Welcome to the New Trinidadco.com Forum

[admin]

Welcome....to the new forum. Let me just first say that as with doing anything new it will take you a while to get used to this new forum....maybe. It is so well designed and is considered one of the premier forum software suites available today. It has many exciting features plus most likely we will be adding upgrades to it as well.

One of the exciting features for me is it's security features so while you will have to get used to these new features new members now will be able to register without sending us an email and then for us to then have to manually register them. This should be fully automated now with security measures.

As soon as we get the bugs worked out and get more comfortable with using the forum we will be adding ways that people or businesses can sponsor their forum and advertise here and promote their local services. So setting up the new forum and moving the site to a new platform is just the first step.

We are also going to be adding a more automated business directory to the site where again local Businesses and Organizations and promote their products and services and add their webpages, emails and information.

Hey hope you enjoy the new forum and upgrades and know that we are here to help if you need assistance. Thanks for

Charlie
Trinidadco.com

[steffi]

Hi everyone, I am kind of new here but I really enjoy this site. I only get to visit Trinidad in the summers but I used to live there. I hope that I will get to meet some of you one day...Steffi

[Adobe Gold]

Steffi,

Great Job. Glad to see that you made it okay. Welcome and enjoy. Note: there are a lot of hidden gems within this forum about the local area so be sure to try some searches or just poke around...you just never know what you will find.

Charlie

[admin]

alethavelarde thanks for sharing...but you left out a few details that would be interesting to know...what was the name of your restraurant? and since I have a personal connection to Alabama...where in Alabama?

My first visit to Trinidad was in 78, I didn't think much of it,in November.
I remember being cold all the time. As I had flown in from Arkansas to say I was not acclimated would be an understatement. My sis and her husband owned the KFC in trinidad, she would drive down to Arkansas maybe once a month to try to get me to sell my 68 MG Midget, move to Trinidad and open a restaurant . This of course was crazy,to move to a place I had always thought was in Spain,with my young son,sell my precious MG and open "somekind" of restaurant. Finally she wore me down so I did it.The day we arrived at Capulin,we drove through a thunderstorm, we saw lighting strike a tree,hail piled up like snow drifts. In the distance it was like a wall of white,"what the heck is that?"I asked ,snow Deb said. We drove slowly through the blizzard I couldn't see the hood ornament on the car it was so thick.As we gained altitude we reached the top of Raton Pass. At the top of the hill the valley was before us and to our right was a double rainbow. I lived in Colorado for the next 28 years. We opened our restaurant I married a native, we were together for 26 years.I am home now, in Alabama this time,But my heart still misses Trinidad.

[alethavelarde]

The restaurant was named "The Beef an Brew"located at 123 pine st. We opened in August of 81. I remember how excited I got because it snowed, our customers thought I was a little touched,they told me, just wait and see if you still feel that way this winter.I did and I am still a little "touched".We now live just outside of Birmingham drowning in a sea of kudzu.P.S. the "Beef an Brew was and I guess is still haunted.Will tell the story if asked.

[Dodie]

Alethavelarde, please tell the story. Would like to hear it and am sure others would too .

[alethavelarde]

Part one :We first saw the location at 123 pine st. in the summer of 81. As I said I first visited in 78,it took the next three years of persuasion by my younger sister to finally sell my car,quit my job and relocate myself and my young son to a place I wasn't too fond of,to attempt a business that people who I had known personally over the years, with more backing, time and certainly more capital than we had,had lost everything. My sis and her husband had the KFC franchise on Prospect st. where the healthfood store is now. I had some food service experience working in a high end restaurant in Little Rock,Arkansas. The trip to Trinidad was not uneventful with a large house cat,two energetic little boys,( mine and hers)and the Oklahoma Panhandle in summer.(oops another story) We found the location through a realtor and met with the owner, Ms. Montoya. We both commented later that Ms. Montoya seemed nervous all the time we were there,she kept glancing over her shoulder and seemed generally uncomfortable. It is a very large building with two large dining rooms, we would reserve for banquets .We only paid $ 500.00 per month, we could not get over how cheap it was even for that time. We were still in cleaning stage,which took a couple of weeks (sorry Ms.Montoya)we were just closing up to go home and I was standing at the front check-out area talking to my sis.She had her head down looking at some papers and said, " there is a man standing next to you,dressed in grey."Of course I jumped and said,"What! where where!?" She said "he's gone now" Well, I didn't see anything, but I believed her.I don't remember anything else that happened,it was pretty quiet until we opened.We were not busy at first, we had some growing pains adjusting to our customer base. After quite a few people came in and left, we figured out very quick to lower our prices. We reworked the menu and had a very brisk lunch and dinner business .The kitchen door would open and you would see someone go out the door to the back dining room, where the bathrooms were located .Sometimes, you could hear the men's restroom toilet flush and the water running. But the person would never return to the kitchen. This would always happen when we at our busiest, so you only halfway paid attention to it. The water flushing became almost a normal everyday thing later on. The basement was one of the creepiest places I think I have ever seen.There is something to say about the atmosphere of a place, the feeling of not only being watched but, the watcher is very close. The basement itself is huge ,in places the ceiling goes up for 20 feet. It covers almost all the area of the restaurant, but you feel like you need to hurry when you are down there,there's no time, no room. It,s not even dark. When we would have banquets or dinners in the large back dining room, I would bartend.There was a pass though window from the kitchen to pass food orders through. The landing of the basement was where the kitchen employee stood to access the bar window, so there would often be someone there. I would hear heavy footsteps like the person wore cowboy boots,(not unusual) but there was never anyone there. This was during the time where there may have been music in the dining room, people talking, it was quite loud at times. But I would hear the footsteps. I have stuck my head through the window to look but there was never anyone there. We would ask kitchen staff about it,we kept the restock items in the basement, but no one had been down there, no one wanted to go in the basement, and never after dark.But these things all came after we had the break in... more later,P.S. my sister says I didn't say enough about the food and our restaurant I will say, we had great steaks, prime rib,and seafood. And we were branded by the Cattleman's Association.(lots of cowboy boots ) more later.

[Usmorlans.com]

Awesome story...PLEASE tell us more!

[alethavelarde]

Part two: Early one morning at about 3:00 A.M., the Trinidad police called my sister Deb and her husband ,Tony to tell them of a break in at the pine st. restaurant. The sliding glass door at the rear of the back dining room was pried open. The thieves only took a large bin of homemade bread and some cheap wine we kept for display purposes in the bar area. I say display only because I sampled said wine, in a moment of weakness and tell you the bouquet and flavor would remind you of your granny's kerosene lamp. It was not missed, we figured the thieves must have been kids ,as the large amount of beef and seafood in the coolers was not touched. About 2 weeks after the break in, the mayor,(my brother in law tells me Rino was the mayor in 81 I believe him) his wife and his two little boys came in with a woman bringing up the rear. I can't remember who the mayor was, what he or his wife looked like, how old his boys were, or any clear description of what they wore. But I can to this day almost 29 years later still clearly see the woman who came in with them.When you enter the restaurant, there is a long barnwood partition on your right, that with the brick wall on your left, forms a long hallway that
opens up to the checkout area, the open area for the salad bar, the kitchen and a hallway to the back dining room.You cannot enter or leave the front dining area without walking directly in front of the checkout area. It was after a busy lunch when the mayor and his family came in, the only people in the restaurant were Myself my sister Deb and Susie ,our waitress. The woman who came in with them had teased black hair that looked like a hurricane couldn't move it,black rimmed pointy glasses with the rhinestones in the frames.A black polyester turtleneck sweater,black polyester pants with the front crease sewn in.She had a black patent leather purse and a thin red mouth.I thought she was one of the Fox sisters who ran the movie theater.There were two of them , one was tall with a goiter on her neck, the other was shorter and heavier and didn't like pinon nuts or smoochin in the lobby. This lady looked like the heavier of the two.They all sat at a table in the front near the checkout area,we were all talking back and forth, I took everyone a menu. The mayor and his wife were sitting facing us . Deb,Susie and I were standing behind the checkout counter,the two little boys sat at one end of the table to our right , and the "lady" sat facing them to our left.I asked if anyone would like me to get their drinks while they decided what to order.The two little boys asked for pop , the mayor said he would like a beer and my sister reminded him we do not yet have a liquor license.She said jokingly,"You know mayor if you would call a city council meeting we could start the approval process".He smiled and said, "I Know, I know, ok, bring me a cup of coffee." his wife said she would have a cup also .I said, ok, that's 2 pop and coffee,coffee, I pointed at the "lady," " coffee?" she nodded.From where Deb and Susie were standing,they could see the mayor and his wife plainly, the two little boys were hidden behind a part of the partition that curved into the dining area. The "lady" was partially hidden behind a support post, you could still see her arms and hands if she leaned forward, you could see her head.The coffee station was behind where Susie and Deb were standing, still talking to the mayor. As I approached the table with the drinks, I noticed the "lady in black" was gone! I served the mayor, his wife and kids their drinks and the now empty chair got coffee.I went back to where Susie and Deb were standing and asked " Where did that woman go ? Deb and Susie both looked at the chair, where not 2 minutes before the lady had been sitting.They were both looked shocked and confused.The same way I felt.Deb said, She didn't walk by us!". I said She must have, you must have seen her.!"Deb said "I didn't see anybody walk by, there is no way to leave with out us being able to practically touch her!"."Susie started crying and saying ,I ,didn't see her she didn't get by here, I can't handle this, it's too much ! this place is creepy what are we gonna do?"This was said by all three of us at once,talking over each other at a whisper so the mayor hopefully won't hear us. We had to do something about Susie, she was becoming a little hysterical.I told Deb,"You are going to have to drink that coffee, other wise it will look like I served an empty chair!"I'll take Susie in the back and try and calm her down, you get their lunch order and call me in a few minutes."So Deb sat down with the mayor and chatted, Susie finally calmed down, she even served them their lunch, Deb drank the coffee and we didn't talk much about it until,we were sitting down again after a busy lunch about two weeks later, when a white van parked in front of the restaurant.I told Deb,"That's the cops ." She said how do YOU know?"
I said," I don't know, it's just a feeling and that long antenna on the van made me think it's the cops". Two men got out with walkie talkies on their belts and entered the restaurant. Deb said "oh crap!" we immediately thought of every thing we ever did that might have been illegal,every unpaid parking ticket,every old speeding ticket, We also have two young sons who could always be in some kind of trouble or worse. There was an older man and a younger one, The older man introduced himself as the D.A. of Trinidad, the younger man was a patrolman for the city of Trinidad.I think the younger of the two's first name was Scott, I don't remember the older man's name, maybe some of our readers could add that information. The older of two said" we are here to talk to the waitress who witnessed the apparition." "Oohh,the ghost!" Deb said "which one?, there have been foot steps, the kitchen door flies open,you see someone out of the corner of your eye and they go up to the restroom area and never come back." The D.A. said the one that involved the mayor. Deb and I both looked at each other,we had not shared that information with many people. We got coffee,sat down and the older gentleman said"It's come to my attention ,that someone in this restaurant witnessed a "unusual " incident with the mayor." We told him everything. We talked for hours,we refilled our coffee cups several times,we told them about the kitchen door opening,the toilet flushing and that we had recently served a banquet to 45 people, as we were keeping count of the customers to dishes served, Myself and the cook saw a man entering the hall to the back dining room.We both caught a glimpse of a tall man in a fedora and tan raincoat. We both counted him and made one extra plate,but when it was delivered to the banquet by the server ,the man was nowhere to be found. The cook and myself went to the back dining room and searched but we couldn't find him either. We made the cook eat the prime rib dinner.They all thought that was funny. My sister remarked the incidents seemed to intensify, after the break-in happened ,a few weeks before. The older gentleman said,"This is the officer who investigated the break-in at your restaurant.Officer Scott .......(don't remember his last name.) I had observed him acting oddly for some time,he seemed distracted and the incident report he filed with the station just seemed like something was missing." So I sat him down this morning and told him to spill it."
I asked him" what's wrong? I can tell you have something on your mind so let's hear it." Officer Scott said," One morning at 2:45 a.m. I was making my rounds, I had driven through the alley that runs along the east side of the building , as I drove up the alley headed north,I observed on my left , one side of the rear double glass doors of the Beef and Brew restaurant appeared to be open.I parked my patrol car, radioed dispatch of a possible break in,got my flashlight and inspected the door.It was obviously damaged, the lock had been completely smashed and the glass area was cracked,but not broken.As I stepped through the door I could see a speaker hanging from a shelf which held other sound equipment, it was swinging slightly. As I approached the bar area where the hanging speaker was, I could faintly hear people talking and glasses and dishes clinking from the front dining room.I could hear music playing as I entered the hallway that led to the front part of the building. I drew my weapon.When I stepped into the open are I could see the kitchen on my left and what looked like the salad bar on my right. It was now completely silent. Another patrolman was on the scene by this time, we searched the building from top to bottom but never found anything. I reported drawing my weapon, but didn't say why.It bothered me a lot to basically falsify my report ,but I could see no way to write it down.It sounded a little crazy. It took me several weeks to tell Mr." D.A." what had really happened. I told him this morning and here we are."We talked to the two men for a while longer when officer "Scott" said," earlier this year,I was driving south on Animas, as I passed the library, I saw my best friend at the carwash, he was polishing his car,a 55 chevy that was his pride and joy. We both waved, I went around the block to talk to him, but he had already left , my wife called me later to tell me he had died the night before from a car wreck in his chevy. I told her that was impossible I had just seen him at the car wash. I called his family and they confirmed he had died earlier in the morning at the hospital. I guess he was telling me goodbye." Mr" D.A." said," about a year ago, I and some of my friends had gone elk hunting,we had no luck with the morning hunt so we tried again that evening, I was tired I had walked and walked with no luck,I decided to pack it in when I heard my dad's voice in my ear plain as day to walk up the next ridge,my dad has been dead for years so I was startled, but I climbed that ridge.As I reached the top right in front of me was the biggest buck elk I have ever seen to this day.Looking me right in the eye."Did you shoot him,?" we asked,he said "no I couldn't do it, I let him go,as I watched him walk away he wasn't afraid he just strolled down the hill like it was Sunday". We kept the Beef and Brew open for 2 years, my sister divorced her husband,we sold the restaurant to the people who renamed it the" Picketwire" we later both of us ,got married in the back dining room . My sis married Bill Parrish from the sheriffs department, I married our cook, Raul.(Carl "popo" Veltri was at our wedding) most of the Trinidad police department was at our wedding.I noticed the lady who ran the place seemed a little jumpy and kept looking over her shoulder. That's my story sorry it was so long I never realized how much went on until I put it on paper.

[JEG]

This is just great stuff, I am retiring in 4 years, 7 months, 13 day's and.....1 hr. and 26 minutes. We are looking at trinidad as our being our final home. My father in law is a current resident, and we have visited many times. I'm hoping my wife can find an RN position somewhere around there, and as a high school football coach, I hope I can volunteer and find a place to fit in, and I hope you good people are around when we get there.