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Albuquerque Travel Articles
- Hot Air Ballooning
- Downtown Revival
- Route 66: Neon & Nostalgia
As Albuquerque continues to grow and improve as one of the Southwest's most dynamic cities, its downtown continues to undergo a dramatic renaissance, morphing from a somewhat dicey and unquestionably bland district of office buildings into a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood of upscale condos, historic residential blocks, funky shops, hip if somewhat rowdy nightclubs, and increasingly sophisticated restaurants.
During the four or five decades following World War II, Albuquerque suffered one of the most common civic and planning problems to plague U.S. cities: the death of its downtown. Years ago, it had been a bona fide retail and entertainment district and a true mixed-use neighborhood. But through the 1950s and '60s, demographic patterns shifted. Middle- and upper-income residents moved farther from downtown, and Albuquerque sprawled, with much of the city taking on the almost suburban appearance that prevails today. By the 1980s, most people had stopped shopping and playing downtown, and most of the largely abandoned blocks were razed in favor of office towers and parking garages. Even as recently as the late '90s, downtown was an empty and occasionally unsafe streetscape on weekends and after 6 PM.
Fast-forward to the present. Many U.S. cities have experienced downtown renaissances, and the traditional recipe has been to anchor the neighborhood with a sports and entertainment complex, a few cultural attractions, and a slew of high-profile shopping and restaurant franchises. Albuquerque's downtown planners have largely shunned this quick-fix approach. Rather, local developers have attracted independently owned shops, restaurants, and nightclubs and converted former schools and manufacturing buildings into residential lofts and condos. In 2000, the city introduced "safety ambassadors," who stroll downtown streets and help visitors get around. The old Spanish-colonial-style bus station is being converted into a multipurpose transportation center with car rentals, a taxi stand, Greyhound, Amtrak, and local city buses; and in 2006 the center launched the state's first-ever commuter rail service, the Rail Runner Express, which presently runs from Albuquerque south to Belén and north to Bernalillo, but that will extend to Santa Fe in 2008. Another future component of the transportation center is the planned Wheels Museum, which will interpret Albuquerque's importance as one of the West's leading rail and transportation hubs.
Downtown's transformation has been gradual, but people have begun to notice. Visitors now wander along Central and Gold avenues, checking out bars and restaurants, walking over to the restored KiMo Theater or the snazzy multiplex movie palace. They're no longer warned to stay off downtown streets at night. It's exciting to watch this neighborhood come dramatically back to life.
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