Dear Cultural Family,

We continue with our efforts to create Museo de La Gente/Museum of the People, celebrating the Borderland region through art, literature, music, food, and folkways. It is our fervent wish to develop this community archival center, preserving the history, culture, art, literature, food and folkways of our rich and diverse Borderland region. It is important that the Museo be located in the Mesquite area of Las Cruces, as this was this original town site and remains the heart of our city.

We believe that our current bookstore, Casa Camino Real, could be pivotal in the creation and preservation of the Museo. Alongside the building there is an adjacent lot that would provide additional space in future.

The building is for sale as well as the lot, and we would like to make a bid to preserve this historic property.

We have come to the point where we need to make a decision. Do we continue to rent Casa Camino Real Bookstore or purchase the building or what. . .the or what is move. Move where?

We want to preserve this old adobe, one of the oldest in the Mesquite neighborhood on the historic Camino Real and give it the love it deserves. . we have lovingly cared for it for thirteen years.

We moved here in 2012 after our rent was doubled in Mesilla with three hundred boxes of books and a piano that almost fell off the truck. My older sister, Faride, painted the room in the back, Lula Grimes' bedroom, and died six months later.

314 South Tornillo. Part of the Doña Ana County Bend Land Grant, deeded to Francisco Espalín and his widowed mother, later purchased by John Bumgartner from NMSU, later home to Lula and Alonso Grimes, the fifth African American family to move to Las Cruces from Mexico (originally New Mexico) Missouri.

When we moved here we had a family reunion for the Grimes' descendants and I learned that three family members were born in the front room later named for our friend, John Bilderbeck, which houses Latin American literature, and that Lula, known as "Mother Grimes" held court as one of the loveliest most tender of Spirits who worked in the kitchens of the Las Cruces schools.

314 Deserves Love. If you are interested in supporting our effort to preserve this historical and lovely adobe, please contact us. If you have suggestions or tips, we are attentive and ready.

We thank you for making a donation and becoming a Museo patron. We are working to secure this space for our children and those will come after us.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us these years. We are grateful. Stay tuned to new adventures! Adelante!

With gratitude,

Denise Chávez

Daniel Zolinsky

Casa Camino Real

314 South Tornillo Street

Las Cruces, NM 88001