Despite Its Appearance, Downtown El Paso Is Thriving

There's no doubt that El Paso is FULL of history, no matter where you go. Much of the history can be found in Downtown El Paso. Every day you can see thousands of people walking on the sidewalks or in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

There's a lot of historic looking buildings when you go & many new businesses that pop up for you to enjoy. It's certainly not the same Downtown from the 19^th and 20^th century. But has Downtown El Paso lost its "luster"?

This guy thinks that Downtown El Paso is a "mostly abandoned ghost town"

The YouTube channel, Fourth Place, uploaded a video on July 13th, titled "El Paso: America's Largest Downtown Ghost-town" In the video, he goes into great detail on the history of Downtown El Paso, and gives a tour of some of the buildings/businesses that are located. He also talks about how active El Paso was in the early 1900s and shows some of the buildings that... have seen better days. I was really surprised that he didn't show the areas around San Jacinto Plaza, somewhere John Oliver knew about and even joked about on his show a while back.

Although he DID say that he admired the aesthetic of the Pueblo look of some of the hotels in Downtown, while complimenting the architecture and look of many the interiors of the buildings. He also complimented the streetcar line that people can enjoy in Downtown. He also mentioned there are many things that people can enjoy like the Plaza Theater, Southwest University Park (where the El Paso Chihuahuas) and the Amtrak station that was built in 1906.

While I don't agree with everything that was said, I still enjoyed watching his video & the production behind it. I included it so you can watch it for yourself.

What people have said about Downtown El Paso

While many people say it's a great video (and it is indeed a good watch), it's obvious that there are some people who disagree with what Fourth Place was saying:

One comment states that the Plaza Hotel "is an absolutely stellar deco era restored hotel and the quality is just impeccable, yet it’s not mentioned in the video...It's world class."

Another comment said "Downtown always has people in it. Especially the weekends."

Someone who works in Downtown El Paso says that the video "is not wrong per se but it’s only seeing the negative side of the picture. Around the corner from half of these clips is a revitalized Plaza, trendy coffee shops, and high-end restaurants and bars. There’s also a new top rated children’s museum, cultural events multiple times a year and new buildings popping up with full tenancy."

Another one reads "There's so much potential and beauty in downtown El Paso." That's a sentiment that is shared by Ivan Bernal, the Marketing & Communications Director for Downtown El Paso. We spoke to Ivan a while back on El Paso Town Square & he claims that El Paso has seen an exponential growth in the city within the last decade & he predicts that within a few years, the city will have changed and evolved so much that it won't be recognizable, but in a great way.

Anyone who's been to Downtown during the evenings knows just how packed and how busy it can be; the sporting events, concerts, museums, its nightclub scene, and all the various events held in the are all keep Downtown El Paso alive and well.

Is Downtown El Paso perfect? No. No city is perfect. But to say that Downtown El Paso has completely "lost" its Downtown or call it a ghost town is a strong statement to make that I don't particularly think is accurate. Fourth Place even admitted that he doesn't think that it's "lost" but perhaps, "downsized".

Downtown El Paso is NOT the same from when I was a kid, when I was a teenager, or even when I was there a few days ago. It IS changing, but so long as people are trying to make a difference in keeping its history alive and the businesses alive, I think it can CONTINUE to stay very much alive.

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