The following interview was done with Laurie Paternoster who co-owns Lynx Exhibits with her husband Mike. What they do is an important piece of the downtown revitalization efforts and the exhibits they bring in give the opportunity to El Pasoan’s young and old to learn about subjects that might not be as accessible without an institution like Lynx.
1) First, a big thank you is owed to you and Mike for starting up Lynx, it truly is a wonderful learning facility for all of El Paso. What brought the two of you to start it, especially downtown?
We love this community. We had a dream for a venue the whole family could enjoy and we thought Downtown El Paso – with its vibrant culture, character and endless possibility – was a great place to start. Funny thing is, the project started out as something else – an indoor playground made of recyclables. But over inflated construction estimates and a floundering economy got in the way, so Mike came up with a less capital intensive dream – a showcase for first-class traveling exhibits that never seemed to make it to El Paso. And so, El Paso’s only traveling exhibit museum was born.
2) How long have you lived in El Paso and have you ever lived anywhere else?
I am a native El Pasoan who, as a journalist, moved away for 15 years to work for major newspapers in Houston, Dallas and Denver. Along the way, I met and married Mike and had two children. In 1995, we decided it was time to move back into a family support network and El Paso was the natural choice. My father was stationed at Fort Bliss and made his home here and my mother came to visit at age 19 and stayed. I also have a brother and sister in El Paso and three more within a day’s drive.
3) What do you think makes El Paso stand out from the rest of the crowd?
Wow. Where do I start? Although El Paso is a major city, it retains that small-town feel in a good way – people are kind and care for their neighbors, you can still park close to any business you patronize; the pace is slow enough to allow us to appreciate life and one another. Our children can learn a foreign language and actually use that gift daily. You can’t beat the weather most of the year and the cultural diversity rivals that of any city in the nation.
4) You have seen a lot of change already in downtown El Paso, what else would you like to see happen?
I would love to see a cohesive partnership for promoting Downtown businesses. With all that is going on, most businesses and developments still operate in a vacuum. Restaurants and museums should be partnering together and developers of hotels and lofts should be partnering with retail businesses they don’t own. Everyone should be partnering with entertainment venues. We have a Border Museum Association that is trying to bring those entities together, but there still is a territorial aspect that prevents some from becoming committed partners. And what happened to the Downtown Development Plan? I would love to see the city take visible steps toward rewarding those putting dollars on the line. Those of us who are investing our own money – not relying on government funding in any way – need recognition and support. And by the way, how about free meter parking on Saturday?
5) What is your favorite activity to do in El Paso?
Anything I can do with my family. But then, that’s what El Paso is all about, isn’t it? We love hiking the mountains, especially at Franklin Mountain State Park and Mount Cristo Rey. We take in new movies and new exhibits at area museums. There is always special activities going on, like the Symphony’s Kidspalooza (March 27) or the library’s Dia De Los Ninos or Generation 2000. We also love sports and there are many teams and venues to support for that!
6) What is your vision for all of El Paso?
El Paso is a teenager, struggling to find boundaries and testing all the rules. It is my hope that as it matures, government entities will find ways to limit our increasingly burdensome tax rates and encourage business growth. If we are destined for the foreseeable future to survive on small business, El Paso should be doing all it can to grow and nurture them. With a strong foundation of thriving small businesses, we might be able to attract the larger public companies we need to increase salaries and our standard of living. At the same time, we need to preserve all that we love about El Paso, our rich history, colorful diversity, beautiful desert environment and welcoming friendliness. One day, we could have a thrivingly unique Downtown, known retail outlets in several areas of the city, useful and well-used public transportation systems and generous support of arts, culture and education.
7) What is your favorite local restaurant in town?
I have yet to meet a restaurant I don’t like! Downtown has introduced a number of new, fun venues. But outside of Downtown we love Il Posto, the Magic Pan and Julio’s.
8) How was the name Lynx created and what other names were considered?
I wish I had a great story, but I don’t. We incorporated the name for use in another business we own and never did. We used it just to get started, intending to rename our recyclable museum and, well, you know the rest of the story. We are considering a makeover though, but can’t decide whether to take the chance now that we finally are known throughout the community. What do you think about a subtle change – to Links Museum? That would emphasize our connections between exhibits and education, family and entertainment.
9) What is your vision for Lynx?
That’s a good question. Mike and I have visions of expansion dancing in our heads! But we are still dealing with a weak economy and a culture that is slow to embrace the traveling museum concept. In the best of all worlds, we would see Lynx fully developed into both buildings with a wide selection of cultural entertainment for families.
10) What is your current exhibit and why should people come visit?
Based on opening weekend attendance, Extreme Deep: Mission to the Abyss is our second most popular exhibit. Of the 10 we have opened in El Paso since 2007, Bodies Human: Anatomy in Motion was the most heavily attended. The Deep focuses on amazing ocean exploration, featuring hands-on activities for examining shipwrecks and strange life forms at the bottom of the sea. You learn about Alvin – which explored the Titanic – and other robotic submersibles that made fascinating discoveries like the origin of sea vents. We also have wonderful partnerships with Five Star Divers, which provided spectacular undersea photographs and diving gear to try on, and the Carlos M. Ramirez Tech2O Learning Center, which loaned us interactive activities to learn about water molecules and groundwater sources. Finally – drum roll please – we have El Paso’s first stingray touch pool provided by Livecargo Pets and Supplies. You get to touch a live Atlantic Stingray and see unique fish – including a shark – from various parts of the world!
To learn more info about Lynx Exhibits, please visit their website by clicking here.
My name is David and I am living El Paso.
the wrong and admitting that it wasn’t just the citizens fault. Thank you Kenny. Now it is time for our Mayor, John Cook, to come out and apologize to the citizens. On the radio, he said the he was embarrased by the city…hmmm…embarrassed by the citizens who helped put in $200,000 for the game. 
