IN NO RUSH BISBEE, A MINING TOWN TURNED ARTIST ENCLAVE, MAINTAINS SIMPLICITY.

Byline: Story and photos by Eric Noland Travel Editor

BISBEE, Ariz. - It boomed more than 100 years ago when precious metals were extracted by the cartful from its rich earth. It busted just as spectacularly a quarter-century ago when the lodes began to play out and mining became unprofitable.

And now Bisbee, in its latest incarnation as an artists' colony and refuge for city-weary visitors and retirees, attempts to strike a delicate balance: It wants visitors to stroll its charming streets and buy its eclectic wares - so that the storefronts don't have to be boarded up anew - but it doesn't want to be loved to death.

Can you say Sedona?

By all indications, it is succeeding admirably. Travelers wander its narrow Main Street, which follows the contours of a deep gulch in the Mule Mountains of southeastern Arizona. They poke in and out of shops selling Indian pottery, handmade clothing, oil paintings and tarnished antiques. They survey buildings that could double for the town of Rock Ridge in ``Blazing Saddles'' - tall, narrow, brick buildings that once housed a bank, the jail, a dispensary, the Western Union office.

They might derive some satisfaction from the fact that the shops and galleries are independent, mom-and-pop operations, often run by folks who appear to be refugees from the '60s counterculture movement.

``It's a community of people who come here to drop out,'' said Deborah Nore from behind the counter at Manos del Mundo, a store that sells goods from women's co-ops in impoverished countries. ``There are a lot of lost souls here. We have a lot of people coming in from large cities who are tired of the big-city experience. They want to quiet their lives down.''

Whether as transplants or as tourists on an escape of a few days.

Accordingly, the rhythm of this place is a little looser than you're probably accustomed to back home. A sign in the window of the Potters Shop read, ``Under construction - open in 30 minutes.'' When you try to call a Bisbee business, you often encounter a phone ringing off the hook (answering machine? not here) or something rarely heard in Los Angeles anymore - a busy signal.

Late one afternoon, we happened by Cafe Cornucopia on Main Street, and out on the sidewalk a very pleasant proprietor said, ``We're open from 10 to 5; everything's fresh - the real deal.'' We stopped by a couple of days later, hoping to have lunch, but found a sign in the window that announced the cafe would be closed for three days.

But although the town seems to operate on its own clock and calendar, it is a culturally bustling place. There is a permanent population of about 6,300, and even after most of the tourists have drifted away at the end of the weekend, there are still some intriguing and quirky experiences to be had.

To learn of them, a visitor need only consult the nearest telephone pole or boarded-up window. There is always a fluttering layer of handbills on these de facto community bulletin boards. Art-house movies. Dance classes. Poetry readings. Live theater (``The Odd Couple'' was being staged during our visit, but with two women playing the leads in what was billed as ``the female version'' of the play).

On a Sunday evening, we found a notice that led us to the Earwhig Factory in the town's Brewery Gulch district. Black-and-white images flickered through the front windows. Yes, it was a mini film festival: the Marx Brothers' ``Animal Crackers'' and ``Duck Soup.''

Bisbee is home to more than 100 artists and artisans, many of whom were drawn here after the Phelps Dodge Mining Co. ceased its operations in the mid-1970s. After all the workers abandoned the town, lodging and studio space could be had for a song. The setting was certainly inviting: rugged, red-hued hills, clear skies and temperate climes - Bisbee sits at 5,300 feet. Civilization felt a long way off, too - Tucson is 90 miles away, and the nearest interstate requires a drive of about an hour.

The artwork and crafts are sold at dozens of shops in Bisbee's historic district, and browsing unhurriedly is a sublime pleasure.

You'll find interesting glazes and colors at Bisbee Clay (30 Main) and the Potters Shop (50 Main).

At the Johnson Gallery (28 Main) there is Navajo, Hopi and Jemez pottery, as well as Zuni carvings and white-on-black Mesa Verde pottery. Everything is of extraordinarily high quality, such that very few items even have prices listed. (A familiar adage applies: If you have to ask, you're probably in the wrong store.)

Atalanta's Music & Books (38 Main) carries a selection of histories of Bisbee and southeast Arizona, along with some items that deal with neither music nor reading: organic cotton clothing and hemp haberdashery.

Gallery Imports (55 Main) is an artists' co-op, and the range of works on display runs a dizzying gamut, from paintings to photography, jewelry to sculpture.

Be sure to keep an eye out for the decorative copper doors that adorn some of the historic establishments.

The street is also thick with antique stores. ``Most people open their businesses because they have to - they have a lot of stuff at home and they need to move some of it so they can clear some space to make room for more,'' Brian Hope said wryly while minding Pentimento (69 Main), a cavernous establishment just crammed with antiques, junk and ... well, odd stuff.

The store is quite a depository of midcentury Americana - vinyl records, lawn ornaments, Burma Shave road signs. Remember the salt and pepper shakers that used to sit on the kitchen table when you were a kid? You'll probably find their match here.

A lot of the items in the antique enclave probably piled up in the homes, churches, stores and miners' fraternal lodges over Bisbee's lively and prosperous history.

To dabble in it, visit the Bisbee Mining and Historical Center, housed in what used to be the general offices for the Copper Queen mining operation.

Ah, Bisbee's timing was perfect. Copper was discovered in 1875 by a prospector who was bitterly disappointed because he was looking for gold or silver. But just a few years later, the electrical age began in America, producing a ravenous demand for copper, which had no equal as a conductor of electricity. It seemed the entire country had to get wired - and fast.

The Copper Queen proved to be one of the richest copper lodes ever found, and more than $2 billion worth of the precious metal was extracted over the life of the mine. A docent at the museum informed us that enough gold and silver was ultimately found in the mine to cover the entire cost of the operation - which means that the 8 billion pounds of copper found beneath the earth produced pure, unadulterated profit for the consortium of businessmen who owned the mine.

Just east of town, you can survey the ecological wreckage of that windfall. A mountain, Sacramento Hill, used to stand here, rising to 7,000 feet above sea level. But it was so rich in ore that it was systematically chipped away until the miners reached ground level - and then they just kept on going. The Lavender Pit, a dusty gash that is 950 feet deep and more than a mile across, occupies the spot now, with only a nub of the original mountain still remaining.

Tours are offered into the mine, but we preferred to explore Bisbee's heritage above ground.

At one point in the early 1900s, it was the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco, with several banks, hotels, schools - and a trolley line running through the middle of town.

It was also a richly ethnic town, as you learn by taking a self-guided walking tour of Bisbee's early 1900s buildings. (A brochure is available at the Chamber of Commerce office, 31 Subway St.) It's intriguing to discover that the Angius Building was constructed by a Serbian immigrant, the Letson Block by an Irishman, the Shattuck-Schmid Building by a Swiss, the Lyric Theatre by a Greek.

But at the museum, one exhibit clearly indicates that this town was far from any utopian melting pot. Ethnic groups lived in sharply segregated neighborhoods, with their own restaurants and often their own newspapers, and there was a social pecking order that is wrenching to read about today: Europeans got the management jobs. Mexicans couldn't work underground, where the high-paying jobs were. African-Americans couldn't work any mining jobs at all but had to be content with being porters, shining shoes or performing music. And Chinese were not even allowed to stay overnight in Bisbee.

To further plumb this rough era, venture just east of town to the Evergreen Cemetery, where graves in the older section date to the late 1800s. You might stumble upon the tiny plot of Harry Hazlewood, who was born May 13, 1899 ... and died 14 months later. I got a chill from the headstone of a woman who died in 1906 at the age of 22 - four days after her son died at age 4. What was the story behind that? Disease? A suicide resulting from despondency?

Remarkably, the physical face of Bisbee has changed little from its mining heyday. That was evident from a fascinating series of then-and-now photos on the second floor of the museum. There has been no residential sprawl to the outskirts of town, no 100-year-old brick building coming down to make room for a Wal-Mart, none of the familiar concentrations of roadside businesses found throughout Arizona.

Today's residents and business people aim to keep it that way. ``We're very protective,'' said Jeff Blankenbeckler, a Whittier native who, with wife Bobby, runs the School House Inn, a bed-and-breakfast housed in a 1918 grammar school. ``We've fought off commercial interests. We're going to do anything we can to keep the ambience and the character.''

We were the beneficiaries of this one afternoon while sitting on the sun- dappled patio of the Copper Queen Hotel. We drank a local microbrew called Electric Lager and nibbled on stuffed jalapeno appetizers. The setting was quiet, relaxed, unhurried.

What time was this?

Can't remember.

Eric Noland, [phone]

eric.noland(at)dailynews.com

IF YOU GO

GETTING THERE:Bisbee, Ariz., is about a 90-mile drive from Tucson via Interstate 10 and State Route 80.

BISBEE MINING AND HISTORICAL CENTER: 5 Copper Queen Plaza. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $4 for adults, $3.50 for seniors, $1 for children 16 and under. [phone]; www.bisbeemuseum.org.

LODGING: The School House Inn is a nine-room bed-and-breakfast inn housed in a 1918 elementary school. Currently only three of the rooms have showers (the remainder have bathtubs), but summer renovation plans call for showers to be installed in all of the rooms. Pictures of classes from the early 1900s adorn the walls, and the guest rooms are named for school subjects and decorated accordingly: Writing, Arithmetic, Music, etc. The inn, at least a mile from the center of town, is comfortable and wonderfully quiet at night. Enjoy stargazing off the second-floor porch, or engage in an activity not usually available to B&B guests: shooting hoops on the playground just before sundown. Rates from $65 to $95. 818 Tombstone Canyon. [phone].

DINING: The Bisbee Grille, in the center of town, is a nice option for dinner. Remember, however, that you're in cattle country - you'll probably discover that they do steak a lot better than they do fish. 2 Copper Queen Plaza; [phone]. Cafe Roka has gotten excellent notices, but it is only open Wednesday through Saturday - nights that didn't coincide with our visit. 35 Main St. [phone].

INFORMATION: The Bisbee Chamber of Commerce maintains a visitor center at 31 Subway St. [phone]; www.bisbeearizona.com.

CAPTION(S):

7 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) An old ore cart, in front of what used to be a mining office building, stands as a symbol of Bisbee's past.

(3 -- color) Bisbee has carefully preserved its Old West heritage, including the jail, which houses a bed-and-breakfast inn.

(4 -- 5) A panoply of art galleries, cafes and other creatively oriented shops now occupy the historic district, above, of Bisbee, Ariz. At right, the 1903 Covenant Presbyterian Church is among the structures still standing.

(6) Visitors can gain a sense of Bisbee's boomtown past by visiting Evergreen Cemetery, where a number of the graves date to the late 1800s.

(7) Everything from jewelry and clothing to paintings and sculpture is available at Gallery Imports, a Bisbee artists' co-op.

Eric Noland/Travel Editor

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IF YOU GO (see text)