"Bisbee Arizona - "Little San Fransico" " a Bisbee Travel Page by Lionman

Bisbee Arizona is a charming little former mining town set in hilly country near the Bisbee open-cast copper mine which closed down in the 1970's. Old Bisbee is the most interesting section, with a maze of steep hilly streets dotted with fascinating briquebraque and clothes shops generally run by their baby-boomer generation owners. The whole town has a distinct hippy feel which perhaps gave rise to it being nicknamed "Little San Fransisco". The local people are exceptionally friendly and we were greeted with smiles by nearly everyone we met. There is a strong sense of it being an artists' and musicians' town with craft shops every where amongst the highly photogenic and individually styled buildings. No two houses or shops are alike, which is a pleasant change from the semi-uniformity of so many American small towns. My wife once lived and went to high school there and we are thinking it might be a lovely place to live again.

As a Brit, Bisbee struck me as very similar to English small towns like Penzance in Cornwall and Totnes and Kingsbridge in Devon back in the UK and I felt instantly at home there. It also has an almost New Orleans feeling with bars that open onto the street and people sitting on their porches watching the world go by.