Madrid, New Mexico

Madrid is a rebuilt mining town on the Turquoise Trail between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. It was established in 1906, by the Albuquerque and Cerillos Coal Company, supporting as many as 4,000 people working in the coal mines in area. With the rise of natural gas and the decline of local coal markets, Madrid was mostly abandoned. It became populated by hippies in the 1970s, and evolved into a remarkably spirited and creative community, which it still is today, despite a row of established galleries and loads of tourists on the main street. Many homes still have no indoor plumbing. Notable too as a film location, especially for Nicholas Roeg's 1976 film The Man Who Fell To Earth, shot all over New Mexico (David Bowie, as the alien, falls to earth down a slag heap on the south side of town).