The Real Santa Fe

Why Santa Fe Feels Like Home: A Conversation with Craig Cunningham

• Johanna Medina • Season 1 • Episode 12

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Craig Cunningham has lived and worked all over the world—from Boston to Beijing, luxury hotels to marketing boardrooms—but nothing captured his heart like Santa Fe. In this episode, Bunny sits down with her friend and teammate Craig to explore how this vibrant city full of color, culture, and curiosity became home.

From the moment he laid eyes on Santa Fe’s adobe architecture to his current life as a top-producing real estate pro, Craig shares what makes the City Different so unforgettable. You’ll hear about his favorite neighborhoods, hidden restaurant gems, must-see art spots, and how Santa Fe quietly invites you to live with purpose, joy, and a sense of place.

Whether you’re a visitor, a dreamer, or someone who’s already fallen under Santa Fe’s spell, this episode will leave you feeling inspired to see the city—maybe even your own neighborhood—through new eyes.

🎧 Plus, don’t miss the word of the day, stories about deer outside the window, and Craig’s pick for the best taco in town.

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Original Music by: Kene Terry

Bunny:

Here we are.

Craig:

Hi Bunny.

Bunny:

I'm so excited. I'm excited

Craig:

to be here too.

Bunny:

I'm so excited. Welcome to the Real Santa Fe podcast. Ooh. So I wanna let our guests know that today they're gonna meet somebody who sees Santa Fe in a way. Few people do. And I think Craig, that's mostly because of. The amount of traveling you've done mm-hmm. Your entire life. Um, my friend and my teammate, Craig Cunningham, has lived all over the country and traveled all over the world because of this incredible background in marketing.

Craig:

Yes. Yeah. I was very lucky. Well, so my story is I was born in Connecticut. Mm-hmm. And we moved to Dallas when I was 10. Mm-hmm. Uh, and then I have lived. Two times in Boston, in the eighties and in the two thousands.

Mm-hmm.

Craig:

Uh, and my job, I was very lucky to have a job in hotel marketing. So I traveled to Europe, uh, north and all over North America, south America, and even the far East. So the, that's an old fashioned term, the far east. I was in China. Um, so I've been very lucky. And then I've been able to call Santa Fe home for the last six years.

Bunny:

And Vista stood there a lot before, right?

Craig:

Yes. I have been coming to Santa Fe, like a lot of folks who, uh, grew up in Texas, we love to come to Santa Fe because it's a, it's pretty darn easy to get to, uh, either driving or flying right into Santa Fe. Mm-hmm. Uh, and uh, we love to come in the summertime to get out of the Texas heat and also to enjoy. The opera, the Chamber music festival, um, the, uh, you know, the Spanish market, the union market, uh, and just the beautiful weather. And then we love to come. Christmas is such a special time here and, uh, I don't ski anymore, but used to like to come and ski as well. And I've owned, actually owned a house here since 2014, but have been living here full time since 2019. Wow.

Bunny:

Seems longer than that because you are such a fixture here. But do you remember the very first time you came?

Craig:

The very first time I came, it was, yeah, I was probably 22 or 23 and I was just, you know, shocked in, in a wonderful way. At what a unique. Sense of style the place had in terms of the architecture. You know, I had seen pictures of it, but to see the whole city in this beautiful, uh, Adobe style, the territorial style, uh, the Pueblo revival style, um, and uh, just the unique culture and all of the great restaurants and all of the great, uh, art galleries and all of those things that, um, from that time I came back on an annual basis, probably twice a year.

Bunny:

I'm really curious about. Um, I wonder what, because this has just always been, um, you know, I came here. I don't, I don't know. I, I probably was an infant when I came here the first time, but I wonder what people think before they come. I wonder what sort of impression aren't you? I, I mean, you and I see a lot of people who come here for the first time and there's, I think they think we're gonna be sort of a backwater.

Craig:

Yeah. I think they think it's gonna be like the Wild West or something like that, or it's gonna look like Phoenix or, uh, one of the things they think it is Phoenix. They think it is Phoenix. One of the, they s one of the things that's funny is. When I was living in Boston and I would tell people, I'm gonna come for Christmas. They're like, oh, that's great. You'll be be able to be out by the pool. And I'm like, it's not Palm Springs. We're 7,000 feet up in the mountains. It'll be snowing. I'll be sitting in front of the fire and enjoying a nice glass of red wine. But I think. What strikes people the first time? It, it doesn't look like any other place in North America. You know, you could, you could think that you're in a beautiful Spanish, um, uh, you know, colonial town in Mexico somewhere, um, somewhere in Spain. It just, uh, has the, I think really the most unique sense of. Architecture in the United States. Um, and of course that was done by design, by the fabulous architect John Gau memes and the, and the back then it was the city fathers, um mm-hmm. Who proclaimed that, um, this certain sense of architecture and style. Uh, it was always here, but became really popular starting in the early 20th century.

Bunny:

Right. I mean, uh, in fact, I think that wasn't it, um, downtown that used. I mean, we didn't used to have all those amazing port halls. Right. And everything wasn't, um, a stucco building. So 1910 through 1920, there was, you know, the Will Schuster and John Ga memes days?

Craig:

Yes. Yeah. And, and they, you know, the story that I heard is when, when the railroad wasn't gonna come to Santa Fe and it. Um, everyone said, well, we, what are we gonna do? You know, we had, we're at the state capitol, but what are we gonna do to attract business and tourism? And, uh, and those folks, uh, um, the, the, our, the Pueblo style was always here. You know, it was a combination of Spanish and Native American styles, but. They said, let's really encourage this. Because before then, I think the Capitol was probably Victorian, um, looking. Mm-hmm. And then there was French Empire and there was all this kind of stuff. But, um, they really encouraged, uh, a adapting and adopting these, uh, these styles and the use of stucco and it's turned it into this magical, magical place. Um, you know. Just incredibly enc chanting and, and you feel like you're, uh, no place else in the world is like this.

Bunny:

So I'm curious, like what moment after all this traveling and, and I, you, I mean, you even represented a. Um, a French hotel.

Craig:

Yes. A, a French chain called Sofitel. I was the VP of marketing for North and South America, so that was not a bad job. Bad job. Every time we staying at four and a half, four and five star hotels all over, all over North and South America. It was, it was pretty darn nice.

Bunny:

Well, well, what, what was the, what happened? What was the moment when you said, Santa Fe is my home? This is it.

Craig:

Well, I think, you know, we wanted a place that was, um, you know, I. A nice manageable size. And Santa Fe is, um, is, you know, a beautiful, uh, you know, size. We, you know, we get upset when we have to wait in traffic for 10 minutes on Cerrillos, but that's, that's about it.

Bunny:

More, more than one light cycle. And I'm like, I'm going home. Yeah, exactly. Traffic,

Craig:

just disaster. Um, but, you know, we wanted. You know, the, the natural beauty of the place, first of all. Mm-hmm. I mean, to be driving around anywhere in Santa Fe and seeing the Himes, the Sangres, the Ortiz, the, um, sandias, all of all of those things is just magical and in the winter, seeing snow on it. But I think it's such a diverse and, and intellectually curious city. Mm-hmm. Um, that we really liked. Uh, you know, the people. In addition to, you know, the fact that we punch way above our weight in terms of restaurants, and one of the factoids that I learned was that Santa Fe is the third largest in sales volume art market in the United States after New York and Los Angeles.

Bunny:

Uh, people can't believe that. Yeah, I know. It's

Craig:

like, you know, and it's not people just walking in off the street to buy art, although that does happen, but. You know, a lot of these galleries are very serious galleries, and I have collectors from all over the world who buy from them. Mm-hmm. But I think I would have to say ultimately the people, uh, I think people self-select to come to Santa Fe. Mm-hmm. Uh, they come because, uh. They're interested in the arts, they're interested in the outdoors, uh, they're interested in the culture, um, the Native American culture, the, uh, the Spanish and Hispanic culture. And it's a lovely blending of everything. Like, for example, on my street, um, two doors down, there's a retired, uh, drama professor from Yale and her husband runs a think tank. On, um, the environment. Uh, and another guy up the street was the, uh, head of, uh, a music, uh, college in Chicago. Um, and just everybody, you know, everybody has done something interesting and even one of the best stories. I heard was a, uh, a, a friend who used to work for the opera and one time he was getting his car repaired down in s and his contract was up and he was trying to decide whether or not he was gonna stay. And the mechanic was like, well, you know, I really liked, I. You know, uh, Tristan and Ole did this year, but I was really disappointed in so and so, and it was like the mechanic,

right? And

Craig:

it's like if the mechanic is going to the opera, it's gotta be a pretty darn interesting, uh, place to live. Right? And so,

right.

Craig:

I, I think the other, another interesting thing that I've heard, I don't know if it's true, but that we have the largest, um, uh, retired community of State Department, uh, people in the country. So, wow. Yeah, so it's just, you know, everyone and you know, and the people that have lived here, virgin, multi-generations, uh, families, you know, who trace their way all the way back to the Spanish land grants and all of that. And, you know, the incredible Native American culture here. You know, you always are winding up talking to somebody, uh, who's got a really interesting story to tell.

Bunny:

I always, I always think Santa Fe is full of so many people who are much more interesting than I know. I mean,

Craig:

you're very interested.

Bunny:

Oh, no, no. Uh, it is just, you said that people self-select, there's this other thing that people say, they say that Santa Fe either embraces you, or sorry to say, sometimes it spits you out. And I have found that sometimes I'll have clients who move here and after about six months they're like, Nope.

Craig:

Can't do it.

Bunny:

Not for me. Yeah. Doesn't work. Doesn't work. Yeah. And, and so you're right that most of the people that end up staying here are people that. Are very, were very purposeful and, and then felt embraced.

Craig:

Yeah.

Bunny:

And at home. Yeah. That's how it worked for you, right? Yeah,

Craig:

totally. And, and then there are people here that, you know, have a place here. They have a place in Manhattan, um, or, you know, a place in San Miguel, Dede. So they're, you know, they're the word peripatetic. They're traveling all the time. Wow. I love it. I love it. That word for the day use peripatetic.

Bunny:

I love it when we're multi syllab.

Craig:

One, one use it at least one time in a sentence today.

Bunny:

I love that. Um, I, I've made all these great notes because, um, I, I, I, I just, I wanna get your insight. What do. Um, and, and, and Craig and I, we sell real estate. Yes, we do. And we're having a great time. I'm part of the

Craig:

buddy Terry group. Happy to be part of Buddy's team and look

Bunny:

at us how color coordinated. Exactly. We are you folks that are on the radio or on your, on your earbuds. You're gonna have to take a look exactly on YouTube and see how well we matched today. We did not do this on purpose, but what do you think? Um, I mean, some of the questions that we get asked by. New buyers or what? I mean, what do you think that people overlook that, that you'd suggest? They don't? I mean, what's something that, um, people come here with one idea and then, I mean, I had as an example, I had clients last week who were, I said, where have you guys been going to dinner? And they're like, we're cooking in our Airbnb. And I was like, what? I mean, you're like in one of the coolest food towns in the country. I don't think people know that.

Craig:

No, I don't think, uh, a lot of people don't realize. How diverse it is. And there are five star restaurants, four star restaurants, and then mom and pop, uh, places where you can get the best. You know, as you know, I'm passionate about breakfast tacos, um, where you can get great breakfast tacos and Monets. But you know, we also have great, uh, french restaurants, um, Indian, uh, we've got some good sushi places now. So we've had a little bit, uh, of everything. But I think sometimes people, one of the things. That is funny. Whenever you talk to somebody, it's like, well, I want a place close to the plaza, right? Because I wanna walk to the plaza every single day. Right. And, and you know, the thing that they don't realize is, yeah, the plaza is great and the restaurants are great and all of that, but there are so many interesting neighborhoods all over town. You know, the rail yard district now, the Baca district, um, uh, uh, I never pronounced it correctly, but Bel Ma. Is that how you pronou it? You got that? Yeah. Where, you know, you've got a lot of great 1950s mm-hmm. Um, style houses. Um, so they're, uh, or up in the mountains or, you know, uh, um, uh, I was gonna say rancher or Rancho Viejo. Uh, and, uh, uh, um, you know, so many different places and. You don't have to just be in one specific place for the views because the views are everywhere. And even when you're just driving up the road, driving up CREs and that huge traffic jam, which lasts five minutes, you're, you know, you looking, it's like, wow, there's snow on Mount Balty today. It's uh, and there is still snow know in May. Right,

right.

Craig:

So, uh, and I think a lot of people don't realize, um. Also just what a great active place it is. You can, um, you know, sometimes you can go skiing in the morning and go golfing in the afternoon. And the hiking trail system here is amazing. Now I need to get on it. Let's do it a lot more. But you know, right up the street from me is the Dale Ball Trail, the AYA Trail, you know, and also being, you know, kind of in the center of the state where you could go up to Taos. Mm-hmm. You can go to cha. You can go to Silver City. There's so many amazing places to explore in New Mexico, uh, with Santa Fe as your home base.

Bunny:

So when people visit you, I. And I, I want people to know that Craig has this amazing, um, Airbnb.

Craig:

Yes, I do. I have an Airbnb. Oh, it's

Bunny:

so cool. It's so cool. But when people visit you, when friends come to visit, what's the, what are the first two places you take'em?

Craig:

Um, well, let's see. That's a really good question. I will generally take'em, everybody likes to go to the shed. Of course,

of course.

Craig:

Uh, but you know, right next door to us. Is really my favorite place. Palacio. Oh

yeah.

Craig:

Uh, Damien and his wife Maria. It's a true mom and pop place, but amazing, amazing, uh, northern new Mexican food and just a really fun, uh, atmosphere. Uh, and the other place I like to take people, uh, uh, is up to 10,000 waves.

Bunny:

Oh yeah, we, we haven't talked about that much.

Craig:

10,000 ways. You know, it's, you know, it probably it started in the seventies or the eighties and it was kind of probably this hippie, dippy, groovy place back then. And now it looks like it, you know, it's Japanese. It looks like it could be in Kyoto. Um. And, you know, soak in the hot tubs, um, massages and then they have an amazing Japanese restaurant is Anavi. Um, which, you know, you can get great Japanese, uh, style food, but you know, with a modern, um, with a modern kind of twist to it. And I think now. For a long time they didn't, but I think you can have sushi up there now too.

Bunny:

And they have great sake flights.

Craig:

Yes.

Bunny:

Yeah.

Craig:

And again, incredible views. And they also have, uh, guest houses. You can stay up there. Um, so I think that's a really unique place to, uh, to take people or take'em out to NABE Falls. Uh, Bandelier. I've never been

Bunny:

to NABE Falls. Yeah. Or Bandelier.

Craig:

You've never been to band. Well, we're gonna pull your,

Bunny:

no,

Craig:

your New Mexico, uh, vice girl. I, you've gotta get out to Bandelier.

Bunny:

I know, I know. I, that's, I feel so bad about that.

Craig:

I,

Bunny:

um,

Craig:

well, and you know, one other thing that people don't realize,'cause they, they do assume, oh, we're in the desert. It's gonna be very. Brown and it's really very green. I mean, we've got beautiful pinon trees everywhere up in the mountains. And then my partner Eddie, is a master gardener. Oh my gosh. It's his passion. And so, uh, right now our, our garden, which is terrace, is in the process of, it's like the hanging gardens of. Babylon with. And so they're just amazed at all of the, uh, the, uh, flora that's here and the many things you can grow. We can, we roses grow beautifully here. Um, uh, you know, geraniums, uh, lavender, everything. Um, just, it's, it's really in the summertime what they don't realize is we really have a Mediterranean climate.

Bunny:

That's interesting. Yeah. That's a great way to put it. Yeah. Um. I'm curious about. Um, I, I mean, we, we work all the time.

Craig:

Yeah.

Bunny:

I'm curious what keeps you grounded?

Craig:

You know, I think one of the things that really when I wake up in the morning, I can just look out the window and I'm looking out at, uh, the foothills of the song Grace. Mm-hmm. Or sitting, um, uh, in my living room, having coffee in the morning and just looking out over the arroyo, and then all of a sudden. Walking down my street in my little cul-de-sac, there'll be a family of deer. Right. Walking by. Or a coyote. Or a coyote. Yeah. And my, my dog Colby, it's like, it's all worked on about the coyotes, but, uh, coyotes. But, you know, just the, just the nature, just sitting out and looking and the blue skies, it's always beautiful blue skies.

Bunny:

Yeah. I don't, I don't know what the Georgia O'Keefe. Quote is about the skies, but that's obviously

Craig:

Yeah.

Bunny:

What we all stay for.

Craig:

Yeah. And I mean, so sometimes just the quietness of sitting outside on the patio, looking at the mountains, um, looking at all the trees and, uh, you know, one of my best memories from a couple of witchers ago is I was sitting in the morning having coffee and I have big four to ceiling windows in my living room. And all of a sudden this big buck with, with this rack of antlers. We're just kind of looking at the window and, you know, we're kinda like, Hey, how's it, how's it going out there? Uh, and I mean, you don't, you don't get that a lot of other places.

Bunny:

No, no. And you don't get it. So here's, here's another thing that, that I always wanna tell people when they come here is this is a town, really, the city population is under 80,000.

Craig:

Yeah.

Bunny:

And yet we have incredible culture. That's gonna have to get edited out. Oh. Um, who's up there? Who, who walks? Who walks? Who goes there? Um, is it We still have live music every night somewhere. Yep. We still have national touring acts at the Lindsay. Oh

Craig:

yeah. Uh, it's, oh, you know, it's like, let's see, I think Garrison Keeler was here last month. I love, I don't know if you know Fran Liebowitz. She was Yes. Um, you know, a very New York, uh, sardonic. Witt. Yes. I wouldn't say she's a comedian. She's more of a life observer.

Right.

Craig:

But, you know, great music. John, John be, be, John

Bunny:

Batiste

Craig:

is coming in Santa Fe in September

Bunny:

to the opera for two nights.

Craig:

Yeah. And, and also. We have all of these great local like, uh, uh, Eddie, my partner is on the board of Pro Musica. Mm-hmm. Which is a classical early music, uh, a string quartet, uh, primarily but you know, with other instruments as well. And, um. They play amazing music. Uh, and then you've got the Desert Corral and, and, and just, you know, fun honky talk music at the tumbleweed, uh, or a cowgirl or any of those places. So you've got pretty much whatever you want. And there's, there's actually a thing now, oh, what is it called?

Bunny:

Let's stuff for the.

Craig:

Um, there's a, it's called Chatter. It's at the, uh, CCC, the Contemporary Center on, right. I think it's either Saturday morning or Sunday morning and there is all, and, and it sells out. So you have gotta buy your tickets early. Mm-hmm. I think it's$15, but they'll always have some sort of a musical. It's, I think a 10:00 AM a musical performance, I think about this. Yeah. Or an author or something. It's both here and in Albuquerque. Uh, and it's just again. This fun little interesting thing that you can go to and learn something new. And I think that's the thing about Santa Fe. You have the ability to learn something new every day from somebody, or does

Bunny:

peripatetic

Craig:

work there? Peripatetic works there too. Yes. Or word of the day. I hope I used it correctly.

Bunny:

I, I know, uh, I, so there is something, we always talk to people about Santa Fe. It's not just, it's not just a destination, it's really a way of living. Right? Yeah. It's really an accepting and, well, you, you tell me what you think.

Craig:

It's, well, you know, I'm, uh, I'm gay and, um, you know, it's got a large. Gay community. Mm-hmm. Uh, and the, but the thing about Santa Fe is, is everybody's accepting of everybody, right? I mean, you've got Anglo culture, you've got Hispanic culture, uh, you've got Native American culture, you've got people here from India, you know, with the, with the national labs, uh, los almost right up the road. You've got lots of people from, uh, all over the country, uh, and um, all over the world. And all over the world. Yeah. And, and. People, you know, are accepting and, and again, intellectually curious about where are you from, what have you know, what do you do? Mm-hmm. What, tell me

Bunny:

your story. Tell me your story. Yes. Yeah. And everybody,

Craig:

um, uh, everybody, you know, likes that. And it's, and one of the things I find the most interesting is when you talk to, uh, native American or, um, uh. Uh, Hispanic families about, you know, some of them have, you know, well obviously the Native Americans, they were here first folks. Mm-hmm. Yep. Um, but then the, uh, the Hispanic, uh, families where they go back to, you know, some, all the way back to the, uh,

Bunny:

four CAPTA doors, 400

Craig:

years. Yes,

Bunny:

yes, yes.

Craig:

One of the funniest things is one time I was doing a deal for a house out in Pecos and the title work came back. On microfiche, um, was the original Spanish land grant, you know, in beautiful cursive, uh, Spanish. It was pages and pages long, uh, and it just blew my mind to think, you know, and that is one of the things I think people don't realize how old Santa Fe is. Oh, 15 40, 15 45, something like that.

Bunny:

Well, it depends on where you, what, where you count from, but it is. I'm sorry, St. Augustine, but the oldest city in the United States.

Craig:

Yeah. Take that St. Augustine. Take that. Yes. And, and that we have the longest continuing operating, uh, capital building in North America. Because the municipal

Bunny:

building Yeah.

Craig:

Of the governor's. Yeah. Because it was at the end of

Bunny:

the governor's, I'm sorry, palace of the Governor. Palace of

Craig:

the Governors. The end of the governors is a great place too. Yes. But the palace of the, the governors, which, um, uh. It was founded by the conquistadors.

Bunny:

Right. We apologize for the stomping around, but the office just opened. Yes. And that's where we are. And we're,

Craig:

we're selling houses here, folks. We

Bunny:

are, we are. We're having fun. Okay, so Craig, I just gotta thank you for giving us your really generous and joyful look at Santa Fe. One of the coolest things about working with you is that you are always. Generous and joyful. Uh, so I'm just gonna say, if you're ever in the office and the right reference comes along, Craig will just break In the song,

Craig:

I'll break into song. It's like, it's, it, it, it could be about I have got a song for everything.

Bunny:

It does every address, every exactly every house. But this, I love this and I'm, and, and here's the cool thing. You're an example of how you can come from anywhere.

Craig:

Yeah.

Bunny:

And be at home here.

Craig:

Yeah. And, you know, I, uh, you know what is amazing and I, I love working with you, uh, and our team so much energy. But, you know, I came here and I thought I was gonna retire, and I realized that I was a VSY retiree. And then also I had all of a sudden realized that there was money going out, no money coming in. But I was, I hate it when that happens. Uh. Five years ago, I started a real estate career and you know, I'm, I'm pleased to say now if you, if you work hard in Santa Fe, you can, it is, it's the Santa Fe dream of the American Dream.'cause now I think I'm in the top 30 years in Santa Fe.

Bunny:

Yeah.

Craig:

So it's an exciting, along with you, the two of us together, when you add up teams,

we

Craig:

are, we're like. Three or four. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fun. Yes.

Bunny:

Yes. So where can people find you on Instagram?

Craig:

Uh, so I'm at Santa Fe Craig on Instagram.

Bunny:

And what's your website?

Craig:

Www, well, you don't have to say that anymore. City, but I can't remember what it's called. Craig something Craig sells Santa Fe or something like that.

Bunny:

Nice.

Craig:

Something obvious.

Bunny:

We'll find the link and we'll put it in the show notes. You can find Craig. And, and I want, I, I, I want, I want you to see Santa Fe, the Craig Way.

Craig:

The Craig way. I would love to show you my Santa Fe. And that's another wonderful thing. Everybody has their Santa Fe. Yes. So

Bunny:

yes.

Craig:

Um, yes. But anyway, thank you so much for having me. Oh, you're

Bunny:

so welcome. And I'm just gonna ask everybody out there to. Take a look at our other episodes. Um, we've talked about food, we've talked about history, we've talked, well, we've talked books with Anne Hillerman. So go back, take a look at what we've already recorded and stay on, subscribe, and feel free to read us. Yeah,

Craig:

and Bunny is the social media Maven of Santa Fe. She was doing social media before. Social media was cool. I.