Excerpt from my new book, Sí El Paso - a photographic journey through El Paso, Texas. Sí El Paso is published by TCU Press and available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, markpaulda.com as well as your favourite bookseller.
El Paso is like an island except it's landlocked by Mexico, New Mexico and the rest of Texas. The culture and traditions from each area blend together on a daily basis making El Paso difficult to understand, even for us sometimes. Are we Texan? Mexican? Indian? American?
The answer is we're El Pasoans. There is no pretense about us. We're likable, genuine, and hospitable. When you come to visit us, you'll feel more welcome than any other place you'll go. El Paso is a big city with a small town heart that will make you feel warm inside.
El Paso is proud, and we have reason to be. Our history reaches back nearly 12,000 years at Hueco Tanks where the first human settlements can be traced. The Spanish established themselves during the mid-1550's; Old West gunfighters took the law into their own hands on the streets of downtown; and we've always lived hand-in-hand with our sister city, Juarez, to our south. There is no other city like El Paso. We're unique and El Pasoans like that we're different.
In 1903, Henry Trost moved to El Paso and introduced the Chicago School of Architecture style to the skyline. You could even say Henry Trost created El Paso's skyline.
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