Why do people stay here in Los Alamos? I think that’s something newcomers or visitors often wonder. As you might imagine, I hear a lot of first impressions of the town from my clients as they search for a home to fit their needs. Many of the initial thoughts aren’t that flattering. The first thing that begins to shift their perception is how beautiful it is here. No matter how much you dislike the lack of restaurants or shopping, very few people have anything negative to say about the scenery. But the natural beauty of this place seems to soak slowly into the newcomers. While they are house hunting, they might be uncertain about whether or not they plan to stay. Oftentimes when I meet up with them again in months or even years, their opinion has changed.

Enchanted

What happens to change opinions about life in Los Alamos between first impressions and the decision to stay in town for pretty much the rest of someone’s life? I think the image below explains a lot! For the record, this is a photo of the Valle Caldera. Folks living in Los Alamos weren’t allowed access to this area for recreation or any other reason until the year 2000 when Congress purchased the Baca ranch and created a National Park.

Steak Parties

Okay. I’ll admit. I was a bit baffled by this concept. According to Images of America: Los Alamos 1944-1947, when the residents in Los Alamos were a bit frustrated with living on top of each other and being stressed about making progress on the Manhattan Project, they liked to drive, ride horseback, or hike a short way into the surrounding area to get away. And often this event included steak.

Frijoles Canyon was a popular location. The photo below of an evening picnic was taken on March 24, 1945. Campfire fried potatoes and thick steak were the preferred picnic fare. Evidently, the ability to leave “civilization” for the freedom of the mountains, fresh air, towering Ponderosa pines, and even some fishing was the reason so many Manhattan Project participants remained in Los Alamos for as long as possible once the war ended. Some of those residents still live in town today. There are more than a few homes in Los Alamos that have been owned by the same people since the government disposed of housing in the post war era. When folks say Los Alamos has it’s own gravitational pull, they aren’t kidding!

Sports on the Plateau

I’ve spoken in the past about the long history of baseball in Los Alamos. But you don’t have to hang about in town for long to see that we really enjoy our sports. In fact, Los Alamos has always been a place for sporting.

During the war years, the Army encouraged organized sports as much as they encouraged their GIs and civilians to set up pickup games of softball and football. Once the war was over, there was an organized softball league. Men and women set up teams with names like the Exploders, the Plutons, the Bombers, and even the Sad Sockers. Each week the Los Alamos Times would publish batting averages and team standings.

Los Alamos has always enjoyed winter sports. The Ranch School had already made a place to ice skate and had cleared some runs for skiing, activities that have never ceased to be favorites in the winter months. In the second winter of the project, as more Europeans joined the community, skiing took on a whole new importance as the Sawyer’s Hill Ski Tow Association was created. Eventually this group developed into the Pajarito Ski Club, which many people still know today.

While our golf course and horse stables are not in any way connected these days, that didn’t used to be the case. The original stables/golf course was the giant meadow which later became Western Area. Notice the split rail fencing in the background of the photo of the two golfing gentlemen? It was agreed upon that most of the course was sand trap…because it was a horse pasture…and golfers had to climb onto the “greens” as they were fenced off to keep the horses from munching the better grass. I often picture the horses watching humans smacking little balls around their pasture with great amusement!

Just about everyone rode horses in the early days of Los Alamos. The military acquired the ranch school stock when they purchased the land, buildings, and machinery. These horses were for public use, but it didn’t take long for many families to purchase their own horses. Horses were acquired in much the same way they are today. Someone tells someone else they have one they’re selling and a deal is made! Eleanor Jette tells in her book of finding maps in one of the abandoned cabins which opened the entirety of the trails to riders and hikers. Residents weren’t allowed to drive to Santa Fe but once a month. If you wanted to ride the trail to Caballo Mountain every day of the week, nobody would tell you no. In much the same way they do for local equestrians today, horses equalled freedom to the residents of Los Alamos!

Exploring the Past

Another popular activity was a continuation of something the boys of the ranch school had also enjoyed. Nowadays we are encouraged to view the native ruins dotting our landscape. You can head to Bandelier, Tsankawi, or the Puye Cliffs to hike and climb the ladders as long as you stay on the path. Back in the 1940s, folks were free to hike out, climb around, experiment with amateur archaeology, and generally poke about in whatever manner interested them!

As with any population of young men and women, Los Alamos soon became a hotbed of dating, marriage, and babies during the Manhattan Project era. It actually reminds me a bit of the “romances” that seem to happen all throughout history on the wagon train trails, long voyages on ships, and in tiny communities all over the world. Being thrown together for a single purpose (work!?) never stops the social scene from happening in the background. Evidently, the male to female ratio in those days wasn’t all that unlike the one today. The was reported to be one woman for every ten men!

Wedding Fever!

It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that weddings happened in Los Alamos about as often as sunrise and sunset! Sources say weddings were typically held in Theaters No. 1 and No. 2, the chapel, the chaplain’s office, in churches in the surrounding communities and even in private homes! The couple below is preparing for communion during their Catholic Wedding Mass in Theater No. 1.

One of the popular beverages in Los Alamos back in those days was called Tech Area Punch. This mixed concoction was usually flavored heavily by grapefruit juice. But we’ll talk more about that in a future post. You can see from the happy faces, the elegant little wedding cake, and the enormous punch bowl that weddings were a wonderful social event!

I hope you’ve noticed that the topic of “things to do in Los Alamos” hasn’t actually changed all that much between the ranch school days and right now. Next time we’re going to take a dive into the Los Alamos Nightlife! (Yes, that’s actually a thing!) Until then, I hope you get outside with your favorite family, friends, coworkers, fellow club members, and anyone else who shares your passion for this place and all it has to offer. And when you’re ready to talk homes and real estate in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’m a hometown girl who always has time to talk housing in Los Alamos!