Where Artists Go to Dream 'Nipton' a Circus Town in the Desert
Saving the best till last, driving from the Arizona Desert into California and the Mojave Desert, destined for Nipton, the town in which the amazing Ross Mollison has gone and bought, as an add-on to his Spiegelworld empire.
Shut the front door; he's turning it into a circus town, 'Where Artists Go to Dream'. Blackpop has been pitched to deck out some of the 1930s chrome trailer homes that artists and performers will frequent. There's also the Hotel California, no less, in need of an interior revamp.
Nipton, California
Maxine, Blackpop's director/designer, spends some time photographing and chatting to locals, getting a feel for the place, all very chilled, when out of nowhere a steam train hoots its horn and trucks right through the middle of Nipton, just as it might have done in the Gold Rush...
Back in Vegas, Maxine is treated by Ross to see one of Spiegelworld's shout-out shows, 'Absinthe' – resident in a circus tent in the Green Garden at Caesars Palace. It's a truly wonderful experience; the banter, the ambiance, the spangled glamour – all tied together with amazingly talented and brave performers.
Green Fairy Garden, Spiegelworld, 'Absinthe'
The next night, Maxine meets up with the Spiegelworld team. They wine and dine her at Superfrico, one of their restaurants in the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Vegas. It's like walking into an intimate club: dark blue, 1920s Berlin style.
"It was the highlight and high-life crescendo of my trip, to meet them at last – the dream team!"
'Bathing Beauties' in homage to Diane Arbus
She spends the last couple of days by the hotel pool, catching the rays alongside other bathing beauties!
