Four chosen as Santa Fe Living Treasures
The honorees are restaurateur Georgia Maryol, former state Rep. Jamie Koch and philanthropists and volunteers Bill and Jane Buchsbaum
Georgia Maryol
Georgia Maryol shuffled around Tomasita’s on a recent morning, joking with the kitchen staff and wiping down tables as the scents of fresh green chile and handmade rellenos wafted through the Guadalupe Street restaurant.
For nearly 45 years, Maryol, 79, has watched the local hot spot for New Mexican cuisine evolve from a three-person staff to a team of more than 75.
Running a restaurant wasn’t foreign to her. The business, she said, was in her blood.
The daughter of Greek immigrants and the eldest of six children, Maryol grew up in her mother’s Central Cafe on West Central Avenue in Albuquerque. The roadway “was Route 66 in those days,” said Maryol, who has been named one of the newest Santa Fe Living Treasures.
On Oct. 21, she and three other Santa Feans will be honored with the award, which recognizes elders who have made an impact on the community. She was surprised by the honor. “Shocked would be the word. … I knew many of these people,” Maryol said, referring to those named as Living Treasures before her. “I’m humbled to be in their company.”
Following in her mother’s footsteps, Maryol entered the restaurant business in Santa Fe after a couple of years of college. She purchased Tomasita’s in 1974, when she was raising two boys on her own. She had no idea at the time the tiny restaurant, then located on Hickox Street, would eventually become a New Mexico icon, Maryol said.
Fives years later, Maryol took a big risk, moving the restaurant to its current site next to the Santa Fe Depot in the Railyard. She kept the restaurant’s name, inspired by its head chef, Tomasita Leyba.
At the time, she said, it was the only business on the street and “there was hardly even a train running. … People said, ‘Why are you going there — it’s the dump of town.’ ”
But over time, the restaurant became a popular spot, serving up to 1,200 customers a day.
“The old-timers from Santa Fe, they appreciate the food. It’s what they grew up with,” Maryol said.
She’s employed several thousand people in the restaurant business, she added. “I take a sense of pride in a lot of these employees. A lot of them work their way through college here, support their families and buy houses, and some of them start businesses of their own successfully.”
While she does some “some quality control,” Maryol said, she has turned management of the restaurant over to her younger son.
Still, the business keeps her energized. “It’s very important at my age,” she said. “… You get out of bed and hit the ground running. That’s what keeps you going. You get up with purpose.”
She’s slow to boast about what she does for others.
Nancy Dahl, organizer of the Living Treasures program, said Maryol has always been ahead of the times: She built a wheelchair ramp for customers before it was required by federal law, and she implemented recycling before the city provided collection trucks.
She’s also become a philanthropist, giving money to the Santa Fe Farmers Market and Special Olympics, and raising funds for Youth Shelters and Family Services. She offers aid to immigrants.
“Georgia never takes credit for her good deeds. She just does them,” Dahl said.
Maryol said her life has been a dream.
“There’s something magical about this place,” she said, looking around the restaurant. “To me, this is the American dream — hard work and perseverance.”