic, warm, earthy Adobe Bar is the heart of the inn, echoing the Taoseño influence throughout.