Santa Fe Shoppers Booting Out Boots? Shame on Them.

You'll remember that Cat was all about the cowboy boots last week. Well, when she got this news, she almost had to kick someone. And still might, if she can figure out who it is she ought to be kicking. Can it really be that Santa Fe has gotten so fancy-assed and filled with trendy yuppies that the true pioneers of the area are feeling the push? Because Cat's got to say, it takes a person with real style and personality to wear cowboy boots -- or at least respect them and their heritage. And those are the types of people who Cat wants to know, not all the new Barbies that she's been seeing down there on First Friday.

From Westword's Off Limits sections:

Booted out: Santa Fe Drive is changing, from the ground up. Since it opened in 1994 as La Bota de Oro, or "the gold boot," the small shop at 840 Santa Fe now known as Importado de Mexico has specialized in Mexican cowboy boots. Husband-and-wife owners Cirilo Alejandre and Anita Arrieta-Alejandre would take regular trips to Guanajuato and bring back frog-, armadillo- and cow-skin boots. But a few years ago, they realized that their new neighbors in the Santa Fe Arts District didn't share their penchant for intricately patterned roach killers.

"They frown on them," says Arrieta-Alejandre. "They look and they point and they go, 'Oh yeah.' Like, 'That is the last thing in the world I would be wearing.'"

This disdain, coupled with heightened border security making it more difficult to transport goods, convinced the couple to quit carrying boots. Instead, they'll stock more Mexican artisan goods that are available from California warehouses: Oaxacan black clay pottery and Day of the Dead memorabilia are especially popular with their new clientele, Arrieta-Alejandre says.

And while they last, the remaining boots are 50 percent off.