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| - Go west, young man. To Taliesin West, that is, the pet project of America's greatest architect, which lives on as a museum, residence, school, and anti-establishment cult headquarters all in one. The two-hour "insight tour" offers a special and unique glimpse into the life and work of the misunderstood and deeply flawed (note, the tour guide would take extreme issue with those qualifiers) genius that was Frank Lloyd Wright.
Because Mr. Lloyd Wright prefers things to be simple, here are the three simple reasons to do this tour.
First, Taliesin West, tucked into a remote, bucolic section of the Sonoran Desert, is worth visiting for its sheer beauty alone. Words do not do this place justice. And for better or worse, the only way to experience all of the physical magnificence of his work is to pay for the tour (more on why the $32 fee is actually absurd later).
Second, contrary to what some other Yelpers have posted, the tour itself is very informative, though I suppose how much you get out of it depends on the tour guide. Our tour guide was extremely amusing and passionate about explicating the genius of FLW. And make no mistake about it, he was a genius. Further, much of the property remains as it was back when FLW inhabited it, and it continues to remain in use today. Therefore, the tour has more of an authentic feel than most.
Third, as I alluded to before, the tour guide (at least the one I had) was positively insane, in a most entertaining way. As it so happens, the FLW Foundation seems to breed a loyalty and devotion to FLW so great that the Taliesin tour guides, or at least my guide, would likely go to war to defend their fearless leader's honor. "Frank Lloyd Wright just gets it," was the most common refrain to hear on this two-hour tour, uttered typically in an angry or otherwise disturbed tone. "HE UNDERSTOOD THIS." How did he know that aluminum would hold up in the rain? "BECAUSE HE USED ALUMINUM IN HIS SHOWER FOR THREE YEARS!" Why is his master bedroom so small? BECAUSE WHY DO YOU NEED A BIG ROOM IN WHICH TO BE UNCONSCIOUS! Literally every eponymous decision Mr. Wright made cut against the grain -- nay -- destroyed the grain, just as Mr. Wright advocated not "thinking outside" the box, but "destroying the box." Moreover, Mr. Wright was a brilliant man of the people and of nature, something of a cross between Marx and Einstein and Confucius. Mr. Wright didn't believe in a mark-up above ten percent. He always said, "Value received, not perceived." "For $5,000, you should have an architect design you your perfect home."
I know, you're already hooked. You long to drive out deep into the desert now, to go see this amazing place and listen to this crazy man. I take off only one star because of the sheer hypocrisy of the pricing of the tour, given the apparent moral and philosophical persuasion of Mr. Wright that is so forcefully jammed down each visitor's throat. How is it that the value of this tour could be $32? If you went on the tour 156 times, you'd spend $5,000, which, according to Mr. Wright and his tour guide, should be enough for a FLW residence (which will last you a lifetime, because buying a house is the most important decision you will ever make in your life, and it's a disgrace that people usually move out of their house every four years and don't get their dream house until they're retired). Make this tour free instead of deviating from the otherwise uniformly socialist diatribe (which may or may not actually reflect FLW's actual views), and I'll add the star back. This cult deserves it.
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