The Buddy Holly Story / Buddy Holly Center

Buddy Holly Center, Lubbock Texas

When traveling through Lubbock Texas on a western road trip I had the opportunity to visit the Buddy Holly Center and learn more about the Buddy Holly story. Whether you're old enough to remember a lot about Buddy Holly or young enough to just appreciate all genres of music, you will truly enjoy a visit to this remarkable place. According to the Buddy Holly Center web site, the Center has dual missions... preserving, collecting and promoting the legacy of Buddy Holly and the music of Lubbock and West Texas, as well as providing exhibits on Contemporary Visual Arts and Music, for the purpose of educating and entertaining the public. I will add that they do an excellent job of both. The Buddy Holly Center is located in downtown Lubbock on Crickets Avenue. if you find yourself traveling through or near Lubbock Texas whether on business or on a Texas vacation, the Buddy Holly center should really be a part of your Texas trip planner. In addition to this fine Lubbock museum you'll find a great selection of Lubbock restaurants and hotels.

The Buddy Holly Center is a site housing an extensive collection of Buddy Holly memorabilia, changing arts exhibits, and a gallery showcasing West Texas musicians. This Lubbock museum is a must stop for anyone remotely interested in the early years of rock and roll.

Buddy Holly statue created by Grant Speed

In January, 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. "The Big Bopper", Dion and the Belmonts, Frankie Sardo, Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup and Carl Bunch set out on a three week tour of the cold mid west. The story of Buddy Holly's hit records and short life and career have been told literally thousands of times. It's an interesting story that goes back to the very earliest days of rock and roll. Many might remember seeing his appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Holly's relatively brief career, his highest fame lasted about two years, ended when the small single engine plane he, J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) and Ritchie Valens  crashed after midnight in an apparent blizzard near Clear Lake Iowa in 1959.

The group and others had just finished a concert at Clear Lake's Surf Ballroom to an audience of over a thousand. At the time of the Buddy Holly plane crash the group of three were on their way to play a concert the next evening in Moorehead MN. The rest of the group would make the trip on their bus which had severe heating problems in almost zero temperatures. The plane was chartered at Holly's request so that the three entertainers could avoid the freezing bus trip. As it turned out by a quirk of fate, the two other passengers who were to originally accompany Buddy Holly on the plane were actually Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup. Both ended up giving their seats away to the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens just before the flight.

Some interesting facts about the tour, "Winter Dance Party", emerged after the tragedy. One was that the young twenty-one year old pilot who was flying the aircraft for a charter company was not legally certified to fly under instrument only weather conditions. He was certified for visual conditions only which meant he really should not have been up in the air under those dark and blizzard conditions.

Entrance to Buddy Holly Center

The plane crash investigation afterward concluded that the pilot obviously became disoriented due to the weather and was not trained well enough to read the attitude gauges and subsequently ran the aircraft into the ground. Another was that the tour bus heater was so inoperable that one of the band members of Buddy Holly's "Crickets" was hospitalized at the time in Minnesota for frost bite. That gives you a good idea of just how bad the tour bus ride was and would have been.

A few other interesting facts about Buddy Holly's career was that his legal name was actually spelled Holley. His birth name was Charles Hardin Holley but during the early days of his career it was changed to Holly for touring and publicity purposes. It appears that the name was spelled that way a few times on publicity material and the spelling just stuck. Another interesting fact was that his successful recordings were produced in a studio in Clovis New Mexico, about 90 miles northwest of Lubbock Texas. The Norman Petty Studio in Clovis recorded for singers such as Ray Orbison, Waylon Jennings, Jimmy Gilmer, Sonny West and Buddy Holly. Many other recorded there as well. Petty was also a musician himself as well as a recording engineer and recorded himself at the the studio. Norman Petty was also serving as Holly's manager to some degree. After Buddy Holly's death, Petty reportedly overdubbed some of Holly' unfinished recordings to add to the Holly collection. Petty posthumously was named Clovis New Mexico Citizen Of The Year in 1984.


Buddy Holly at the time of his death in February 1959 was married only for a very short time. Holly married Maria Elena Santiago on August 15, 1958 only about two months after first meeting. Their honeymoon was in Acapulco Mexico. It was reported that Holly also entertained the possibility of a future acting career such as that of singer Elvis Presley. He went as far as enrolling in acting classes.

Buddy Holly Center sign with glasses logo

The Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock Texas has quite a lot to offer anyone interested in the music of the late 1950's. A video is shown about Buddy Holly and others of that era. Included are some very good music videos by the Big Bopper, J.P. Richardson. In fact, these could be considered the earliest music videos produced. The video is both very entertaining and informative. Among the many exhibits in the Buddy Holly Center is the actual guitar that Holly used during his last performance in Clear lake Iowa. Since the guitar was being transported on the tour bus, it was not damaged. There is also some of Holly's personal property such as his 45 RPM record case and jackets holding his personal collection. Also included are clothing, recording contracts, tour itineraries, Holly's glasses, homework assignments and report cards. There are also many interesting photos of Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, the Crickets, the Big Bopper and others spread throughout the museum. The pictures are very interesting and each tells a story. The Buddy Holly Center collects, preserves and interprets artifacts pertaining to Lubbock's most famous native son

Another interesting fact about the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake Iowa is that they continue today to memorialize Buddy Holly and the old Winter Dance Party. The annual event held at the Surf Ballroom was the idea of a local radio announcer called the "Mad Hatter". His name was Darryl Hensley and the idea took off. The event began in 1979 and is held during the first week of February.

Surf Ballroom as it appeared in 1988. Public domain photo

The statue of Buddy playing his guitar is located at the Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza which is across the street from The Buddy Holly Center on Crickets Avenue. The plaza also includes the Walk of Fame. The statue of Holly shown on the photo above was created by sculpturer Grant Speed of Utah. Grants Speed was also well known for his statue of famed Texas Panhandle rancher Charles Goodnight. Goodnight's statue is located at the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum in Canyon Texas. Another of Speed's sculptures in Lubbock is a life size horse and rider piece created for Texas Tech University depicting the school's mascot, the Red Raider.

Two other interesting travel stops while touring West Texas is the Charles Goodnight Home located in Goodnight Texas just east of Amarillo. Rancher Charles Goodnight is referred to as the Father of the Texas Panhandle. Also, the unique old Harvey House dining room along the railroad tracks in Slaton Texas, about 10 miles south of Lubbock. The historic Slaton Harvey House is now operated as a delightful B & B.

The Buddy Holly Center is located at 1801 Crickets Avenue in Lubbock Texas. The Center is in the renovated old Fort Worth and Denver South Plains Railway Depot. The depot was designed  by prominent Fort Worth architect, Wyatt C. Hedrick, in the Spanish Renaissance Revival style. This is an excellent addition to your Texas vacation planner.

(Photos are from author's private collection)

Fred Harvey's La Castenada / A Western Road Trip to Las Vegas NM

The old La Castenada Harvey House

Fred Harvey was credited for establishing both America's first true restaurant chain as well as building some of the most popular hotels during the nation's booming railroad era. The Harvey Hotels gained world fame. Together with the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, Fred Harvey made the railroad trip west a much more comfortable adventure. Harvey partnered himself with the AT& SF Railroad. Trains in the late 1800's lacked refrigeration systems and dining cars, so Harvey built a restaurant every 200 miles along the Santa Fe's tracks. It worked marvelously and attracted additional passengers to the line. What these dining rooms added was a high degree of quality that travelers could count on.

During the railroad era Las Vegas boomed and became one of the largest cities in the American southwest. At the same time it was realized that suitable hotels and hospitality were greatly needed. High quality railroad hotels and dining rooms were quite popular with the traveling public. The Fred Harvey Company as well as the AT& SF were very prominent in Las Vegas New Mexico, about 55 miles east of Santa Fe. The AT& SF also built another magnificent hotel in Las Vegas NM called  Montezuma's Castle. This was a 400 room, 90,000 square foot building that operated beginning in 1886. Prior to that there were two earlier buildings on the site in 1881 and 1885. When the railroad constructed the hotel they were taking advantage of the natural hot springs adjacent to it. This was quite a tourist draw and even today you can relax in one of the outdoor hot water tubs. In it's day it was a nationally popular resort in Las Vegas NM.

Left wing of La Castenada Hotel

La Castenada was built as a 50,000 square foot railroad hotel in 1898. The hotel was considered an absolute jewel in the Fred Harvey chain and was built as a luxury resort reached by passengers from the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad whose tracks ran directly in front. La Castaneda is one of the earliest Harvey Houses to be built in the Mission Revival style. The architects of this grand hotel and resort were Frederick Roehrig and A. Reinsch. The Rawlings Building which is across the street from the hotel and the Las Vegas train station was used during the period to house the Harvey Girls who staffed the La Castenada. The Harvey Girls and their history is a unique part of the Fred Harvey tradition. Harvey Girls were held to extremely high standards and did much for the reputation of the Harvey Houses. When you walk around the depot area today you'll see several turn of the century buildings. The railroad district is about one and one-half miles east of the plaza. La Castaneda was a sister hotel to Albuquerque's Alvarado Hotel, which was unfortunately demolished in 1970.

To add to the quality of food that Fred Harvey was so noted for, the AT& SF Railroad brought in fresh meat to the Harvey Houses with their new refrigerator rail cars. Food could virtually be brought in from anywhere in the country. There was also a dairy facility in Las Vegas that made it possible to consistently offer fresh milk to customers. As many people know, Fred Harvey was able to offer good food portions at reasonable prices and this plus The Fred Harvey Company's well known quality made the Harvey Houses a big hit with the traveling public. When the AT& SF Railroad finally added dining cars to their routes, Fred Harvey was asked to mange these as well.

Right wing of old Harvey House in Las Vegas, NM

Another thing that Fred Harvey was well noted for was his automobile tours of the surrounding area. He established the tours in several locations including from the La Castenada, the La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe and from the El Tovar at the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Visitors to a Harvey House in New Mexico would also be offered authentic Indian products such as jewelry and pottery. Because the railroad and Fred Harvey were at the very forefront of American southwest travel, their names became a real part of the southwest.

Two additional related articles you'll find interesting are Fred Harvey and the AT& SF Civilize the Southwest and the Harvey House in Slaton Texas which today operates as a very unique B & B.

There are many old Harvey Houses spread west of the Mississippi River and into California. Each has had their own destiny. Some have been demolished such as the old Alvarado in Albuquerque which is unfortunate. Others have been turned into museums and in the case of the Slaton Texas, into a B & B. These old structures, although outdated and many in need of drastic restoration, truly do stand as monuments to a time when the railroad was king and western expansion and tourism was growing rapidly.

View of La Castenada wrap around porch

Today, the old La Castenada Hotel is in the hands of private owners. The hotel today is essentially the way it was originally built. It is closed up except for a small bar that opens in the late afternoon. It's unclear what the future holds for this historic landmark. Passengers traveling on today's Amtrak Southwest Chief which runs daily between Chicago and Los Angeles get a real good glimpse of the former Harvey House hotel as they stop at the train station directly next door. People passing by Las Vegas New Mexico on Interstate 25 can also see the old La Castenada about two blocks off the Interstate along the train tracks.

If your western road trip takes you through this part of New Mexico on the Interstate, I would highly recommend a stop at the Las Vegas railroad district. Visiting Las Vegas New Mexico and the old Fred Harvey La Castenada is a fine addition to your western road trip vacation planner.

(Photos are from author's private collection)


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