Mel Opotowsky, editor and 1st Amendment advocate, dies Los Angeles Times

Table Of Content

• The fine printMust-know information for guests at this property
• Pacific Coast Highway: Where to Stop on Your Road Trip
• Marta Becket's hand-painted theater in the desert.
• Best Day Hikes in California: From Easiest to Hardest
• Roberto Cavalli, Italian designer whose fashions filled runways and red carpets, dies at 83
• What is there to do at Amargosa Opera House & Hotel?
• More to Read

Today, the 16-room Amargosa Hotel welcomes travelers year round from all over the world. To ensure guests are able to enjoy the peace and quiet of the beautiful desert surrounds (including some of the darkest night skies in all of North America), the rooms do not have TVs or phones. “I went to visit this fortuneteller in New York, and she said, ‘You will be leaving New York for a very rural place, and you will be doing the best work of your life in this place,’” recounts Marta. Soon thereafter, needing a break from touring the country, she and her husband decided to go camping in Death Valley. Although the building was in disrepair, she and her husband rented the property the next day for $45 a month and renamed it the “Amargosa Opera House.” After months of fixing up the building, Ms. Becket debuted her first show on February 10, 1968.

The fine printMust-know information for guests at this property

In March 1967, on hiatus from touring her one-woman show across America, Marta Becket and her husband came to Death Valley Junction to repair a flat tire at the gas station, located across the street from the complex. While exploring the abandoned buildings, Marta peeked through a hole in the back door of Corkill Hall, the town’s old social hall, to find a room in terrible disrepair. Wooden floors were caked with muddy remains from floodwaters and walls were streaked with rust colored stains from the leaking roof. Marta later recalled that the building spoke to her, saying, “Take me. ” She tracked down the property manager and inquired about renting the space and was told it could be rented for $45 per month as long as she was responsible for all repairs.

Pacific Coast Highway: Where to Stop on Your Road Trip

Colleges, universities and community halls where she performed regularly over the previous years were now more interested in booking burgeoning rock 'n' roll acts, spoken word and other hip happenings of the time. While some ballet dancers may dream of performing in front of adoring throngs in New York or Paris, others are drawn to settings with decidedly lower wattage. In 1967, the New York dancer, who had performed on Broadway and at Radio City Music Hall, dreamed of having her own place to create and perform her works. In July of 1968, Marta began a massive project of painting a 16th-century royal audience on the walls, each with a different face.

Marta Becket's hand-painted theater in the desert.

Thomas J. Willett -- partner at Amargosa Opera House - SFGATE

Thomas J. Willett -- partner at Amargosa Opera House.

Posted: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 07:00:00 GMT [source]

One or both of the rulings have been cited as precedents in a slew of high-profile proceedings, including those related to the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, the Boston Marathon bombing, the Aurora, Colo., theater shooting and Martha Stewart’s perjury case, Bernstein said. Opotowsky was a top editor at the Riverside Press-Enterprise when the paper brought two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court that resulted in landmark rulings advancing the public’s right to view certain legal proceedings. He was later a founding board member of the First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the free press and preserving access to government records and meetings. Opotowsky died April 18 at Claremont Manor retirement community, where he lived with his wife, Bonnie Opotowsky, according to their son, Didier Opotowsky. He said his father’s cause of death is not certain, and that he had Parkinson’s.

Best Day Hikes in California: From Easiest to Hardest

King, queen, royalty, nobility, bullfighters, monks, nuns, American Indians, ladies of the night—all attend the show. The audiences even have complex stories such as the “group of royal children tended by a governess who is being courted by a gentleman seated in the balcony above.” It took Marta four years to complete the murals… then she started on the ceilings. As the tire was being repaired, Marta Becket wandered through the town. One building seemed to be calling her in particular, an old miners’ hall that had been built by Pacific Coast Borax Company in the 1920s. As Ms. Becket peeked through a hole in the back door, she immediately envisioned a theater of her own. Having wearied of staying afloat financially and emotionally in metropolitan New York City, the couple decided to inquire whether or not they could rent the theater outright that same afternoon.

Roberto Cavalli, Italian designer whose fashions filled runways and red carpets, dies at 83

Jenna continues to perform in the area with Tecopa’s Teatro El Grande and, on occasion, at the opera house. Her ballet and pantomime bring Old World culture to a place where one would least expect it—providing a conduit and glimpse into a live entertainment tradition that is largely forgotten. The entire appeal is strangely beautiful if somewhat odd—but in the most surprisingly wonderful way. After taking over the theater, Becket and husband began the laborious chore of cleaning and repairing the space. Tom repurposed metal coffee cans into stage lights and extended the tiny stage a few feet. By early February of 1968 she was teaching local children ballet and also performing for the tiny community.

Beyond these maintained areas, the town of Death Valley Junction is almost a ghost town. The single restaurant, the Amargosa Cafe, was formerly operated by the Opera House and Hotel, but is no longer open. The Opera House continues Marta's legacy of celebrating art in the desert with creative acts in an inspiring venue.

McClintock’s personal connection to Marta and the Amargosa Opera House is truly remarkable. At age six, while traveling with her family in Death Valley, she was able to attend a performance of Becket in 1982. Little Jenna left so utterly mesmerized by Becket’s performance that she soon enrolled in a ballet academy, eventually performing professionally for twenty-five years, both regionally and nationally. Although Becket largely stopped performing by 2012 at the age of 88, she has appeared on stage live a few times since. In 2013, it was revealed publicly that an unscrupulous manager was allegedly not only bilking the nonprofit organization established in 1973 to help protect the property and Becket's legacy, but also mistreating Marta herself. Eventually concerned supporters came to her aid along with Inyo County Adult Protective Services due to the reports of elder abuse.

Company

Sadly, in 2013 it was revealed publicly that an unscrupulous manager was not only bilking the nonprofit organization established in 1973 to help protect the property and Becket’s legacy, but also mistreating Marta herself. Eventually, concerned supporters came to her aid along with Inyo County Adult Protection Services, due to the reports of elder abuse. Legal proceedings ensued, eventually forcing the “gun-toting” manager (who on one occasion brandished his firearm at a concerned, highly respected area resident dropping in to check on Marta’s welfare) to cease all activities and vacate the property for good.

After traveling to and from Las Vegas, the very next day they met with the town manager and secured the lease of the theatre for $45 a month plus repairs. The two straightened out their affairs back east over the next few months, returning to Death Valley Junction on Marta’s forty-third birthday, August 9, 1967. They promptly began the renovation of the Amargosa Opera House—rechristened in honor of the original settlement whose name translates as “bitter” in Spanish for the area’s surrounding alkali springs. During one tour, the couple decided to camp between shows for a week at the Furnace Creek Campground in Death Valley National Monument. The year was 1967, and the interest for performance programs of her ilk was dwindling due to the profound upheaval in 1960s popular culture. Colleges, universities and community halls where she performed regularly over the previous years were now more interested in booking burgeoning rock ’n’ roll acts, spoken word and other hip happenings of the time.

Take that with a grain of salt, but all of you ghost hunters out there should check it out and report back in the comments. The first thing I did was head into the hotel, which is a historic building in California. Death Valley National Park has a ton of amazing natural wonders in its vast expanse; however, for man made attractions, it is hard to beat the crazy, fun Amargosa Opera House. Located on the eastern outskirts of the park, this hotel and fully functional opera house are a must-stop on any visit to the park from the east side.