Month: September 2023

Central Park Square has been a lot of things over the years. The name “Central Park Square” emerged in 1998 when local developer Tom Netuschil gave the Los Alamos Community Center a facelift. Until that time, Los Alamos had never actually had a “Main Street”. Simply because of location, Central Avenue has always been “Main Street”. But Netuschil’s efforts to re-energize our downtown shopping district have become a rather important moment in our local history. Now a part of the New Mexico Main Street and National Main Street America movements, Los Alamos Main Street hosts community focused activities all year long!

But what was Central Park Square before 1998? While it might surprise you, some folks speculate that our Los Alamos Community Center, built by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1947, was one of the first “mall like” shopping centers in the country. The AEC owned and operated the Community Center in those days.

One might suggest that the building of the Community Center was what made Los Alamos “official” in some capacity. Remember that prior to this point the community itself was somewhat temporary. A good number of buildings you still see around town, (including homes), were created with the goal of either tearing them down or moving them elsewhere. Yet here they stay. This is something I often find impressive when I see the creative ways members of our community have refaced, renovated, and upcycled these structures!

Our beautiful US Post Office was a big part of the Community Center. With it’s unique, stylized Thunderbirds, it’s a rather eye catching centerpiece. There was a bigger picture that we often don’t recall though. While the Manhattan Project was still hush-hush, folks were receiving mail at the address, PO Box 1663. The current post office was built on the former site of the Los Alamos Ranch School Trading Post. Thinking about that causes some rather mixed emotions. The history nerd in me wishes the old Trading Post was still exactly in the same spot and operating as a sort of pit stop on the Los Alamos Living History tour. But the current post office has an equal amount of nostalgic value as a childhood memory.

The Mesa Public Library had been operating in the former Central Cafeteria building since 1950. The old cafeteria was in dire need of repairs and updating. During the construction of the Community Center Complex, the library was given a facelift to match our snazzy new post office, and the rest of this new “mall” began to take shape.

Given the number of changes the Community Center and downtown Los Alamos has undergone in the last several decades, it might be difficult to visualize where things were then, and where they are now. This annotated image should help a little.

Something this image shows that I’m certain plenty of folks in town have forgotten, is the Concrete Caves. These old dormitories lingered long into the nineties as studio apartment complexes. Beginning in 1993 with the construction of the current Bradbury Science Museum at the corner of Central Avenue and 15th Street, the Caves were torn down to make way for the modern buildings we now see everyday.

If you’re still confused by the enormous green lawn between the buildings, this further addition was made by Netuschil during his renovation.

The thoroughfare between Central Ave and Nectar Street has several parking lots and a small memorial tree where they intersect. If you look at that small street on Google, it isn’t named. Addresses on that street are referred to as Central Park Square, but the street isn’t a street. At least not officially. And years ago it was a lovely expanse of green grass with sidewalks stretching from building to building. I must say, the thoroughfare and parking lots are far more useful than the grass. Parking in that area of town certainly appreciates the space!

Some of the recreational amenities that were included in the Los Alamos Community Center Complex were a bowling alley, a movie theater, and plenty of restaurants and shops. If you’re feeling a bit critical of what’s on offer these days, let’s not forget that for a good portion of the late eighties and early nineties, our business district wandered over to Trinity Drive. Also remember that the AEC owned and operated the downtown area for a very long time. The recreation committee subsidized businesses or activity centers in order to keep the scientific and support staff happy in this remote community. I often remind folks who are both new and longtime residents that our community growing pains are unique in many ways. A company town struggling so hard to be anything but. And despite both internal and external setbacks, we are thriving in our own way!

When you’re ready to join our community, give me a call! Whether you’re buying or selling real estate here in Los Alamos, I’m your hometown real estate broker and I’d love to chat with you!

As I mentioned several posts ago, I was fortunate enough to acquire several postcards featuring scenic views of Los Alamos from the early years. Several of these absolutely fascinate me for multiple reasons. I thought I would share several and see if any of you have similar thoughts or reactions. Check out this one:

Of course, once my mind moved beyond the picturesque 1940’s era snapshot of what appears to be a beautiful neighborhood in a quaint mountain town, I began to wonder what on earth would make a simple photo of Western Area housing into the sort of thing you’d choose as a postcard?

The description on the back of the postcard reads: “Residential STREET SCENE at Los Alamos, New Mexico, the atomic research center.” The street pictured is Trinity Drive, not far from the Trinity/Diamond intersection.

To a modern mind so used to communicating via text, email, social media, and with the ability to send realtime digital pics to anyone on my contacts list within seconds, a postcard of a residential street seems, well… boring! But I suppose if I consider for a moment some of the pics I take with my phone and send off to friends and combine that with a decades ago mindset, it’s really not surprising that this would make the postcard rack. Perhaps to visitors, housing for the scientific staff responsible for atomic research is a novelty! Rather like buying a postcard featuring a giant sunflower when visiting Kansas.

My next thought? Holy cow! The neighborhood trees have grown taller and the mountains are awfully bare since Western Area was first developed! And The first houses were ready for occupancy in 1947. It was no wonder that Craig Martin credits the Western Area the housing development with “halting the exodus of the scientific staff in the summer of 1947”. The original Western Area three bedroom single family home was the nicest housing option ever to appear in Los Alamos.

Looking at both of these images, there seems to be so much space in the neighborhood! The original plan was to have ample open space and what appeared to be continuous green yards with no barriers. The needs of growing families almost immediately got in the way of that particular master plan. You can see several fences in this image. In those days, you simply had to apply to the Zia Company to put up a fence at your address. So one might suggest it didn’t take long for that wide open space to be disrupted by fencing in favor of keeping kids and dogs at home.

It’s still a gorgeous neighborhood, isn’t it? We all know the flat roofs became an issue. And who can forget the strange kitchen sink issue on the first few “model homes”? But the more I looked, the entire neighborhood began to look so very wrong in these photos. Which brought me to my next “hmmm” moment.

I went back to my Field Guide to Los Alamos Housing and re-read the section on Western Area again. That’s when I realized that in 1948, the housing shortage which had been so briefly addressed by the completion of this new and gorgeous Western Area neighborhood, once again became a major concern for the AEC. At that time, the notion of bridging Pueblo Canyon with utilities was considered a financial non starter. The solution? Squeeze another 150 homes into the Western Area neighborhoods.

Modified Westerns were built between existing homes, at the end of cul de sacs, and all up and down Fairway and Ridgeway, which hadn’t existed until that point. Can you imagine living in that beautiful, brand new neighborhood for a year and then being informed that part of your lot was about to be taken away in order to cram another house in between you and your neighbors?

The Modified Westerns offered much less in the way of amenities than the Originals. No carport or fireplace. No block and stucco this time. Only wood frame was offered. Rooms were 25% smaller and one resident stated in December of 1948 that, “a Christmas tree, a child’s play pen, a few pieces of furniture and a large dog literally filled the living room”.

But it was a roof over their heads, and here in Los Alamos, that means something! If you’re looking to change the roof over your head, give me a call! I love talking real estate in Los Alamos. I’m your hometown real estate broker and I’m always ready to put my knowledge of this wonderful and unique town to work for you and your family!