By chance, journalists from the National Geographic passed through town in 1970 and discovered Becket’s new opera house. Over the next few years she renovated the old building and hand-painted the murals inside. She was so taken by the old railroad whistle-stop building that she and her husband decided to stay and buy it. An actress and ballet dancer named Marta Becket got a flat tire in 1967 and had to stop in Death Valley Junction to fix it. The story of how the opera house got to be here is fairly well known.

A view of the historic district behind the opera house. Originally named Corkhill Hall, the building that is now the Opera House was constructed in 1923 as a hotel, theater, and a dormitory and office building for railroad employees. Borax was processed and shipped from there until the borax industry declined in the 1960s. In the 1920s, the Pacific Coast Borax Company built most of the town. The town grew out of the borax mining industry in the area, first as a stop along the Death Valley Railroad around 1914. Most of the buildings are now vacant, and have been for some time.

With a population of less than 20, Death Valley Junction is really more of a ghost town. To call Death Valley Junction a small town would be a stretch, besides the opera house and adjoining hotel there isn’t really much else there. The edge of Death Valley is an unusual place to find an opera house, yet it fits in quite well. The Amargosa Opera House is one of those strange places where you just can’t put your finger on what exactly makes it so odd.

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