The following is an original production of AZPM News.

(Tom) This week on Arizona Illustrated, we're taking you on an adventure in Bisbee to experience a global art destination.

(Sloane) The more viewpoints you can expose yourself to, the more it allows you to understand what you care about.

(Tom) See how residents are forging a new path for cyclists.

(Meggen) People are going to be able to ride their bikes to Lowell and to Warren and just get around town easier.

(Tom) If you have questions about recycling, Bisbee has answers.

(Katherine) Anybody can recycle.

It's really not hard and every little bit I think helps.

(Tom) And don't leave hungry.

We'll introduce you to the chef behind some of the state's best noodles.

(C.J.

)The food is made with a lot of love.

Hello and welcome to Arizona Illustrated.

I'm Tom McNamara.

And today we're joining you from Bisbee, one of Southern Arizona's most popular tourist destinations.

And first up, we're going to take it to a global arts destination that celebrates the rebellious energy of graffiti and street art.

♪ GENTLE MUSIC ♪ (Sloane) My passion is supporting artists.

So with Artemizia, when I first started collecting, I bought, you know, the sort of dead white guys.

And I saw a Guerilla Girls exhibition at the Pompidou in Paris, and I was like, why am I not collecting living women artists?

Because they're kind of shut out of the market.

It's so unfair, and they really woke me up, the Guerilla Girls, and it changed my entire ethos and attitude towards art.

That really pushed me into the street art world.

♪ GENTLE MUSIC ♪ (Corie) By divine intervention, Sloane saw an installation I did in LA after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

I did a big 1950s, you know, going back in time situation.

Even when he was building this place, I was in awe just to see his eye for things and the collection and being able to, for having just normal people to experience, to observe this, art is insane.

(Sloane) When I was painting full time, I was actually making a living.

You know, you sell a painting, you get to pay the orthodontist bill on your kid's braces, and I decided to go into business, and I found a little tiny startup that had created the first encryption for processing credit cards online.

That company now processes half the world's transactions.

When we sold our first big business, my wife and I set up a foundation, and that allowed me to change from being a struggling artist to being a collector.

(David) When I met Sloane with Artemizia, just this art collection just blew me away.

So, as you know, I'm a member of the museum.

I come in here regularly just to go through because you'll see something different every time.

They're always changing things, and bringing things out of storage.

At the same time, you're kind of overwhelmed in one trip.

So, it's so nice to have it in my town where it's not like going to MoMA in New York, where you go twice a year if you're lucky.

And, you know, I can come here, you know, almost weekly and do a walkthrough and really take time with one piece of art and just like, okay, what was going on there?

What are they doing?

And look at the technique.

(Sloane) I was realizing I only want to collect art from living artists, and I am trying my best to only acquire art directly from artists so that they make all the money because I never had something like that when I was an artist myself.

You know, I never had a patron who kept me alive financially.

When you're acquiring art, if you decide to be a collector, try to find an artist that you love, you love their art, and help them make a living because that's extremely important.

We don't want to lose artists in our society.

(David) I was a photographer for many, many years, doing, you know, specializing in celebrity portraiture.

I photographed everyone from Nelson Mandela, Springsteen.

Yeah, list goes on and on.

I ended up coming from New York City to Bisbee.

I just loved the town.

It was like the West Village stuck in the middle of the desert.

Sloane opened my eyes to a lot of different artists, like street artists that I wasn't aware of.

And for this show, he's made introductions.

You know, we've photographed Shepherd Fairey, Swoon, Sen2, Risk Rock, so it was just legends, for this show.

(Sloane) I really love activist art.

Not just collect, but to be able to know these artists, you know, to actually have a conversation with Corie Mattie, who's a brilliant street artist, who's an activist.

(Corie) I always drew as a kid, but it wasn't even an option for me to go to school for art.

And I moved to LA, not until 2020 was when like, LA Hope Dealer, that's my street art name, was born.

Like, and you know, that's where a lot of art and activism, like that's where I live now.

And I kind of just fell into that, hypocritical of things, I could flip on its head, I'm pretty sarcastic.

For example, that "Roe v. Wade" install, it was like, "welcome back to the '50s."

Like, "we get ahead by putting your needs last."

Like, it was very blunt and like, you know, talking about hangers and like, it was a very in-your-face situation.

And it was way easier years ago, like in 2020, like that was the easiest thing to be like, cool, what's the topic for the week?

I can just, you know, kind of play off of these words, but now there's so much stuff every day.

The headlines like, I'm like, is it the end of the world yet?

Or I don't, I don't know.

So it's like, you can't even pick one thing anymore because there's just so much chaos.

(Sloane) The more viewpoints you can expose yourself to, the more it allows you to understand what you care about and what you value as a human being.

Got 150 artists in our collection and they're from 50 different countries.

You know, some people will spend four hours here and walk out sobbing because they're so touched by the art here and by people's journeys.

And that is opening up like a chamber of your heart that really helps you get in touch with your humanity.

So that's what I think art really can do for you.

(David) You're not gonna really experience art on your phone or even on your computer monitor.

When you go to a museum, you're seeing the actual work of art.

You see them in that dimension that you don't see when it's on a photo of that art.

And in a place like here with Artemizia, to have this kind of art collection in Arizona, let alone the United States, it's a world-class collection.

There's just so many layers to it.

So get out and get to the museum.

[ LAUGHS ] ♪ UPBEAT POP PIANO ♪ Next, we'll show you how a dream is coming true for Bisbee residents who've raised millions of dollars for years for a major construction project connecting Old Bisbee with communities like this Historic Lowell where we are now.

(Voiceover) Bisbee, Arizona is one of the most visited towns in the state thanks to its distinctive topography and architecture, colorful culture and history, a growing food and beverage scene and other attractions.

♪ SINGING COUNTRY FOLK SONG ♪ (Voiceover) The city has a population of about 5,000 people but it draws in a much higher number of visitors each year, around 200,000 guests according to official estimates.

If you live in the city it's not like this, everything is, it's cookie cutter.

Here it's original.

Some of the things I like about Bisbee are the people.

The people are very welcoming and always super nice.

Every turn you make, every shop you enter, it's magical.

I don't know how to say it.

That's how I feel.

(Voiceover) The majority of tourists visit this particular section of town, Old Bisbee.

It's the place with the familiar images you are likely to see in travel magazines or other publications.

However, the metropolitan area stretches for many more miles in different directions.

Bisbee has three different wards in around 10 neighborhoods.

So there's Old Bisbee and then there's Lowell and there's Warren and all these neighborhoods are connected by State Route 80 or State Route 92.

Traffic travels anywhere from 45 to, you know, if they're speeding, 65 miles an hour.

(Voiceover) That's why Bisbee's boosters are looking forward to a new alternative for the community.

[ CHEERING ] (Meggen) We're excited because this is going to be the first path for bikes and pedestrians ever for, I mean, since the highway was put in place in 1961.

(Voiceover) Bisbee Bikeways is a project that's promoting a protected shared use path around the Lavender Pit.

This open pit copper mine on State Route 80 that separates the city.

(Meggen) They can walk now but it's on an 18-inch sidewalk and then they have to cross four lanes of traffic to the other side.

So this is going to be a really nice thing and people are going to be able to ride their bikes to Lowell and to Warren and just get around town easier.

(Meggen) This barrier is going to be similar to the one across the street, which is protecting the ditch but not pedestrians and cyclists.

(Voiceover) Meggen Connolley is a Bisbee native with strong roots in this community.

She's been leading the transportation transformation idea for years, planting the seed and helping it grow.

(Meggen) I heard about Bisbee Bikeways when I created the project, which was in 2018 after my daughter, Lareah, was born and I felt this immense need to do something about climate change on a local level and reduce carbon emissions.

And so I went out on foot and on bike and talked to local stakeholders to find out where we could have paths for people to get around as an alternative to driving.

The more that I did it, the more that I realized that it's not just about reducing carbon emissions (Voiceover) She also believes that pedal and pedestrian power can increase tourism throughout the area, promote more exercise and better health, boost connectivity between communities and improve safety, a major goal for the many supporters.

(Coriana) It was a pretty traumatic experience.

I landed in the sitting position and I passed out and woke up when the ambulance arrived.

(Voiceover) Coriana Eastman is a veteran and retired aviation maintenance technician who is very familiar with the dangers.

(Coriana) I was training for El Tour de Tucson later in the year.

It was in the early evening.

It was after dusk and I was almost to the Old Bisbee cutoff when I was struck from behind by a drunk driver and I flew up onto his hood, took out his right side mirror and then struck my head on a concrete barrier and split my helmet open (Voiceover) Other people have not survived their accidents while riding a bicycle (Carolyn) My husband left one day and he never came home.

This was the picture we made at his funeral.

It was during COVID and he was teaching at Douglas High School, lovin' life.

He was run over by a motorist in the Mule Pass Tunnel.

He was an avid cyclist.

That was his way of working out.

He happened to die in the tunnel, but he used these roads all over the place so he would have benefited from all of these paths.

(Coriana) I took a big hit with my mental state and physical state and it was a lot harder to recover from because exercise was such a big part of my life.

(Carolyn) I worked really hard as a board member for four years and this was kind of a culmination of that.

I wanted to be here for this ceremony and I actually told Meggen when we do the ribbon-cutting ceremony, I prefer shovels.

That's when I was going to resign from the board.

It started, the momentum's going and I'm so happy to see that.

I dedicated my work to this path to him and to our community and making things better.

(Voiceover) Ultimately, the project supporters hope to get 36 miles of protected path lanes in this area.

Residents and visitors will be able to travel all the way to Naco on the U.S.-Mexico border and back to Bisbee.

(Meggen) This can totally be a reality.

You know, everyone thought this was impossible and it's happening.

In the process of doing that and making that, you really make a fun town.

It really intersects with a lot of great things.

Back in the 1960s and 70s Bisbee became a haven for artists and over the years it's become environmentally conscious.

So next we're going to show you how this community has come together to solve the mysteries of recycling.

(Mike) The majority of the glass bottles, if you can see it's pretty much alcohol.

This is probably a two week's worth.

[ GLASS CLINKING ] And then we crush it and it makes sand out of it.

And right now we're using the sand for like sandbags and stuff like that.

And it's been raining pretty good.

So a lot of the residents need sandbags.

[ GLASS CLINKING ] [ GLASS CLINKING ] I've been with the city for 14 years now.

And I've lived in Bisbee my whole life, 34 years.

Everybody brings their stuff to us.

And in a smaller town like this, you don't have as many people, as many employees.

So for them to bring their stuff to us, it helps us out cuz we're not out in the field picking up, collecting from the residents.

They bring all their stuff to us.

♪ PLUNKY STRING MUSIC ♪ This is what it looks like once it's processed and baled.

We take it up to Tucson to a recycling plant.

We put 20 bales, which is two stacks of 10 on the truck.

We're estimating we take about six tons and that's how we transport it.

[ METAL CLANKING ] ♪ MYSTERIOUS STRINGS ♪ [ ENGINE RUMBLING ] Here in Bisbee, people are really passionate about recycling.

(Erick) There was an influx of folks in the 70s who were really what people call hippies, that were looking for cheap real estate and looking to build up a town.

And so now Bisbee is more known for, or as much known for art and music as it is for the mining community.

With that community, they brought with them this sense of ecological awareness.

And so they pushed for a recycling program here in Bisbee, when many other recycling programs have shuttered down to include Sierra Vista, Douglas... We're the closest thing for a lot of residents in this area.

They see that as a service to their community and I agree with them.

It's something that I'm glad to provide for the residents of Bisbee.

So I did 20 years in the army for combat tours as a paratrooper.

Nobody really thanks me for that, but I get thanked pretty often.

Bisbee thanks us all the time for what we do out here, so it's much appreciated.

(Katherine) I think it's important to be a good steward of our earth.

I think it reduces quite a bit of waste.

It takes a little bit of time as far as sorting, but if it's a small contribution, then that's what I can do.

This setup here makes it very easy to recycle.

It's easy, it's clean, it's efficient.

Recycling was something that was really important to my mom.

And when it became hard for her to drive, I offered to help her with her recycling.

Sierra Vista did a program for a little while, but when that program wasn't available, Bisbee is the next closest program.

Anybody can recycle, it's really not hard.

And every little bit, I think, helps, it reduces by that much.

♪ UPLIFTING BELLS ♪ One of our biggest challenges is having people do it right now.

(Interviewer) Do you recycle?

(Carder) I do recycle.

Do you recycle?

(Chrysa) I do not.

(Marcus) Yes, we do recycle.

(Chris) Yes.

(Jenni) Yes, I do.

So I like the planet.

Seems like a good thing to do.

I live in a county pocket, so it's in Scottsdale, but it's a county pocket, so they don't offer that.

I recycle 'cause there's a lot of material that I feel like can be reused.

It kind of grosses me out that if I throw things away, they're just sitting there in... the trash, and when they can be reused.

[PLASTIC RATTLING] A lot of people get confused on the plastic.

You know, you have different kinds of plastic.

You have ones, twos, threes.

(Interviewer) What's the difference between a plastic one and a plastic two?

[ CHUCKLING ] I don't know.

I don't know.

Five, sixes, sevens.

So one and two, it's the different types of plastic.

It's actually the different molecular polymer difference.

I haven't looked that far into it.

Ones are typically your water bottles or clear plastics, and then your twos are like your detergent bottles, or milk jugs, or things like that.

(Interviewer) Where do you think your recyclable waste goes after it's picked up?

Ah, that's a good question, you see, it doesn't- that's not- something, you know, we generally just wave it on its way and then feel good about ourselves.

But I don't know, maybe it goes to Indonesia or something.

I've read a lot about the fact that recycling is just to feel good about it.

That a lot of the recycling that you do just ends up bundled on a ship.

I get asked occasionally, 'Are you guys really recycling this stuff or does it go into the landfill?'

And I have to assure people, no, absolutely, we're trying to reclaim everything we can.

This is a confusing thing because it's also not federally standardized.

It's going to largely depend on the infrastructure of your local community.

Combating the misinformation is an important part of it, too.

(Interviewer) For people who may not recycle, what would you say to encourage them to start recycling?

Well, like, why wouldn't you?

Before you even get to the decision of whether or not to recycle the plastic, I would find alternatives to using plastic.

It honestly feels better to recycle, but also I can understand why there might not be such a good incentive to recycle.

It's quite easy, I mean, you just have to throw everything in the blue bin and then stick it out on a Wednesday every two weeks.

Most people can manage that.

These guys are always outside, you know, all day.

Heat, rain, snow, cold, hot, it don't matter.

They're out here.

I'm really proud to be a part of the Bisbee community, where they feel like any contribution that we can make to prolonging our environment and making life on this planet better, that's what we're aiming for.

But you can't leave Bisbee without getting something to eat so next we take you to the colorful heart of this town and a noodle shop that offers a warm and fragrant taste of Vietnam.

♪ UPBEAT MUSIC ♪ (Thuy) I love to cook pho and I eat pho every day.

I like pho because at first I like the flavor.

And then the second thing like they have a lot of protein in there because we cook with the bone in there.

And when I get full my stomach light it's not heavy.

So it's make me come back to working again and really easy smooth together.

[C.J.]

We started coming here when I was stationed here as a young lieutenant about thirteen years ago.

My wife found the restaurant it used to be in the-down the hill here in Bisbee and it was a very small space at that time.

And in such a small space I think we got to know Thuy and just the food is amazing.

We've lived in Hawaii so we've had pho from pretty nice places and this is honestly the best pho we've had anywhere.

It's definitely worth the short drive for us.

(Thuy) When I'm started I just sell the pho and the roll and then I add more meal every day.

It will be like have a beef pho, chicken pho and then a lot vegan around here.

And so they asked me like why you don't sell vegan pho?

Then I have to call for my mom and my mom help me about that, how to cook the vegan pho because I don't know how to do it.

We doesn't sell it in Vietnam.

♪ JOVIAL MUSIC ♪ (Brenda) I was born here in Bisbee and you see a lot of restaurants come and go.

But Thuy's really has been a staple, a favorite of the locals as well as visitors and tourists alike.

I started coming to Thuy's since she opened up her first location.

My daughters used to work there with her and we have grown to love her food.

I came here in 2011 and I'm going to school for study English because when I first come here I cannot speak English much.

Just really tiny.

Yes, and then I don't have a job, I don't know what to do.

And then I opened a shop.

I don't have time for school so I have to quit school to handle the restaurant.

[ LAUGH ] At first I'm nervous, super nervous because I don't know if the people here will be accepted of the Vietnamese food or not.

I'm really surprised I go this far.

I just ate Indian food for the first time ever in Tucson not too long ago.

And so I just was maybe close minded of it and didn't even know I was.

So I've never had caramelized catfish before.

I didn't even know what leeks were.

I mean, seriously, I did not know.

I'm 66 on Saturday and I'm just learning all this fun stuff now.

So I haven't eaten anything here that I have not loved.

It's just clean and it makes your body feel good.

I enjoy it more when I have a shop.

I know more people and the people in Bisbee, a lot of them retired.

So they really calm, really nice, really like just slow life.

That is how I like it.

I like to cook, but I also like to know more relationship with local people more.

(Brenda) I hug Thuy every time I see her, we have spent Thanksgivings together.

She has attended my daughter's graduations, parties, so we really have grown to be a tight community with her here.

Good community here in Bisbee is embracing the food, embracing the person.

And when that person gives so much to the community as well, rally around her and support the business as well as the person.

She supports different events by donating and giving gift certificates to her restaurant, making a family meal for the workers during the holidays if they don't have a place to go.

She really embraces the community as well as, you know, her staff.

Big menu, hard to keep the food fresh.

So we want to keep them small and control the food like really fresh for our customers.

Like the fresh roll in here.

You can pick the vegan option with the tofu.

If you choose it with shrimp, you tell us about you just want pork only or tofu only, or you don't like pork, just tell us about like you just want shrimp.

We make it fresh on each order.

We have the shrimp laid on the rice paper and then we will be have like carrot, cucumber, bean sprouts, noodle, mint, cilantro, lettuce.

And then we wrap them and we serve with the peanut sauce.

We make a peanut sauce here, homemade peanut sauce.

That is ingredient I learned from my dad.

The spring rolls were the best I've ever had.

We've been eating at Vietnamese restaurants for quite a while.

That was very special today.

My wife and I enjoy going to various restaurants and finding gems like this little one here and it's well worth the 35 minutes that it took us to drive here from Sierra Vista.

The food is made with a lot of love.

Right?

It's very intentional.

It's delicious food.

And that just comes out in every dish.

And that's why we continue to come here.

It's just, you know, the good people and the good food.

Thank you, hope you guys will be enjoyed.

[ LAUGHTER ] Thank you for joining us for Arizona Illustrated from here in Bisbee.

I'm Tom McNamara we'll see you again next week.