Kendra Ruminer's Two Cents of Real Estate

Take A Peek At Los Alamos, New Mexico

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School Life in Early Los Alamos

January 26, 2024 /

There’s really no doubt that Los Alamos has definitive “eras” that apply to the concept of “Life in Los Alamos”. This isn’t unusual. Any town or city across the globe could say the same. But there are a few things about our “eras” that are quite unique! As I dig a little more into the ranch school, I become more and more fascinated by the amazing learning opportunities those boys had at their Ranch Boarding School.

Everyone Got the Same Start

We travel a lot these days, perhaps less since Covid, but still a lot compared to different periods in history. You might take your kid to catch a plane in Santa Fe or Albuquerque so they can go off to school. Maybe you travel with them. Even traveling by road to drop your college kid at NMSU is a day’s travel, but still not bad.

Can you imagine the trek up the mountain to the Los Alamos Ranch School? Train to Santa Fe, followed by a wagon ride in the early years, or perhaps a truck in later times. The road wasn’t paved. Those boys probably felt as though their teeth had been knocked loose from that journey.

When they first arrived at the school they were immediately met by Bences Gonzales, (you can read more about Bences HERE). The friendly, almost uncle like Bences would take the new students to the Trading Post where they were fitted with a uniform and issued their school gear, which was fairly extensive. New student were assigned a Scout Patrol, given a room at the Big House, and introduced to their roommate.

The next critical step was the naming. Yes. The naming. According to John D. Wirth and Linda Harvey Aldrich’s history of our Ranch School, AJ Connell felt strongly that every young man was an individual. As such, no two boys had the same name. If you were John or Daniel or Robert and there were other Johns, Daniels, and Roberts, you were going to become “Jack” or “Juan” or maybe something completely different such as “Red” (should your hair be red) or “Lefty” (maybe you were left handed?).

This isn’t an unusual concept. In fact, you find this culture still going strong in military units, Scout camps, and other clubs. Sororities and fraternities do similar things as well. This even reminds me of the current trend of our kiddos in choosing new names and trying them on for a period of time. It’s a normal part of developing identity and AJ Connell seemed to understand this necessary piece of growing up. He also knew that if kids were given names reflecting their individuality and strengths, they were much less likely to be assigned a hurtful or negative nickname.

The Daily Schedule

Days at the Ranch School began at 6:30AM. Students rolled out of bed, drank a glass of water, dressed in their uniforms, and headed out the door to PT. This morning physical training was done in all weather. In keeping up with the most “modern” of healthful routines, Connell required the boys to be shirtless in all but the coldest and snowiest weather. In warmer weather they were expected to exercise “in the buff”. Can you imagine? When I head out for a run in the mornings I generally wear layers even in summer! It can be downright chilly up here all year round and this was over a hundred years ago when the region had far larger snowfalls and cooler temperatures in general.

Breakfast and room inspection happened between PT and the start of class at precisely 7:45AM. Class went until 12:55PM with a single break for milk and cookies. At 1:00PM the largest meal of the day was served, not an uncommon thing in ranching and farming cultures since you needed the calorie intake in order to have enough energy to get the manual labor done. This big meal was followed by a short “rest period” and the afternoons were filled with “recreation”, which was really just more education disguised by fun.

Ashley Pond’s vision for the school suggested, “it is our aim to fill every minute of the boys’ time with some profitable work made as interesting as play.” That is most certainly what ranch school life provided. Supper was served at 6:00PM and younger boys were in bed by 8:15PM and the oldest boys by 9:00PM. I think I would’ve been begging to go to bed by 8:00 after a day like that!

Classwork

Classes like mathematics, grammar, and reading were important at the Los Alamos Ranch School, but that wasn’t the only thing Ashley Pond’s progressive educational plan included. Once afternoon rest was over, the boys helped out on the ranch. Twice a week they rode out on horseback with their Scout Patrols. Other afternoons they worked in the barn, hiked in the mountains and were instructed by the staff in botany, geology, forestry, mineralogy, orthnology, wood crafts, topographical mapping, and surveying.

Ranch activities were called Industrial Training in the first two or three years of the school. After that it was referred to as “Community Work” and boys got school credit for these tasks. They often built and maintained trails, were responsible for the upkeep of the garden and grounds, and sometimes worked with the horses as much as they helped with office work.

The goal was to provide hands on training in real life skills. I can’t help but think about how many activities we have in town that mirror this philosophy. We have outdoor oriented pre-schools and programs for all ages at PEEC focused on nature. Our YMCA promotes camps for older students that focus on trail maintenance and forestry, and our Sportsman’s Club offers hunter safety, skeet shooting, and archery for youth and adults alike.

Student Health

Boys were weighed and measured when they first arrived at school. They were also weighed and measured weekly by the nurse. Connell was always present at these appointments. The idea was to send a weekly report to the parents of each student. The school’s big promise was to increase the health of the boys. Considering the rigorous and outdoor focused schedule, sending health reports home on a weekly basis would be a great way to brag to parents about how robust their sons were growing to be.

One Big Family

Another big draw of Ranch School life was the family atmosphere. All meals were served family style with either a school master or staff member at the head of each table in the dining hall. Good manners were emphasized and conversation was focused on topics related to what the boys were learning or doing around the ranch.

Evenings between supper and bedtime involved a gathering of boys around the Big House fireplace as a master read aloud. The boys enjoyed stories like Tarzan, or perhaps a book by Jack London. The atmosphere was intended to feel like a family gathering.

In the twenties, academic study time was instituted for boys struggling with their regular classes. They would gather together under the watchful eye of a master or an older boy and help each other as they completed or corrected assignments much in the same way modern students ask parents or older siblings and friends for help with their homework.

The Ranch School may be gone, but the spirit of Ashley Pond’s desire to educate kids in an outdoor environment with an emphasis on hands on learning is still alive and well here in Los Alamos! As always, I’d like to give credit where it’s due. Most of my information and photos for this post came from John D. Wirth and Linda Harvey Aldrich’s book, Los Alamos: The Ranch School Years. Please check it out for yourself! And when you’re ready to be part of our amazing community, give me a call! I’d love to chat Los Alamos real estate with you!

The Beautiful Snow in Los Alamos!

January 19, 2024 /

I’ve really enjoyed taking a tour back through some of the early (pre LANL) history of Los Alamos. I know you guys have enjoyed this too because I’ve been hearing great positive things about the blog, which is so wonderful! Thanks for that, by the way! It is SO good to hear your stories and comments and shared memories!

However, as we’ve had some pretty interesting “ski hill” moments in our house in the last few weeks, I wanted to give everybody a heads up about some really cool winter programs here in Los Alamos.

I’m not a skier and I didn’t grow up on skis like many of my local friends did. This means I wasn’t taking my kiddos out to ski before they could walk. Not experiencing this activity at an early age means there’s a pretty steep learning curve if someone decides to try it later on. Let’s just say that I really wish I’d taken advantage of some of the programs we have today to teach local kiddos to ski!

Bluebird Ski Camp

The first session of Camp Bluebird at Pajarito Mountain is just wrapping up, but the second session is still to come! The camp teaches kiddos ages 7-12 how to downhill ski. This is a huge camp with tons of participation and a lot of great teaching! Even if you don’t ski, this can be a fantastic opportunity for your kids to give it a try in a fun environment that is likely full of their school friends.

Camp Bluebird has options for skiing and snowboarding. The cost includes the lesson, equipment rental, lunch, and even a season pass for the kiddo! Camp sessions are four weeks long and are only on Saturday. It’s a really great opportunity to get your kiddo started or sharpen up their skills. It might even be a great way for a snowboarder to try skis or vice versa.

If you’re interested in getting your kids into lessons even after Camp Bluebird is done for the season, you’d probably be surprised at the number of options available. Private, group, and even custom groups are available for both skiing and snowboarding. In fact, you could get your kids, your neighbor’s kids, or a whole party of them up there for a custom group lesson. This might actually be the coolest winter thing to do for out of town guests with no ski experience.

Pajarito Mountain has come up with one more interesting way to pick up the sport. Learn to Ski Thursdays and Learn to Ski Spring Break offer a really fun way to experience something new! For folks who have never ever tried skiing or snowboarding, a two hour complimentary lesson is available with lift ticket and equipment rental. Check out the website here for details on this fun thing to do!

Southwest Nordic Ski Club

If downhill skiing seems too limited for you, Cross Country Skiing might be just the thing! Never tried Cross Country, otherwise known as Nordic Track, skiing? No problem. Los Alamos based nonprofit, Southwest Nordic Ski Club, has you covered.

The Southwest Nordic Ski Club originally gained momentum in the 1970s as the Los Alamos Nordic Ski Club. The club mission is focused on promoting the sport of nordic track skiing in the Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado region. The club is entirely volunteer driven and has created and maintained agreements with the Santa Fe National Forest allowing nordic track skiing access on the Cañada Bonita trail as well as the Guaje Canyon Trail #282. The club maintains the trails in all seasons, grooms the trails in the winter for nordic track and snowshoeing use, and participates in countless stewardship projects to help all users have a more enjoyable trail experience. How cool is that, folks? It’s such a cool thing to be a part of!

The club has a wonderful website with the latest grooming reports as well as information on upcoming lessons, clinics, group ski activities, and more. They also have more information on the SW Nordic Ski Kids program, which actually goes year round. Not only do they have activities to help kids learn and connect with others their own age who enjoy it too, they do the same in summer! On warmer weekends, you can sometimes find the club practicing their skills on the quiet, winding, and sometimes fairly hilly terrain in neighborhoods around Los Alamos!

So if you’re looking for ways to enjoy the wonderful snow we’ve been having lately, check out these two amazing organizations here in Los Alamos. And when you’re ready to join our community here on the Pajarito Plateau, give me a call! I’d love to chat Los Alamos Real Estate with you!

What Makes a Company Town?

January 12, 2024 /

There has always existed an ongoing argument here in Los Alamos regarding whether or not the Laboratory defines the existence of the town. If LANL closes (LASL back in the day) does that mean there is no Los Alamos? Or is it that without a town to provide basic necessities and services for a workforce, LANL could not exist.

It’s almost like a chicken and egg question, right? Which comes first? The Laboratory or the town? You don’t have to be a member of our community for very long to realize that our location is remote. This was deliberate. For the Atomic Energy Commission, yes. But honestly, it was also deliberate for the Los Alamos Ranch School. The whole point was the pull those city boys out of their overcrowded lives and let them experience raw, visceral life.

In this day and age we moan about the fact that very rarely is Prime shipping actually next day as it would be in most metropolitan areas. Back in the early days of the Los Alamos Ranch, the only vehicle was an ancient Dodge truck unless you wanted to go by ox cart or horse drawn wagon. If we think the Main Hill Road is intense now, can you imagine before there WAS a road and they were trucking supplies up the old ox cart roads in Bayo Canyon?

The Pajarito Plateau was never anything but isolated. The Los Alamos Ranch was incorporated for the sole purpose of supporting the school. Nearly 800 acres of owned land and access to thousands of acres of leased land. This was the only way to support the two hundred head of cattle, dairy cows, bulls (for breeding), work horses, riding horses, ranching horses, pack horses and mules, hogs, geese, chickens for meat and eggs, turkeys, and rabbits.

One of the selling points of the Los Alamos Ranch School was the fact that the boys were only fed food grown and raised entirely on the ranch or brought in from the surrounding farms and ranches. Of course, this took quite a lot of work from the boys, but there were also over a hundred employees who worked at the ranch.

AJ Connell didn’t take long to realize that he could not hope to manage the ranch without the help of the already well established homesteading community on the Pajarito Plateau. From the beginning of the school in 1917, he began to rely heavily on the surrounding communities. Until 1921 there were only three main buildings at the school. The “Big House”, a master’s cottage, and the infirmary/guest house. There were separate bunk house like lodgings for the cooks, houseboys, laborers, the ranch foreman, and the poultry man. There was also a large barn, a silo, a water tower, smokehouse, sheds, corrals, and a commissary to provide shelter for school activities and daily living.

The early years of the school only saw around 9 regular students. By the closure of the school there were 48 students. They were eating vegetables from the garden, beef from the school’s cattle, drinking milk from the dairy, eggs from the chickens, and getting their fruit from the Espanola Valley.

Gradually, the school began to grow. Teachers and workers had families. Cabins were built to house these additions. A public elementary school sprung up to teach the staff’s children. Connell had a habit of employing multiple members of one family in order to strengthen the relationship between the school and the surrounding ranches.

It all sounds familiar, doesn’t it? When Oppenheimer speculated about the needs of the Manhattan Project he talked about “housing for a dozen scientists”. This soon caused a steady influx of personnel and their families who had needs. The community grew to meet those needs. The family members took jobs as support and staff personnel, teachers, clerks, librarians, assistants, and so many other important roles that sustain and create a community. One feeds off the other until we have a growing, thriving city perched atop a plateau in the middle of nowhere…

Another incredible perk of attending the Ranch School in Los Alamos was access to men like Bences Gonzales. Gonzales ran the Trading Post and cooked during the summer camps. He was considered a listening ear who could shoot and would often teach the boys to fish. Gonzales was one of dozens of strong Western characters who both entertained and educated the Ranch School students.

Ted Mather was the horse wrangler. The boys were said to beg for his stories, which were straight out of a Western dime novel. He taught them to ride and handle horses, and shared his knowledge freely with the students. The Womelsduff brothers, Lloyd, Frank, and Jim were also vital to the ranch students. Floyd was the ranch mechanic and loved teaching the boys about mechanical and electrical things. Frank was the elementary school teacher for some time, and Jim was the ranch foreman. They spent hours with the boys helping them navigate the practical outdoor skills that created a basis for the outdoor education at the core of the school’s philosophy.

If you’ve ever been to a sports practice, a school concert or performance, or a Boy Scout meeting here in Los Alamos, you’ve probably witnessed the incredible amount of mentoring that goes on between adults and kids. Adults who are at the top of their fields, teaching and helping the next generations of talented people. A good number of adjunct professors at UNM-LA are LANL or contractor employees. What an amazing learning opportunity we have here. Just head to the Mesa Public Library and check out the latest talks, exhibitions, demonstrations, or other creative, scientific, or historical learning opportunities. I like to think of the Ranch School Students hitting the Trading Post, the barn, the machine shop, and the Arts & Crafts building after their classroom time was done for the day. Not unlike a summer day spent at ScienceFest.

There is no doubting the interconnected nature of the Laboratory and Los Alamos. But perhaps it helps to realize that there has always been a need for community up here on the Pajarito Plateau. And when you’re ready to join the community of Los Alamos, give me a call! I’d love to talk real estate with you!

Everything for a Reason

January 5, 2024 /

If I told you that the “motto” of Los Alamos was “At Los Alamos, everything is done for a reason.”, you probably wouldn’t be surprised. It might surprise you however, to learn that it was AJ Connell, director or “boss” of the Los Alamos Ranch School from it’s inception in 1917 until the Manhattan Project took over in 1943.

As the focus in our community seems entirely centered on the Manhattan Project and Oppenheimer, I’ve begun to get more and more curious about the Los Alamos Ranch School. Folks tell me so frequently that they’re in Los Alamos “for the schools”, or perhaps “for the amazing outdoor life”. Turns out, these two things in particular have always gone hand in hand here in Los Alamos.

Why a Ranch School?

Today we don’t think much about traveling from one coast to the other beyond groaning about a 3-4 hour plane ride and waiting around in airports. Children often travel for educational purposes. Some of those opportunities even involve heading off to a foreign country for an exchange program.

Would it surprise you know that it was quite the thing for families on the East Coast to send their sons to “Ranch Schools” in the West? One of the most famous Ranch Schools is The Evans School on the outskirts of Mesa, Arizona. The Evans School boasted names like Roosevelt, Vanderbilt, Pulitzer, and DuPont. You might imagine how other families would be itching to send their sons to the American West to be educated like these scions of American industry.

When Ashley Pond purchased the Brook’s ranch in 1917, his initial vision for the school was a place where boys could be accepted year round and stay at the school only long enough to achieve an increased level of good health before heading back home to their families. With that goal in mind, families paid $150 per month for their sons to come to the Los Alamos Ranch School.

That number is probably a bit misleading these days, don’t you think? I know I didn’t bat an eye when I first read it in John D Wirth and Linda Harvey Aldrich’s book about the Los Alamos Ranch School Years. $150 a month sounds like a bargain these days. You can’t even hire someone to watch your toddler for that sort of money.

Here’s a reality check. According to amoritization.org, $150.00 in 1917 is the equivalent of $3837.89 in 2023. While it sounds astronomical, it’s really not that far off what a lot of preparatory schools charge for monthly tuition these days.

A brochure for the Los Alamos Ranch School dated in the 1920s states, “Our school is necessarily limited to boys whose parents are able and willing to pay for the best.”

Why did the Los Alamos Ranch School have to be so expensive? It might be better to dig a bit more into what tuition included. For their tuition cost, students would receive lodging, food, “medical attendance”, and use of a horse and necessary tack. It was a popular saying that tuition covered “everything but your personal laundry”.

A boy would arrive at school and be immediately taken in by a friendly face who would match him up with a sort of big brother or mentor from the older boys. He’d be taken to the Trading Post where he would purchase his gear (leather jacket, shorts, boots, hat, knife, matches, and other survival items). This gear was expected to last him the duration of his stay at the school whether it be months or years. I found it so very similar to sending my kiddo off to college only to realize she’d created a big balance at the school book store buying school supplies, books, and spirit wear.

In Wirth and Aldrich’s book, they tell the story of one young man who caused quite an issue with his folks back home by running up a $600 bill at the Trading Post. While that would be a shocker considering that’s about $15K in modern currency, it was pointed out to the disgruntled parent that their son made the decision to purchase English riding boots, his own .22 caliber rifle, and had also managed to regularly lose or misplace his survival gear, requiring him to replace knives, matches and other necessities before being allowed out on patrol.

From the beginning, the boys were being taught responsibility. How they took those lessons to heart is as unique as any modern student you might know today! After all, at Los Alamos everything is done for a reason.

In the next few posts, we’ll be exploring some of these rather amazing reasons why Los Alamos is the way that it is. And when you’re ready to be a part of this fantastic community, give me a call! I’d love to chat real estate in Los Alamos with you!

Why We Skate in the New Year!

December 27, 2023 /

On Christmas Eve as I cruised across Otowi Bridge, I was excited to see the huge turnout for the Ice Rink’s Christmas Eve Skate. The main lot was packed, the overflow lot was packed. The rink was packed! What a beautiful night to skate!

In a past post, (you can check it out HERE) I discussed the development of a the Ranch School’s Douglas Pond into our beautiful ice rink. As I stated then, Los Alamos has the only outdoor ice rink in New Mexico. It is one of many “onlies” that happen here on the Pajarito Plateau. But as we gear up for the Los Alamos Ice Rink’s New Year’s Eve Party, I got to thinking about the long history of ice skating parties here in Los Alamos.

Los Alamos Loves Winter

There is absolutely no getting around this fact. Winter is an important part of our lives here in Los Alamos! We have a ski mountain so close that you can actually see skiers tooling down the mountain from certain places here in the townsite. Our ice rink is a constant gathering place full of parties and fun. We have access to snowshoeing, cross country and downhill skiing, skating, and sledding. You can get a permit to cut your very own Christmas Tree for ten bucks which involves a glorious amount of trekking through snow in an area barely thirty minutes from town. We exist in the shadow of a mountain range that has offered recreational activities to residents of Los Alamos since the ranch school opened sometime in 1917. And if you want to get really technical, it’s been going on longer than that!

This image of the Ranch School Boys playing hockey in their camp shorts is one of our local faves. I grew up looking at this image and always being so distracted by the fact that they’re wearing shorts, that I didn’t necessarily look at the big picture.

In John D. Wirth & Linda Harvey Aldrich’s book, Los Alamos, the Ranch School Years, they spend a lot of time discussing the reasons why families paid a crazy amount of cash to send their sons to school out west. The boys came out here to get strong and healthy.

Go outside and take a big, deep breath of air. It’s so difficult to even imagine what it might have been like to breathe the air in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, or even Chicago and St Louis in the 1900’s. Just getting to spend a few months in the clean climate at the Los Alamos Ranch School could make a significant impact on the physical health of these city kids. Add in the activities and parents probably wouldn’t even recognize their boys when they came home for break!

The image above is a Toboggan Slide built by the students and masters in 1919-1920. How cool would that be to have a Toboggan Slide on the lawn at Fuller Lodge? Think about it from an academic standpoint. Building something like that requires a lot of mathematics, engineering concepts, hands on woodworking, location of resources, acquisition of resources, and a heck of a lot of teamwork! Then you follow it up with the enjoyment of actually using the slide. What an incredible educational perk!

The school eventually owned more than 780 acres. However, the big draw of the ranch school was the additional acreage and activity opportunities offered by land contracts with the Forest Service. In order to expand their opportunities, Ranch School operations made agreements to obtain leases on quite a lot of forest land.

These land areas came complete with several tumbledown cabins that were renovated thanks to donations from some of the ranch school families. This winter scene is at a place the Ranch School called Camp May. Sound familiar? This was a crazy popular place for the boys to use as a base camp to go snowshoeing, skiing, and sledding in the winter. I think it’s pretty darned amazing that it’s providing the same services today!

At the end of it all, the boys of the Ranch School loved parties. In the winter, skating and hockey parties were as intensely popular back then as they are now. So if you’re ready to tie on some skates, hit the Los Alamos Ice Rink on New Year’s Eve!

The County is pulling out all the stops for this event! There will be a mini carnival, hot cider, popcorn, and music. There’s even a ball drop at midnight to celebrate the new year!

Festivities begin at 8:00PM and end at 1:00AM. General Admission applies and rental skates are available. Get dressed for the occasion and enjoy a night on the “new” Douglas Pond! And when you’re ready to call this wonderful community your own, give me a call! I’d love to talk Los Alamos Real Estate with you!

The Pioneers of Pajarito Acres

December 21, 2023 /

There is no doubt that Pajarito Acres and La Senda are two of the most sought after neighborhoods here in Los Alamos County. The idea of owning enough acreage to increase privacy, have enough room to spread out, park your RV, and enjoy rural, agricultural living complete with livestock in your backyard appeals to a lot of folks.

In the late 1950s and 1960s, this rural life appealed so strongly to a number of local residents that they formed the Pajarito Acres Development Association, gathered their wits and their pennies, and rolled up their sleeves to apply an enormous amount of elbow grease to their dream of rural living in Los Alamos.

What was it like “back in the day”? The following is a quote taken from John Ramsay’s book, “Pajarito Acres: A Bootstrap Volunteer Land Development”:

We moved in before the water or sewers were connected. Someone had to go out every morning with a container and get water from the nearby fire hydrant. We were given a pony, but we didn’t have a corral. The pony got loose one day and fell in the open pit we were using for sewage. After several hours of hand digging a walkway into the pit, we got him out and gave him a bath. ~ Roger Taylor

The more I learn about the grit and determination of the “Bootstrap Volunteers” who began calling Pajarito Acres home, the more in awe I am of their sheer determination.

In his book about the development of Pajarito Acres, John Ramsay offers a photograph of a rather spectacular find made in the early days of the development.

Two teens, both living in the Acres with their parents and exploring like so many teens often do, discovered this horse skeleton on their land in Pajarito Acres. This horse skull was turned over to the American Museum of Natural History for dating. The boys were hoping the skull was a few thousand years old. Turns out the skull was dated from the Pliocene Period nearly 2 to 5 million years ago! The residents declared this a symbol that their desire for space to spread out and enjoy their livestock in their “backyards” was pretty much what the land had been intended for.

It’s difficult for our modern brains to make comparisons between building a home now and building it back in the sixties. On March 1, 1963, the Pajarito Acres Development Association (PADA) created a trust at the Los Alamos Building and Loan. The cost to “buy into” Pajarito Acres was $300.00. On the first day, 77 families committed their down payment. By October 25, 1963 the trust was comprised of 117 members.

These days if someone asked me to put a down payment of $300 on even an empty lot in Pajarito Acres I would be whipping out my checkbook. But to give you an idea of just how much money that was in 1963, consider these salary figures from three years later.

In 1966, the median Laboratory salary was $13,000 per year for an employee with a Bachelors or Masters degree with 10 years of experience. Adding a PhD to your resume only increased your salary to $16,000 per year. So asking them to put down $300 was a lot of cash for an average family to come up with!

Another aspect of this housing development that became a hardship for families was the necessity of making the commitment to purchase a lot and build a home without having any firm idea of how much you might be expected to pay for the cost of utilities.

Going back to those median salaries from 1966, let’s think about the idea of agreeing to build a home with what amounts to a blank check. These days we want estimates. We expect contractors to bid an accurate amount for a job and if it changes, sometimes we decrease the scope of the job.

But back when Pajarito Acres was being built, there was no way to create an accurate estimate. Building private homes in Los Alamos County was so new that only Barranca Mesa could be used for cost comparison purposes. And yet, lots on Barranca Mesa came with streets, utility infrastructure, and other sewer, septic, and water issues resolved by the AEC before you purchased your lot!

During the building of Pajarito Acres, members of PADA expected to have septic systems for each home. Studies were done, residents got out there and took random soil samples of their lots, worked with the AEC, and were certain they knew what to expect going forward. Then a single representative of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) came in, did a spot check, and declared FHA would NEVER insure mortgages in Pajarito Acres.

That decision caused a cascade of changes for septic planning, ending in the necessity of patching PADA homes into the existing White Rock utility services. It also cost each homeowner an additional $2600 before they’d started the actual building of their homes. As you can imagine, this was an immense financial strain on the folks wanting to make their rural home life dreams come true.

The fact that Pajarito Acres exists is a testament to the can do attitude of the original homeowners. In 2013, more than 40 of the original 117 homes in Pajarito Acres were still in the hands of the original members of PADA. Either the original homeowners remained or their children continued to live in their homes. A good number of the children who grew up in “the Acres” purchased homes near their parents’ place in order to provide a similar childhood experience to their own kids.

While we tend to think of La Senda and Pajarito Acres as the same “neighborhood”, that’s not entirely true. The spirit of the Acres is unique even here in Los Alamos. A place where residents remember what it was like to have no paved roads and school buses would get stuck or refuse to come past the first turnoff. Where mothers picked up their children and the mail on horseback and families enjoyed gardening, animal husbandry, and the outdoors while living in homes under construction by the own hands. When you’re ready to be part of this community, give me a call! I’d love to chat real estate in Los Alamos with you!

Winter Holidays in Los Alamos!

December 14, 2023 /

As I sit in my snug home on this amazing snow day in December, I got to thinking about just how incredibly cool it is to live in Los Alamos. Snow days mean getting closer to the Pajarito Ski Mountain’s opening day, which has been moved up to Friday December 15. It means ice skating and sledding and all of the cool things to do and see in Los Alamos County through the winter.

With that in mind, I wanted to give you a few tips regarding winter activities you won’t want to miss!

First of all, it’s a snow day. If you haven’t discovered the amazing sledding options just off the Bayo Canyon trailhead as of yet, I encourage you to check it out!

Parking at the Bayo Canyon trailhead is tricky in the best of weather. Just past the roundabout at the end of Diamond Drive, you head up the steeper road toward North Mesa and the Stables. There is a small parking area off to the left as you go up. Very few cars can fit in there and the snow makes it trickier. Some folks opt to park on the right side of the road on the wide shoulder, but with snow that’s not as easy as it sounds! There is a park at the top of the hill on the right side with several parking areas. This is likely a safer option for parking and once you cross the street, there’s a pedestrian path that goes down to the trailhead. Once there, some of the geography of the canyon makes for a snow tube like sledding experience!

Ice Skating is ALWAYS a hit! But this year, the LA Ice Skating Rink has taken it up a notch with two amazing events.

December 23 is Skate with Santa from 3:30 to 5:00PM

From the Winterfest website: Santa always takes time during his busy holiday schedule to visit the ice rink. He is bringing his elves to greet boys and girls, and hand out candy canes! Santa and his elves will pose for pictures on and off the ice.

$2.50 for ages 5 & under
$6.50 for ages 6+
Includes skate rental and admission.

On December 24, the rink is doing it’s annual Luminaria Skate on Christmas Eve from 5-7 PM. How crazy cool is that? Get the kids and get out for a fun holiday tradition. Check out the County webpage HERE for more information.

Of course, no Holiday would be complete without a concert or two. This weekend on December 16, the Los Alamos Community Winds is presenting their holiday concert at 7 PM at the Crossroads Bible Church. Please visit their website for more information. Honestly, does anyone else love listening to live instrumental music this time of year? The especially unique thing about the LA Community Winds Holiday Concert is that they invite anyone in the community to contribute. Student groups, amateurs, professionals and all with a holiday theme of some sort. It’s an opportunity to see just how talented our community is!

Whether or not you generally attend a Christmas Eve service or not, our Ashley Pond light display is something to behold. Please get out and enjoy the beautiful lights paired with this gorgeous snow!

If you are interested in attending a Christmas Eve service, you might try the outdoor service held at Ashley Pond on December 24 from 4:45-5:30PM. Freedom Church sponsors the event complete with candles, music, and the magic of the season! Get more information at www.ChristmasinLosAlamos.com.

If you’ve got any great memories of sledding, skating, and enjoying winter in Los Alamos, leave them in the comments or post them on my Facebook Page! I’d love to hear from you! And when you’re ready to buy or sell your dream home in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’d love to chat with you!

Saving the Steels

November 30, 2023 /

I was chatting with an acquaintance here in town not long ago and the topic of the Denver Steels came up. This individual was hoping that they could find a house in that area due to the wonderful opportunity to own a small, manageable, single family home in a “starter neighborhood”. I had to agree. Those homes are really great for exactly that! It also crossed my mind to be thankful that the Denver Steels are still around. Because, if you look back to 1960, they weren’t supposed to remain in the Los Alamos housing pool at all.

It’s difficult to help newcomers to Los Alamos to understand the intense discussions regarding the disposal of government housing in Los Alamos. If you’ve been here in town for long, you can see why housing has always been a hotly debated topic. There’s just not a lot of space to build! And back in the 1960s, there was a lot more space to work with than we currently enjoy. And yet the Atomic Energy Commission created a Residential Real Estate Task Force at that time to evaluate every housing option here in town in order to choose the best route forward to develop a lasting community.

The first recommendation of the Residential Real Estate Task Force was that the Denver Steels be removed along with “all substandard housing”. The label of “substandard housing” was actually applied to the old Wingfoots, Hanford Houses, and other wartime stopgaps that had been trucked up to Los Alamos during the war years. (More about that HERE) But the Denver Steels weren’t the same as those temporary homes. Sure. The Denver Steels were prefab homes. They’d been assembled from kits. (More about that HERE) But the residents of the Denver Steels didn’t agree with the declaration of a 1965 Los Alamos Comprehensive Plan that suggested the Denver Steel neighborhood should be removed “because of its potential as a slum area.”

In fact, when the 192 families residing in the Denver Steels in 1965 were surveyed regarding their opinion about their homes, 178 of those occupant families wanted to buy their existing Denver Steel home! The residents reached out to Senator Clinton Anderson and asked the AEC o reverse the decision to raze the Steels to the ground.

Part of this process required the current occupants or “renters” of the Steels to do some research about low cost housing available in both Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Turns out, our little Denver Steel homes were much nicer, more cost efficient, and had better potential for renovations than comparable housing in other areas. There were supporters within the county as well. One spokesperson argued that there were no other low cost housing or “starter homes” in the area. John McLeod of the Unitarian Church (More about that HERE) suggested that “removal of the units represents an attempt to create an artificial community populated only by families with incomes substantially above the average.” He went on to further state that “Such a community is an unhealthy moral environment.”

Whether you agree with the moral environment comment or not, there is no doubt that the Denver Steels have long been the “starter homes” of Los Alamos County. In spite of their limited space floorplans, metal construction, and other issues cited by the AEC, the Denver Steels have seen some of the most impressive renovations in all of Los Alamos County!

In late 1967, the committee assigned to debate the topic of the Steels came to the conclusion that they would only remove 50 of the Denver Steels from Los Alamos. The Denver Steel neighborhood we’re familiar with today holds the remaining 142 homes saved. These homes were offered for sale to their occupants, who almost universally agreed to purchase the home they’d been renting.

The 50 Denver Steels that were removed once sat on Rim Road and Pine Street. It’s hard to believe that there were once 50 Denver Steels crammed onto that canyon rim. In place of those 50 homes, the Planning Commission granted permission for 18 new houses to be built. 50 homes replaced by 18. Those numbers alone suggest a strong reason for why housing has become increasingly scarce. Take a look at the original Denver Steel floorplan below.

This used to be a fairly decent sized home for a family of three or four. Our expectations of comfort and space have changed so much since this floorplan was created! Folks used to want more lawn and space between themselves and their neighbor’s windows. Now, you find in most pre planned neighborhoods or “track housing” neighborhoods, that builders have applied for variances in order to place the largest home possible on the smallest lots.

Whether you like them or not, the Denver Steels are a vital part of the Los Alamos Housing pool! This preservation of the Denver Steels is part of the story of the disposal of housing in Los Alamos. Nobody thought the process would be so long and so complicated. I hope that as we explore this time in our town’s unique history, you find some interesting new facts about your OWN home! And if you’re buying or selling your home in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’d love to chat Los Alamos Real Estate with you.

What Made Group 16 Unique?

November 17, 2023 /

In a previous post, I mentioned that the Group 16 homes in Eastern Area were considered one of the most highly sought after on the housing lists here in Los Alamos. Why were these homes so popular? What made them different from other “group housing” here in Los Alamos?

By 1953, the Eastern Area was still made up of orderly blocks of prefab housing such as the Mckees, Handfords, Wingfoots, and Fort Leonard Woods. You can read more about those tiny homes HERE. In October of 1953, the Atomic Energy Commission took bids on these units and began moving them off the hill to their new homes. By February of the following year, the AEC went forward with plans to build new housing in the Eastern Area and Group 16 went under construction.

For the first time, the government listened to the residents of Los Alamos and did not plan any multiple family units in the new construction. Instead, the first batch of Group 16 included 83 homes in the areas of Canyon Rd, Myrtle, 9th, & 15th streets. This construction creaked Oakwood, Sage, and Pinon Loops.

The second batch of 37 Group 16 homes went up on the south side of Trinity Dr near the Medical Center and 35th street with a few stragglers on Sandia Drive near 47th & 48th streets. This brought the total number of Group 16s to 120.

Part of the excitement and desirability had to do with the fact that Group 16 included on 13 two bedroom homes while providing 74 new three bedroom homes, and 33 four bedroom homes. For a town that had been clamoring for larger floorplans, this felt like amazing progress!

The homes did lack a fireplace, but each dwelling had a carport. Residents considered these a close match in quality to the Original Westerns, and the pitched roofs were the first seen in Los Alamos since the Lustron homes were built in 1949. Because these were concrete slab construction, the floors were tile over concrete instead of hardwood floors. But having a single family home in such a traditional floorplan with a pitched roof made Group 16 the most attractive housing option available in Los Alamos since the Original Westerns were built and residents were excited!

I did find some of the construction information quite interesting. Craig Martin discussing some of the cost issues associated with building here in Los Alamos in the fifties in his book, Quads, Duplexes, and Sunken Living Rooms.

In March of 1954, the average cost of building a home in Santa Fe and Albuquerque was $10,000. (Don’t think too hard about that. It was a long time ago!) Similar homes built in Los Alamos tended to cost $14,000 to $18,000 to build. A Congressional committee actually cut funding initially to build homes in Los Alamos at that time due to the discrepancy in the numbers. The budget cut caused the number of projected houses to be lowered, thus causing the Congressional committee to invite the Los Alamos Project building manager to Washington for a chat. His chat at least partially restored the budget, but of the 122 Group 16s planned, funds could stretch to only 120 homes.

These days, locals are entirely aware of the challenges associated with building and maintaining homes in our somewhat remote community. It calls for some DIY elbow grease, good plan ahead skills, and a healthy respect for any contractor who is willing to come up here. Most of us have a list of companies or local resources and we show them the love whenever possible! I sometimes enjoy imagining Frank DiLuzio of the Los Alamos AEC office explaining to the suits in Washington what a drive up the Main Hill Road is like for a semi trailer full of building materials!

While the old myth about our streets being laid out “in Washington” by folks who had never been here isn’t true. What is true is that most of the decision makers who had a lasting effect on our Los Alamos landscape had absolutely no idea what the terrain is like here. I still have to remind myself that Main Hill Road is not “normal” for some folks, which is why they drive cautiously and want to stop and get a photo of the breathtaking view!

Next time you’re cruising down Trinity Drive or Canyon Road, check out the wonderful Group 16 homes still sheltering local families today! They’re still popular even after all these years for being exactly what they are: a functional home with useable living space to raise a family. And when you’re ready to buy or sell your home here in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’d love to chat Los Alamos Real Estate with you!

Changing Perceptions in White Rock

November 10, 2023 /

In the last few blog posts, one of the underlying talk points is the point system that governed early housing life here in Los Alamos. Your family’s point value was determined by the number of Laboratory/Zia employees in your household, years of service, salary, and in some cases, your importance to the overall mission. Whether we realize it or not, importance to the mission is still a critical piece of life in Los Alamos. In the next few years, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that “Industrial Crane Operator” carries more value than “Physicist”!

Not long after private lots on Barranca Mesa were sold to the public and homes were in the process of being built, the housing office here in Los Alamos was frantically trying to keep up with the needs of our growing community. Craig Martin gives the statistics in his book, Quads, Shoeboxes, and Sunken Living Rooms.

7,532 names on 61 separate housing lists for the Laboratory alone. This didn’t include Zia employees, which accounted for everything else from gas attendant to maintenance crews. Folks on the list were current employees of the Laboratory asking for larger or better housing. The longest list had 390 names of folks requesting the Group 16 three bedroom single family homes. (We’ll talk more about these popular dwellings in a future post)

To give you an idea of how unbalanced the supply and demand was, there were 13 Group 13 single family homes on the Laboratory’s housing allotment and 312 people on the waiting list for that home.

Most of the housing available to newcomers were one bedroom apartments in the old Sundt buildings. It certainly wasn’t a popular option for a family!For the first time in Los Alamos, new hires were not guaranteed housing and it was suggested they seek housing in the Espanola Valley or in Santa Fe.

This situation doesn’t actually seem that outrageous to our modern minds. Getting hired at LANL doesn’t imply in any way that you are guaranteed to get a house. But our modern housing situation was a direct result of the dispersal of government homes. As I mentioned in a previous post, this was the number one reason Norris Bradbury spoke out so often against the disposal of government owned housing here in Los Alamos.

What I sometimes find so interesting about the history of our development as a community is that certain local perceptions of neighborhoods in Los Alamos stem directly from this point system.

White Rock has one of those long standing neighborhood perceptions. White Rock was originally a Construction Camp. You can read more about its history HERE. Because of the high point value required to “buy into” housing on Barranca Mesa, the perception at the time was that only “rich” or “scientific staff” could live up there. This also gave rise to the perception that the development of a new, post Construction Camp White Rock in the 1960s was for the lower income or less project connected personnel.

An acquaintance of mine who built a beautiful new home on Bryce Ave in White Rock back in the mid seventies still remembers feeling as though the residents on “the Hill” looked down on the residents of “White Rock” in more ways that just geography. It’s entirely possible that a good deal of this perception was due to the fact that in the 1960s and 70s, there were many Laboratory and Zia employees who had great difficulty forgetting that White Rock was no longer a Construction Camp designed to house temporary workers. Today, living in White Rock and working at LANL means you get a head start to the guard gate just past the State Rd 4/Grand Canyon intersection!

Likewise, Barranca Mesa has long been a very desirable location here in Los Alamos. Many long time residents still consider it a “really expensive neighborhood”. Yet there are plenty of neighborhoods that have larger, newer, or more expensive homes. Plus, if you’re considering commuting issues, the drive from White Rock to the center of town vs the drive from Los Pueblos to the center of town takes just as long. And White Rock is much closer to LANL than Barranca or North Mesa!

The beautiful home pictured here is near the end of Los Pueblos and is quite some distance from both LANL and downtown amenities. It was also built more than forty years after development of Barranca Mesa began.

In our current market, two of the most sought after neighborhoods in Los Alamos are Pajarito Acres and La Senda, both located in White Rock. These country living estates were popular first with equestrians, but now appeal to anyone who wants a bit more privacy on a roomy lot with incredible views!

I’ll be talking more about the development of Pajarito Acres and La Senda in the coming weeks. Until then, think about your perceptions of your neighborhood here in Los Alamos. What have you heard or experienced that might be a leftover of the past? And when you’re ready to buy or sell a home in any neighborhood here in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’d love to chat Los Alamos real estate with you!

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