This article was published on July 11, 2002 in the Big Bend Sentinel (Alpine, TX) and The International (Presidio, TX und Ojinaga, Chih. Mexico) newspapers.

German group buys Lobo, plans bohemian desert retreat

By DAN KEANE

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LOBO - West Texans know this tiny ghost town simply by its old, wordless motel sign.
About 12 miles south of Van Horn on U.S. Highway 90, a trapezoidal monolith of volcanic, rock juts out of the desert floor. Years ago, a rectangular cutout in the marker held a sign welcoming visitors to the Lobo Motel. These days it frames only sky.

This summer, however, new signs are appearing amongst Lobo's half a dozen ramshackle buildings though most highway travelers speed by to fast to read them. One wordy placard hangs in front of the old Lobo gas station and reminds the curious not to trespass before suggesting they 'Have a nice day!'

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For a few weeks earlier this summer, there was another sign in town, one even harder to read from a passing car. Taped up in the back window of a camper parked near the highway was one of those custom-made road signs you sometimes see in novelty stores. In bold, official type it declared, 'Welcome to Lobo, Texas- Population 6- Alexander , Mayor.'

On a recent June morning, is hammering away at one of Lobo's forlorn structures, tacking on a new roof to protect the old walls from the impending summer rains. Though tired and sweaty from a hot morning on the roof, he is quick to smile as he explains the sign.

A native of Germany now living in New Jersey, first saw the town on a 1976 motorcycle trip through the area with his brother. Years later, he passed through Lobo again on a long-distance bicycle trek and first began dreaming about what the town could become. His family must have heard him talk about it plenty, for they had the Lobo sign made up a few years back on a Christmas present.

The dream came true last November when teamed up, with Annette and Claus P. both of Frankfurt, Germany, to purchase the town's humble remains .

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These days, seems a tad embarrassed by the old sign's mayoral designation, and is quick to assert he's just part of the Lobo team. 'I'm the bricks and mortar person, Annette is the visionary, and CP does all the Internet stuff,' said.

's extensive German and English Internet site (www.lobo-texas.com) is the best introduction to the project, and in fact prominently features yet another new Lobo sign.

The page opens with a digitally altered photo of the old Lobo gas station oversahdowed by the famously kitschy 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' neon sign, with the 'Las Vegas' part wiped out and replaced with Lobo.

The website describes the trio's aims to rebuild Lobo as sort of a communal retreat for artists, musicians or simply 'people who do not want to be disturbed while they do nothing.' Anyone is welcome to join: a one-time $200 donation makes you a Friend of Lobo, and earns you 'the right to visit and stay overnight for life,' according to the website. Money raised will be used to fund the extensive renovations town requires.

Over the next few years, Lobo will be reborn gradually by volunteers working on a shoestring budget. sees the project's do-it-yourself spirit as a contrast to the habits the 'Bobos,' shorthand for 'bourgeois bohemians,' the recently coined term for the wealthy yet artsy socioeconomic strata one often sees discovering small towns these days.

"We don't want to be like the Bobos, who hire a contractor to to the work so they can just fly their little plane out to the desert and hang out" says. He jokes that Lobo actually stands for 'low-life bohemians."

The project began in March of this year, when 15 or so such 'Lobos' gathered in Frankfurt to hash out a very basic outline for the community, The group was comprised of friends of the three owners, friends of their friends, and a few complete strangers who'd happened to read about the project on the Internet.

The first step was simply getting to know each other. "We didn't know all the people who were participating," says. "We decided to all meet once, at least.", was one of the few people at the meeting who had actually laid eyes on the property, and he took the opportunity to warn the others not to set their' expectations too high. I told them, 'Folks, I thought it was tough, but it was tougher than I thought,"' he says. "'You will find piles of stones that resemble houses. With leaky roofs. Do not expect more.'"

A map of the town was drawn up, and the - few existing dirt streets were christened for American musical heroes. There's a John Coltrane Avenue running by the old gas station, and a Marvin Gaye Way ,along the property's back fence. Elvis Presley Boulevard is near the swimming pool, and Hank Williams Drive runs right tight through the middle of town. The reasons behind the lighthearted street names are simple, says. If you're starting a, town from scratch,. why not commemorate your favorite idols?' I love "John Coltrane, and somebody else loves Elvis, and there's Hank for the country folks," he says.

Work on the project began in May, when and a couple other friends showed up and began clearing away a generation's worth of accumulated trash. The group first had to haul away a huge assortment of junk, including rusty mattress frames, dead bean bag chairs, thousands of unused plastic cofee cup lids, wrecked cars, and countless tumbleweeds. 'With the grounds somewhat cleaner, they next repaired the old well and put new metal roofs on both the gas station and a long rectuangle building at the northern edge of the property now known as the Lobo Town Hall.'

The goal is to get Lobo in some sort of presentable shape by May 2003, when the town will host the first annual-Lobo Festival. The event will feature both art and music -performances in and around the semi-restored buildings, and according to the website will also include a German experimental music group performing an eight-to-twelve hour guitar improvisation on the roof of the gas station. (Having just personally reroofed the gas station, admits it may not be quite strong enough for the entire band, and the show might have to relocate to ground level.)

Lobo's new owners are only the latest in, a steadily increasing. stream of arty people finding their Way to this remote corner of Texas. However, other artistically inclined recent arrivals to the Big Bend might be surprised to learn that the collective appears to have chosen Lobo simply for its rugged desert beauty, and nor necessarily because of its proximity to the much-ballyhooed Marfa arts scene.

, who ran an experimental music club in Frankfurt before moving to New Jersey, has never visited the Chinati Foundation and its world famous collection of contemporary art. toured the works and came away impressed but inspired. "It's big art and big stars, like they have in the big city," she says. "It's a good thing to run into the desert but it's nothing really new."

A frustration with the stodgy ways of big city art back in Germany is part of the inspiration for to make the long trek to Lobo. "The cultural politics are at such low level," she laments. "They only care about their bank accounts and the old opera, the 'real high culture.'"

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has run a gallery in Frankfurt named Galerie Fruchtig for more than 10 years now. However, the rising rent recently became to high for her to afford and so for the last year she has run the gallery as a road show, hauling art around the country in a truck. Prohibitive rents are a common problem in any city, she says. "The most interesting things vanish because they can't afford the rents anymore. Like it always was."

Blessedly free of the city's rent and other pressures, Lobo is a dream come true for . "When I saw it for the first time, I said 'Wow, that's the best thing I ever did in my life'", she says. She's even made up a new centerpiece for the empty motel sign, all done up in 'western glitter' style, which she plans to bring back with her next spring.

As the appointed visionary of the project, has high hopes for the future of Lobo and the Lobo Festival. She sees the town drawing not just German residents and visitors but Americans as well. "I hope someday it's like a snowball, becoming bigger and bigger after awhile," she says.

Until then, however, there's so much renovation to tackle first that the task is a bit daunting. "There's so much basic work that I don't have big dreams about the art stuff yet," says.