Amargosa Opera House Hotel — Hotel in Pahrump

This hotel was great—if you want to pretend you’re staying in a haunted abandoned hotel. The paint is peeling. The walls are crumbling. Creepy, badly executed paintings stare at you as you walk by. The smell of decay is everywhere.

When I went through the side door to go to our room, I heard what sounded like a fountain. Instead, it was a burst pipe draining into a large trash can, with the garish green carpet beneath spongy and wet. You’re hit by a musty smell of decay when you first come in from the outside air.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the door to my room was a note that the water was going to be shut off at 7:30 am, presumably so they could do something about that leak in the hallway. So much for sleeping in. The second thing I noticed was the dead bugs on the floor. Classy.

It looks like they haven’t renovated the place in 100 years. The walls, particularly next to the tub, were crumbling. There were tiles missing in the bathroom floor. There are several notes on the bathroom wall about the “original” plumbing. They’re so serious they translated one into four languages. Be careful what you flush. No food down the drain. Let the water run for 15 minutes before attempting to shower? I was torn between showering and getting out of there as soon as possible the next morning.

Apparently they bought new beds recently. My bed was quite comfy, and the sheets were clean. They seemed very out of place in the decaying surroundings.

There was no TV, phone or fridge, which I expected. No cell service either, so good luck getting help if you need it. They did have wi-fi.

We had read about the history of the Amargosa Opera House during a previous trip to Death Valley. My husband really wanted to see it, so we made the drive from the valley after dark. I thought the place was abandoned at first. I was so creeped out by the look of it that I wanted to leave immediately. Hubby wanted to see if the lobby was open. I reluctantly agreed, but kept the car running, just in case we had to quickly get out of dodge. I forbade my son from going in. Hubby thought it was pretty neat. Me, I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

My son was upset he didn’t get to see the creepy stuff in the lobby, so I figured I’d make it up to him by actually booking a room in the decrepit hotel the next time we drove through the area. Boy, was that a mistake. I had promised hubby and son a tour of the place the next morning, but they didn’t start until 9 AM. I wasn’t sticking around that long, particularly with no running water.

This place is historic. I get it. With a major restoration effort and new plumbing, it would be quite quaint. Until then, steer clear. Unless you fancy staying in a place that is...

The Amargosa motel is a convenient and affordable base of operations for sightseeing in Death Valley National Park. It is quiet, quaint, and atmospheric in a historical way. The people who work at the motel are so thoughtful and helpful and exceptionally friendly! I got a room on the back of the motel during one visit and was able to see the wild horses from my window because they put food out for them each day. It's a fascinating story, Marta Becket and her vision!

A/C in the rooms works well. Some of the rooms have older bathrooms; some rooms are updated. All the rooms are clearn and the beds are comfortable but keep it mind that it's a 100 year old building! Rooms on the front of the motel have an exterior door and each room has a little wrought iron patio table and one or two chairs. There is a fair amount of traffic coming through the junction, especially semi's, but with the A/C on you can't hear it. The rooms on the back of the motel have no patio area or external doors. The motel has a large dining area with a games table (board games) and a TV, DVD player, and a little free lending library in the "alcove." The sitting room lobby has lots of Marta's beautiful murals and career mementos.

The motel has Wi-Fi which is good enough for email, Google maps, etc., but not dependably strong enough for streaming or Zoom conferences. There is no data connection in Death Valley Junction. The closer you get to the Nevada state line 7 miles north on 127 the more likely you are to get a data signal. Just across the state line on 127 is the Longstreet Inn & Casino which has a decent restaurant, good open wifi, a little market, and the closest gas station.

Eating is a challenge because the Amargosa Cafe is still closed. I would drive once a day to the Longstreet Inn & Casino and eat a meal at their restaurant and bring back enough food from their little market to last a day and store it in the refrigerator at the motel which is available to the guests 24 hours a day along with a big ice machine, a microwave, a toaster, and a coffee machine. A personal cooler would also be a good idea as the refrigerator can fill up when the motel has lots of guests.

Don't miss the tour of the Opera House itself at 9 am and 6 pm for a $15 donation ($10 for guests). This is a disappearing treasure; per the wishes of Marta, the building is to be maintained but not restored and all the murals inside are to remain untouched. It was her wish that the adobe building eventually return to the earth...

Fascinating History

I have a passion for history and my review here is more focused on the history of the Amargosa Opera House and not the services provided at either the Opera or the Hotel.

In October of 2016 I had the opportunity to take a weeklong trip through and around parts of Death Valley National Park with my mother. On the very last day of the weeklong trip, on the way to Las Vegas, we stopped at Death Valley Junction on CA-127 to get a coffee at Armargosa Café (Closed since then). We got curious about the place and ended up getting a short tour of the Opera House. What we saw and heard blew my mind in a good way!

The town of Death Valley Junction (Amargosa in Spanish) was established in 1907. At some point its population peaked at a few hundred people, but it started to decline in mid-1900s after the Lila C. borax mine in Ryan, CA stopped operating in 1928. However, only a few years before that, architect Alexander Hamilton McCulloch was hired by the Pacific Coast Borax Company to design a Spanish Colonial Revival whistle stop at the center of which was the hotel, theater and office complex building, which now we know as the Amargosa Opera House and Hotel.

As mentioned above, the town started to decline until 1967 when Martha Becket arrived! Martha, an American actress, dancer, choreographer and painter, and her husband were traveling through when they stopped to fix a flat tire. Martha started exploring what was left of the town while her husband was fixing the tire. She ended up falling in love with the place and rented Corkhill Hall (Now the Opera House) and started fixing it! Initially she painted the walls white and when the work was completed had her first performance there in February 10, 1968 in front of an audience of 12!

Later that year there was a flood and more fixes had to be done. This time Martha decided to take a different approach to painting. She decided to paint her own audience on the walls and the ceiling! Each painting has a story behind it, but we do not have the space here to go through them.

Martha's last performance at the Opera House was in February 12, 2012. She passed away on January 30, 2017, only a few months after my first visit.

You can read more about the place and Martha here:

Amargosa Opera House http://www.amargosaoperahouse.org

Marta Becket, Dancer Who Built a Theater in the Desert, Dies at...