Route 66 Helps Define Albuquerque’s Appeal

The city’s Central Avenue is its Main Street—and it’s also the original Route 66. When moving out to New Mexico in 1962, my parents and I arrived on Central Avenue after coming west from the start of Route 66. We’d just driven in to the city in our big Oldsmobile, when we were suddenly rear-ended! The lady behind us had been staring into a hat (!) shop and forgot to brake in time. The car was so big and sturdy in its metallic body that I wasn’t hurt at all, just thrown onto the floor of the wide back seat.

The Route 66 craze brought a lot of tourists to the state and Central Avenue catered to their needs with restaurants, gift shops, and a slew of adobe motels with swimming pools. I remember those years hazily, but do recall that fast cars, food, and music were entering into our popular culture. I even remember several drive-ins, watching World War II and science fiction movies from the backseat while the dark outline of the Sandias hovered in the background.

Downtown Albuquerque, on Central Avenue.

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