Skip to Main Content

Death Valley Junction, California: Amargosa Opera House

In the middle of the desert, an opera house preserved by a frustrated ballerina still hosts shows by local performers on Saturday nights.

Visitor Tips and News About Amargosa Opera House

Reports and tips from RoadsideAmerica.com visitors and Roadside America mobile tipsters. Some tips may not be verified. Submit your own tip.

Amargosa Opera House - Kooky Marta

Marta is alive and well. We've seen her show twice this season (winter 2002), and she's as kooky as ever. The tickets are now $15, and she sells out quite often (there was a full TOUR BUS the last time we went). Her husband has been replaced by her pal, Thomas Willett, who dresses up to play various roles in her plays, including women's parts (the funniest). She does two different shows per season (a reprise from the previous year and a new one).

[Di LaPlume, 04/26/2002]
Amargosa Opera House - Marta Lives

I've been to Marta's performances a couple of times, most recently in 2000. She must be nearing 80, but still keeps going! Marta does these "ballet-pantomimes". This is one of those things you have to see to believe. Really, she's not very good, but she gets extra points for sheer persistence (30+ years), and for so obviously enjoying what she's doing. Definitely the most interesting thing going on at night anywhere near Death Valley. Most performances are sold out before showtime, so call first for reservations. We were able to get in each time by calling the day of the performance. The hotel has a half dozen rooms that are renovated enough to stay in. A friend of mine stayed there once and enjoyed it, but I've always thought it was a little too spooky to stay the night.

[Ann Patterson, 04/26/2002]
Amargosa Opera House

The ballerina is very much alive and well as is her Amargosa Opera House. Her name is actually Marta Beckett. She and her husband (I think they are married) put on a regularly scheduled evening performance of an operetta. I think the ticket was $10. The night I was there, the house was sold out! The hotel is open and rooms are available to be let. The renovation of the hotel is ongoing so not all rooms were open yet. I could not stay the night as all available rooms were sold! I'm not sure of Marta's age but she is "older" and she still "has it". In my humble opinion. During the day, the place can look closed. Don't let that fool you-stop in and look around. Marta is also active in burro preservation and you may see some evidence of that.

[Tom Ware, 08/18/2000]
Amargosa Opera House

Death Valley Junction is a speck on the map that you arrive upon out of NOWHERE, after driving and driving through the most godforsaken (and beautiful) desert in Southern California. It's on Hwy 190, about 20 miles outside Death Valley National Park and 80 miles west of Las Vegas as the buzzard flies. In the flat, barren landscape, still as death and silent as a graveyard, a tiny little building appears, and next to it is a shabby, run-down hotel. Welcome to downtown Death Valley Junction. This is all there is.

I've never seen a car parked at the hotel. The other building is the Amargosa Opera House, once a movie theater, I'm told, during earlier years when travelers would take this route. But by the late ['60s], a retired opera singer from New York and her husband took over the tiny theater, painted the walls with a trompe l'oeil image of an audience, and began giving musical theater performances to audiences that they usually outnumbered.

The last time I was in Death Valley, visitors' guides still listed the site as offering "entertainment" on certain nights. Coming here is one of the stangest experiences of my life. To travel for hours, over mile after endless mile of two-lane roadway, light years from civilization (and, it would seem, reality), seldom spotting even another car, and see anything, much less a theater, spring out of nowhere is a profoundly surreal experience.

[Russ Lewis, 04/20/1999]

Amargosa Opera House

Address:
Hwy 127, Death Valley Junction, CA
Directions:
From LA, take I-15 N, past Barstow. At Baker take Hwy 127 north, through Shoshone, to Death Valley Junction, at the intersection Hwy 127 and Hwy 190.
Hours:
Tours 9 am, 5 pm (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
Phone:
760-852-4441
Admission:
$10
RA Rates:
Worth a Detour
Save to My Sights

Nearby Offbeat Places

Big Bovine of the DesertBig Bovine of the Desert, Amargosa Valley, NV - 8 mi.
World's Largest FirecrackerWorld's Largest Firecracker, Amargosa Valley, NV - 24 mi.
CoffinwoodCoffinwood, Pahrump, NV - 20 mi.
In the region:
Shoe Tree, Beatty, NV - 45 mi.

Latest Tips Across Roadside America

Catch up on the latest discoveries from the road.

Explore Thousands of Oddball Tourist Attractions!

Unique destinations in the U.S. and Canada are our special obsession. Use our attraction recommendation and maps to plan your next road trip.

My Sights

My Sights on Roadside America

Map and Plan Your Own Roadside Adventure ...Try My Sights

Mobile Apps

Roadside America app: iPhone, iPad Roadside America app for iPhone, iPad. On-route maps, 1,000s of photos, special research targets! ...More

Roadside Presidents app: iPhone, iPad Roadside Presidents app for iPhone, iPad. POTUS landmarks, oddities. ...More

California Latest Tips and Stories

Latest Visitor Tips

Sight of the Week

Sight of the Week

Easter Island Moai in America (Mar 25-31, 2024)

SotW Archive

USA and Canada Tips and Stories

More Sightings