View from the Innside

party like it's Old Town!

The City of Albuquerque's Cultural Services Department is scheduling entertainment in Old Town on the "block party" concept this year, with different performers and themes in the various patios and courtyards throughout Old Town.

Friday's entertainment was western music in the small parking lot at the north end of Romero Street.  It was one of those perfect evenings, warm but not too hot, cloudy so the sun wasn't too intense and it created a lovely sunset.  By the time we arrived, the first band had already performed and left, and the band playing was called "Westwind."

It really is a community event, so we saw a few friends and neighbors we know.  Even the mayor showed up for a while, looking casual in his green shirt rather than his normal business suit. Mayor Martin Chavez is a good guy and has done lots of great things for Albuquerque.

The final performer was R. W. Hampton, who is a nationally known western singer.  He lives up in Cimarron but travels all over the country to perform.  He had arrived that day from Oklahoma and was on his way to Wyoming the next day.  His voice was so mellow and so quintessentially cowboy...

The picture doesn't do justice to the beautiful sunset.  You can see the pink clouds, but it was much more vibrant than what appears here.

Cowboys come in all sizes and ages.  I snapped the photo of this little guy just as he was turning.  I would have tried another shot, but he turned around, then got down and took off.  I found out later he's R. W. Hampton's son.  He sat in the second row aiming a pop-gun at his dad.

summer block parties in Old Town

This year's summer entertainment in Old Town will include block parties in the various patios.   Some of them will have definite themes, like flamenco, jazz or cowboy music.

The first one was last weekend In Plaza Hacienda with several flamenco groups performing during the evening.  We happened to stop by for a short time when a children's flamenco group was dancing.  The kids were having a good time but very serious as well.  As lovely as the adult dancers are, everyone loves the kids.  Sometimes they're as young as three or four years old--so cute!

a truckload of cattle skulls--only in Old Town!

While walking around the Plaza yesterday, we saw this van with a load of cattle skulls on the top.  They're very Southwest-kitsch, and tourists will buy the most amazing things. 

But we looked at each other and said, "where else are you going to see something like this?"

Tour of Old Town--Maria Teresa Restaurant

The Maria Teresa Restaurant closed in 2004, only months before I arrived here.  It had been an Albuquerque institution for years, a favorite place for special occasions and prom dates.  The building has been vacant ever since, intriguing in its architecture and history, lonely in its location.  It is surrounded by Little Anita's (a local chain restaurant), Rio Grande Blvd., and the large parking lot of Hotel Albuquerque.

It was recently purchased by the company that owns Hotel Albuquerque and will be turned into a high-end event and meeting center.  It's on the National Register, so they pretty much have to leave the exterior structure of the building as it is. 

The high wall does not do it any favors, although it screens the lovely courtyard and yard surrounding the building from the busy traffic noise.

I was fortunate to find these great photos on another website, taken when it was still a restaurant.  Look at this great portal.  I have very little trouble imagining what this hacienda must have looked like when it was a family home.  A HUGE family home.  It started with 12 rooms built around a central courtyard and was added to later on.  It's now 10,000 square feet.

I did as much research on the web as I could to find out the history.  It's pretty sketchy and it looks like there's a lot of misinformation out there, but here goes:

There are several dates associated with this house:  1783, about which there is practically nothing; and 1840.  The National Historic Register says it was built in 1845, and I can believe that.  I can also believe that the 1783 date was for a land grant by the King of Spain, as much of the land around here was.  Several websites said it was built by Salvador Armijo in 1783, which appears to be wrong.  I found more information on Salvador Armijo (1823-1879), who apparently was among the many merchants in the Armijo family.  The Salvador Armijo House is also known as the Santiago Baca Homestead.  Baca was Armijo's son-in-law and worked with him in his mercantile business in the late 1800's. 

An interesting twist is that the Maria Teresa Restaurant was considered among the most haunted places in New Mexico.  To see some lovely photos of the place when it was still open and read about their ghosts (some are really amusing), click here.

some of my favorite photos of the snow in Old Town

gold is the color of fall

This is a photo of a cottonwood tree by the gazebo in Old Town in early November.  My digital camera is pretty simple, and it can't begin to capture the pure radiance of the sun shining on those golden leaves.

So I took another shot at the branch right up into the sky.  Better.  And yes, our skies here really are that blue most of the time.