How to feel like a cowboy: an exact replica of a 19th century American city was put up for auction

2023 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 13:10

Any fan of westerns now has the opportunity to become the sheriff of an American city in the 19th century - and not virtually, but in reality. However, for this you need to pay about 1.7 million dollars (1, 2, million pounds). It is for this price that the city in the Wild West was put up for sale through Sotheby's. More precisely, a copy of it. Everything here is like in a real old American town: a hotel, a church, a prison, a dance and billiard halls, a photo studio and, of course, a hairdresser …

Despite the fact that the city of Gabriella was built in our century, the spirit of the Old West is very well felt here. This replica of the settlement looks like it was brought to the 21st century from the 1880s.

The area of the city is 23 hectares. A total of 18 buildings have been built here, and all of them are in the American style of the century before last. Each building has a realistic atmosphere of the Wild West of the century both inside and out.

An old-fashioned barbershop with an antique armchair, a stagecoach, a bar with antique drinks, a clothing store with 1880s costumes - everything is thought out and implemented very accurately. Unlike Hollywood studios, the facades of the buildings here are not fake, and everything is detailed on the inside as meticulously as on the outside. By the way, there is even a cemetery in this settlement.

This largest and most authentic western city is located in Cutron County, New Mexico. It is symbolic that it was here in the mid-1880s that the famous American criminal and former cowboy Thomas Ketchum (Black Jack), who was executed in 1901 for trying to rob a train, lived.

Currently, the city of Gabriella is used as a filming location for Wild West films. They also celebrate weddings, arrange parties and photo sessions, and carry out historical reenactments.

The city was created from scratch by a certain Larry Yams, who bought this site about 20 years ago. He built all the buildings himself and painted each sign with his own hand. Yams lives nearby and is willing to sell Gabriella to someone who is willing to preserve the history of the Old West.

There are no traces of modern life on the land that surrounds this city. This is a unique place: there are no power lines, no planes can be seen or heard flying by, and generally there are not too many signs of human presence.

Sotheby's International Realty's David Cordova, meanwhile, notes that Netflix has already begun investing in the area, considering expanding its studios in New Mexico.

By the way, Gabriella is not the first recreated Wild West city to be put up for sale. For example, in June last year, a similar settlement built in New Zealand was sold, and in 2018 in California.

Fans of cinema about cowboys have certainly highly appreciated the domestic film "The Man from Boulevard des Capuchins". And they might be interested to know how the actors have changed starred in this comedy western.