El Farol, one of Santa Fe’s oldest restaurants, closes as investors seek to sell property

Sounds of lively jams and locals sharing laughs and drinks have ceased at one of Santa Fe’s oldest restaurants.

El Farol, a historic Santa Fe restaurant and bar and staple of the city’s iconic Canyon Road art district for decades, closed on Tuesday, managing member Freda Keller said in a text on Wednesday.

“It is a very sad time,” said Keller, who has been with El Farol for 17 years.

Keller said the restaurant’s closure is the result of an “economic downturn” and investors deciding to sell the property, located at 808 Canyon.

The investors own the majority share of the business and the property, which is available for $2.5 million, according to an online listing from Corcoran Plaza Properties. The roughly 4,440-square-foot property was initially listed for $3.3 million, but the price dropped to facilitate a quick sale, the listing says.

The property is zoned for commercial and residential uses, the listing says.

Formerly a cantina that opened in 1835, El Farol is often regarded as one of Santa Fe’s oldest restaurants, if not the oldest.

“El Farol was one of those rare places that managed to feel both historic and alive — like you were stepping into a story rather than just a restaurant,” Keller said.

Robert McCormick — a Santa Fe artist, musician, founder of the popular social media groups Santa Fe Foodies and Albuquerque Foodies and a regular customer of El Farol — agreed.

For decades, El Farol was a hub for local musicians, serving as a gathering place for Canyon Road’s Tuesday night blues jams.

“Before Santa Fe really grew with a number of establishments for music and stuff to do, that was the spot,” McCormick said. “All the local musicians would show up, sign up on the list, hope to get in, play a few songs and everybody would hang out. I mean, people used to dance on the tables. It was like a party.”

Things changed and the blues nights went away over the years as the restaurant went through different owners, McCormick said, but the restaurant relaunched Canyon Road Blues Jam a year ago and also offered other live music performances and flamenco dinner shows, according to Keller and El Farol’s website.

Tone Forrest, one of the founders of the original iteration of the Canyon Road Blues Jam, wrote on Facebook that the closure hit him “like a death in the family.”

Keller said El Farol’s soul and ability to capture “the essence of Santa Fe” all under one roof is what the restaurant will be remembered for.

“Seeing the community’s response reminds me that El Farol was never just a restaurant — it was a home for memories, music and connection,” Keller said. “I’m deeply grateful to everyone who made it come alive all these years.”