Photograph by Manuel Cruces

The Fountain of the Faun has reborn and now stands magnificent as a symbol of a glorious past but a more promising future.

The Agua Caliente Casino & Resort was a luxurious paradise that operated during the late 1920s and early 1930s, located just a couple of miles south of the border on the outskirts of what was then the small town of Tijuana. It was Las Vegas before Las Vegas: the gangster Bugsy Siegel visited and took notes for a resort-style casino. After only a year of operation, the casino is estimated to have been pulling in $ 2 million a month. 

The name “Agua Caliente” originated from the hot springs in the area, springs with waters that were considered medicinal. There were baths and an old hotel at the site long before the famous resort was built, but they were nothing compared to what stood there after the “Border Barons” Wirt Bowman, James Crofton, Baron Long, and Abelardo Rodriguez set about building the Monte Carlo of the Americas. Agua Caliente boasted a world-class hotel and restaurant, a bungalow village, patios, gardens, ballrooms, a spa, a casino, a golf course, a race track and even an airstrip. At one point, it offered the world’s richest purse in both golf and horse racing. Everything was exquisitely designed and constructed in the Mission Revival style, with strong influences of Moorish, Art Deco, and Louis XV.

Photograph by Manuel Cruces

One of the most remarkable icons of the resort was the Fountain of the Faun, located at the main entrance to the spa building. It was a magnificent fountain made with the finest Spanish tiles. At the center of the front wall, an imposing faun, representing the god Pan, stood out from a giant turquoise shell with a pan flute in his hands.

The faun’s flute has its origin in Greek mythology: a beautiful nymph named Syrinx was being pursued by the god Pan, and ran away to a river, where she asked the other nymphs for protection. To hide her, they transformed her into a clump of hollow reeds. When Pan arrived, he saw only the reeds, which made a haunting sound as the wind blew over them. He then cut a few of the reeds and put them together into a flute that he named Syrinx in honor of the nymph. By playing it, he believed he could communicate with her.

Tijuana's faun was a great attraction; everybody wanted to take pictures with him. If he could have talked, he would have told wonderful stories. He was witness to visits from so many famous and important characters of the time, including Hollywood stars such as Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks, the Marx Brothers, Al Jolson, Buster Keaton, Clara Bow, Jean Harlow, Jimmy Durante, Bing Crosby, Dolores del Rio, Lupe Velez, Johnny Weissmuller, Charles Chaplin, and Laurel & Hardy. The young Margarita Carmen Cansino, later known as Rita Hayworth, started her career performing at Agua Caliente.

The resort quickly gained fame like no other place in the region, welcoming visitors and guests from all over the world. Prohibition prevented legal alcohol sales in the United States during most of Agua Caliente’s life, and gambling was illegal in many places, so the Mexican mecca became the perfect haven and playground for the elite. There was dancing accompanied by a live orchestra, exquisite cuisine, and the best Champagne in the world. It was party time every day of the year.

Unfortunately all this pleasure and luxury would not last long. In 1935, Mexican president Lázaro Cárdenas banned gambling in Mexico, and Agua Caliente was forced to close its doors. All that bustle and cheer became only a memory. In 1937, Agua Caliente was expropriated, and some years later the place became a school center; the bungalows were used as homes for the teachers.

For many years, the old buildings stood practically intact, but due to a lack of security they were eventually ransacked. Lamps, carpets, curtains, tables, and all types of valuable objects were snatched; even the ceramic tiles were removed. (Later, in 1967, the buildings were partially destroyed by a huge fire.)

The faun didn’t escape this vandalism: his arms and flute were cut off and taken. That’s how he looked when I saw him for the first time in 1973, when I attended ETIC24, the junior high school that occupies the buildings where the Agua Caliente hotel once stood. In 1975, demolition started on what was left of the old buildings. I remember seeing how the wrecking ball mercilessly smashed the walls of the beautiful spa building, tearing it into pieces.

The vandalized faun before restoration.

Photograph by Manuel Cruces

Soon after the demolition, the faun would lose his head — literally. No one knows for sure where it ended up, but it’s believed by many to be sitting in the living room of a well known person from Tijuana. Eventually, the faun’s legs and torso were taken, as was the fish head fountain that had spouted below his feet.

In the end, only a few pieces from the original buildings were preserved: the bungalows, the famous Minaret, the pool, the pump building, and a few walls. New school buildings were constructed around what was left of the old ones.

But the echoes of a storied past die hard. Gradually, interest built in restoring some of the spot’s old glory. In 2006, the pool, which is now part of the Preparatoria Federal Lázaro Cárdenas (a high school) was fully restored to its original condition and functionality. Plans for restoring the Fountain of the Faun were also drawn up, but it was not until 2016 that a group of specialists and artists who shared a passion for the project got together to create a board for its restoration, with the support of some cultural institutions, as well as the public and private sectors.

Acquiring enough money for the project was not an easy task and took a long time. Inspection of the site revealed that both the shell and the faun were made out of separate pieces that had been put together like a puzzle. Researchers found that the company that built the original faun and the fountain was Gladding McBean, which is still in business today in Sacramento. Unfortunately, they did not have the plans for the original structure, and their quote for rebuilding proved too expensive, mostly due to shipping costs. Consequently, it was decided to build it locally. Two of the members of the board, Alejandro Loyo and Cecilia Trejo, were specialists in modeling and restoration projects. Still, the job was a challenge, since there was nothing left of the faun to be restored. All they had to work with were a few photographs which showed the faun from a distance. This was not a simple restoration; this was a volumetric restitution.

Cecilia Trejo and Alejandro Loyo, specialists in modeling and restoration, worked on the project every day, even through the pandemic.

Photograph by Manuel Cruces

José Barajas, a teacher who lives in Bungalow #21, was kind enough to furnish one of its rooms as a workshop for the project. But most of the work was performed on site at the fountain by Alejandro and Cecilia, together with the expert advice and support of specialist Antonio Lara, who explained: “My job in the project was mainly as an observer and advisor. I have been a draftsman for many years, and I’m perfectly familiar with human proportions. I have a good eye, capable of detecting every single detail. In this case, Alejandro and Cecilia were doing their work enclosed inside the fountain, but it’s necessary to be able to see the work from a distance, which was very difficult for them to do. So I stood outside of the fountain with a picture of the faun making observations and indications for them.”

They worked on the project every day, even through the pandemic, and even through additional rounds of fundraising to supplement the budget. Since there was nothing left of the original shell and faun, everything had to be recreated with clay first; Cecilia Trejo was in charge of all the modeling procedures. During a conversation, she said: “Modeling the sections was not an easy task, particularly due to the weather variations, which affected the amounts of catalyst required.” She then continued: “The faun was built with a total of 22 pieces made out of high resistance polymer reinforced with calcite, silica, and carbon fiber. I feel very proud of being such an essential part of this project and despite all the difficulties, there were no flaws in my work which made me feel very satisfied with the result.”

Alejandro Loyo, the restorer, explained in simple words what a volumetric restitution consists of: “We have a concave part and we have to build the convex piece that has to fit perfectly. We decided to do it this way in case a piece of the original figure shows up, then we can remove the rebuilt piece and easily replace it with the original. We were hoping that someone would bring us the original head or an arm, but unfortunately we didn’t get anything.”

Loyo commented: “Most of the photographs we were able to get of the faun were taken from a long distance, and only one of them was close enough to be of any use for us. In order to get a better idea of what we had to build, we asked graphic artist Buho Villamil to create sketches of the faun from different angles and perspectives based on this picture.”

Antonio Lara showing a reconstructed tile created after several trial and error attempts to match the right colors.

Photograph by Manuel Cruces

Regarding the materials used, Loyo said: “The faun had to be light, but at the same time very resistant, therefore polymer with carbon fiber was our best choice.” Another interesting aspect of the piece is the way it was colored. “We didn’t use a drop of paint; the polymer we used was pigmented beforehand and it proved to be very difficult to equalize with the original tone, because it varied with the amount of catalyst used”.

He finally added: “The whole job was exhausting. It took us countless hours of hard work, but every time we took out a modeled piece from its cast was like watching the birth of a work of art.”

The project involved two other elements, the fabrication and replacement of the fountain’s ceramic tiles that were missing or damaged, and the rehabilitation of the water pumping system.

Gladding McBean, which had fabricated the original tiles was contacted again to get a quote, but due to the limited budget it was decided to find and work with a local manufacturer. After several trial and error attempts to match the right colors, the manufacturer finally came up with a tile almost identitcal to the originals.

When it was time to fire up the fountain of the faun, it was unknown whether water was going to come out of the fish. Happily, when a new pumping system was connected to the 90-year-old piping, water began to gush from the fishes on both sides of the fountain, That was a big relief, because it saved a lot of work and expense. However, after the fountain was filled for the first time, the water level started to drop, indicating a leak. The whole surface had to be perfectly sealed and waterproofed before the fountain could be turned on again.

Finally, in 2021, after five years of continuous hard work amid all types of difficulties, the project was successfully completed. The Fountain of the Faun is reborn, and now stands magnificent as a symbol of a glorious past but a more promising future. It serves as one small step that should lead to many larger ones: a series of restoration projects that will include the old pumping building as well as the reconstruction of the old spa building, which will become a site museum. The area surrounding the fountain is a charming space with several old eucalyptus trees, and will become a park for art exhibits, as well as performing arts and other types of cultural events. At the moment, visiting tours to the site have been ongoing periodically, but eventually, the place will become open to the general public.

Once again the faun is cheerfully playing his pan flute. Once, he invited party-minded tourists to forget their cares and indulge their senses. Now, he is sending a message for everyone, but especially to the younger generations, that no matter how hard a project might seem, as long as they have the right elements with the required passion and dedication, everything is possible. He also implores them to become more conscious of their past and aware of the importance of defending and embracing their history because without it, there’s no future.