The first full week of summer vacation is behind us and I’m sure there’s more than one parent out there who has already heard the complaint, “I’m bored!”. Don’t let that ball get rolling, get out and do something fun! If you’re at a loss for keeping your kids busy this summer, you might want to check out a few of the amazing summer activities here in Los Alamos.
Swim, Los Alamos!
Swimming is always a great way to get outside and be active in the summer. Swimming keeps kids busy and it makes them tired! Tired is kind of awesome when you think about it. And it feels a lot better to let your kids zone out in front of the TV or a video game is they’ve spent the entire morning zipping around the pool.
Several of our local pools offer private and group swimming lessons, so get in contact with the location most convenient for your family. Most private pools have memberships available for purchase or lease. This could be a great way to keep your family busy this summer. Check out this previous post for more information about our local pools.
Pajarito Environmental Education Center
PEEC has some amazing summer camps available for kids. They’ve got great programs for just dropping in with the family too. With weekly programs on reptiles, birds, gardens, and even the planetarium shows, PEEC is a fantastic way to keep away the dreaded boredom. Camps are offered for kids first grade and up. So check out their website for more information.
YMCA
If you haven’t joined the YMCA or taken a look at any of their programs recently, it might be time for that to change. Our Los Alamos Family YMCA has a lot to offer! Whether or your family is in to sports, climbing, working out, or just getting outdoors, the YMCA has a program for you. Summer camps are only the beginning of what the YMCA has to offer your family. Visit their website and check out the fun family activities today!
Los Alamos Arts Council
Ready to hear your kids rave about the coolest thing this summer? Don’t miss out on the Los Alamos Art Council’s Summer Camps. With themes for each week, the camps are geared toward getting kids outdoors while exploring their creative side. It’s a fantastic opportunity for you to get some R&R while your kids do something fun and engaging. The cost of camps is reasonable and they even offer a summer Ceramics Course for kids grades 4th-8th. Hit their website for the latest information and registration.
Youth Activity Center
If your kiddos are 3rd-8th grade, they’re also eligible to attend the Youth Activity Center. This no cost daycare alternative is free of charge and staffed with adults and responsible teens who love hanging out with the kids. Summer is filled with planned field trips, outdoor water activities, and plenty of emphasis on respect for self and others. Check out the YAC’s Facebook Page for more information.
These fun things to do are only the beginning of a list of cool activities in Los Alamos. If you can think of more cool things to do this summer, post them in the comments! I’d love to hear from you. And as always, when you’re ready to talk Real Estate in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’m your hometown real estate broker and I’d love to hear from you!
Summer is here. School is done this week. Graduation is upon us. And the best part of summer is beginning! The Los Alamos Free Concert Series opens on May 26, with Billy Bob Thornton & the Boxmasters.
Why You Should Go
I suppose it’s possible to live here in Los Alamos and be unaware of the Los Alamos Concert Series going on at Ashley Pond each Friday. However, for many of you, knowing the concerts are available isn’t necessarily incentive to go. I get that. The crowd is sometimes enormous and it could easily seem overwhelming. But as we kick off this summer’s series, I’d like to give you a few things to consider.
Our concert series has been lauded as the best free concert series in New Mexico. It runs from Friday May 26 until Friday September 1 and there are artists to fit any taste in music. Some are local and well known, some are local and unknown. Several are well known all over the world! But because this is a free concert, you don’t have to feel compelled to stick around for the whole thing. You can make your concert experience pretty much whatever you’d like.
Even If You Don’t Like Crowds
Don’t want to squeeze yourself onto the lawn in front of the pavilion? No problem! Utilize the free shuttle service and eliminate the need to park at all. Or park several blocks away or more and walk to the pond. Wave to your friends and neighbors, get a crazy awesome view of the crowd at twilight from the steps in front of the Justice Center. Listen to the music as you wander through the garden behind Fuller Lodge. Find a slice of the concert atmosphere pretty much anywhere in the downtown area on Friday nights. Part of the charm here in Los Alamos is the option to enjoy the entertainment in a way that works for you.
A Snack For Everyone
Food trucks are a novelty that has resonated with plenty of us these days. And there’s no doubt that the amount and variety of food trucks is almost incentive enough to pop by the pond on a Friday night. Local favorite Senor Tortas got their start in a food truck and they often still make an appearance on Friday nights. Snow cones, slushies, cotton candy, and other carnival style faves are available too. Whether you want dinner or just dessert, you can find something amazing. And that while your kids bounce themselves silly in the bouncy houses and run wild across the lawn like kids are supposed to do!
Something you may not realize is that the Youth Activity Center located in the Community Center basement is open during the concerts. The YAC will be in their parking lot offering treats like popcorn, candy, sodas, slushies, and even cotton candy. The proceeds all go back into free community programs for the YAC and the inside snack bar is available for taquitos, personal pizzas, and other regular menu items. The YAC even offers the opportunity to whip out the credit card for Square payments and their menu is priced significantly lower than many other available options.
On a semi-related side note, the YAC staff would like to remind the local public that if you’re enjoying a jaunt around the pond anytime during operating hours, they’d be happy to sell you a beverage at the snack bar. You don’t have to be a 3rd-8th grader to head inside and purchase a snack or a drink. So stop by during the summer to say hello!
Get Involved
Sometimes it’s easy to feel isolated up here in Los Alamos. I hear from folks all the time that there’s nothing to do and that they have difficulty finding social groups. The truth is that there are things to do all around us here in Los Alamos, but we have to get out and find those things. The summer concert series is an amazing example of that. It’s a huge local event and even if you went every week for the whole season you’d probably not run out of things to do and see!
If you’d like to step it up a notch, check out the concert’s website for job opportunities! They’re hiring everything from opening acts to social media coordinators. It could be a fantastic way to get involved with one of our amazing local traditions.
A Local Legend
A lot of folks might not realize that the Los Alamos Concert Series began as one local businessman’s attempt to bring music to Los Alamos. Russ Gordon and his family opened a record store (that sold ice cream!) in White Rock in 1988. The store eventually moved to the MariMac center in Los Alamos and the first “Gordon’s Stage” was a slapped together wood platform in the parking lot where the entire town gathered on Friday nights for a free concert. Gordon’s Concert series hosted over 500 music acts from all genres and Russ was an incredible influence on so many young people who wandered in and out of his record store over the years. With Russ’s retirement in 2017, the Los Alamos Summer Concert series became a thing, but many of us still call these events “Gordon’s Concerts” and there is a plaque on the pavilion at Ashley Pond celebrating Gordon’s contribution to the fabric of Los Alamos.
We are a tight community with tons of history and so much local flavor it might seem slightly crazy to outsiders. But we are also welcoming and eager to share our history and our amazing amenities and opportunities with everyone. So get out and enjoy the concert series this summer! And when you’re ready to join our community here in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’d love to chat Los Alamos Real Estate with you.
There is no doubt that Los Alamos loves dogs! If you spend any time driving around town, you’ll notice plenty of folks outside with their dogs. Most of our paved trails have doggie clean up bins stationed at regular intervals, and we have three dog parks here in town. Several businesses have cropped up to keep dogs active and happy too. The Doghouse offers Doggie Daycare, training, and boarding services. And we have more than a few dog walking services. But if you really want to get to the hub of the dog community in Los Alamos, you should check out the Los Alamos Dog Obedience Club.
The Los Alamos Dog Obedience Club is a 501(c)4 non profit organization that has been supporting Los Alamos dog owners since 1951. Yes. 1951. That’s a really long time! Their building is located next to the Animal Shelter and the East Park Dog Park. The metal building is an old Quonset Hut left over from the Los Alamos war years, which might be enough of a curiosity to at least visit the club. Honestly though, this group has the resources to take your dog ownership to the next level.
When most of us think of dog obedience, we immediately imagine basic manners class with a puppy. If you have a puppy, you can certainly sign up for some basic training courses. It’s a great place to start. But if you’ve got an older dog at home, that doesn’t mean you’re left out!
Along with basic manners and tricks for fun, our local dog enthusiasts participate in beginner to advanced agility training, herding, tracking, dock diving, breed showing, nose training, and even schutzhund (protection training). Our locals get together on a weekly basis and even arrange trips out of area for training events, shows, and competitions. Professional dog trainers come to Los Alamos from as far away as South Africa to assist with specialized work such as Schutzhund and some of our local dog owners have successfully competed dogs internationally!
Even if all of this sounds overwhelming, you might be surprised at the unusual services our local dog obedience enthusiasts can provide to the community. A great example is snake training for your dog. A professional trainer comes to town fairly frequently during snake season in order to expose you and your dog to possible snake encounters on the trail. For those of us who trail run or hike with our dogs, or even those of us who live in an area where snakes might appear in our yard, training our dogs not to get bit is a huge bonus! The snake specialist travels with several varieties of snakes who are specially prepared to keep your dog safe while offering them the experience of a snake encounter in a way that prevents them from making a critical boo-boo at a later time. Contact the Dog Obedience club for details, or check their Facebook page for upcoming dates.
Summer sign up for classes begins on June 14. So this is the perfect time to look at your summer schedule and make some time to get fit with your dog. Dog training is a passion sport with tons of benefits for both you and your canine companions. And it’s just one more cool thing to do here in Los Alamos! Get involved with Dog Obedience and when you’re ready to join our community here on the Hill, give me a call! I’d love to chat real estate in Los Alamos with you.
There’s no doubt that Los Alamos has a crazy long list of outdoor activities to keep the fun going all year round. With miles upon miles of trails, quick access to a variety of public lands, ice skating, skiing, horseback riding, hiking, trail running, and mountain biking, we’ve got outdoor fun no matter the season! But if you’re ready to elevate your mountain biking experience, you need to head for the ski hill.
Did that look like a typo? It wasn’t a mistake. During the off season, Pajarito Recreation LLC offers a Mountain Bike Power Pass that not only gives you the opportunity to utilize the ski lifts up on the mountain to elevate your ride, but also offers the opportunity to bike other resort properties!
Bike Pajarito Mountain!
If you’re an avid mountain biker, you’re probably aware of the Pajarito Mountain bike trails. However, for those of you who are simply looking for a fun activity this summer, you might want to check it out!
Is your bicycle looking like it just can’t hack a 1440 gain in elevation? No problem! The Pajarito Mountain Bike Shop has you covered. They stock the latest and greatest in Mountain Bikes for rental. This means you don’t have to drop your summer vacation budget on a bike. You can rent the cream of the crop and enjoy! This is also a cool plan if you’re shopping for a new bike. It’s like getting the test ride of a lifetime.
Not Just A Simple Trail
Pajarito Mountain has always been a place for outdoor enthusiasts to volunteer. The original ski mountain was created in the fifties by a group of locals who just wanted to enjoy the outdoors in winter. You can read more about the history of skiing in Los Alamos HERE. But sometime in the early 2000’s, a group of Mountain Bike enthusiasts approached the management at Pajarito Mountain and offered to expand the summer activities by hand cutting bike trails to make a truly awesome riding experience.
Over the last twenty years, these trails have been developed and maintained by hardcore enthusiasts, expanded, and mapped until they create a network of bike experiences to satisfy all levels of mountain bikers. You can see a map of trails on the Pajarito Mountain website. And best of all, it’s possible on certain days to ride a chairlift to the top of the mountain and cycle down! It is beyond cool to enjoy the breathtaking summer views from the chairlift to the top of the ski hill before riding your way to the bottom.
Bike Patrol
Anyone who has tried skiing has probably heard of the Ski Patrol. At Pajarito, the ski patrol also includes the Bike Patrol. In the last few years, the club trained and maintained Bike Patrol has joined with the National Ski Patrol (NSP) organization. Some members of the winter Ski Patrol also belong to the Bike Patrol, but not everyone does year round duty. And if you’re a cycle enthusiast who has any interest at all in becoming part of the Bike Patrol, you don’t have to be a NSP member to join in!
Cyclists interested in Bike Patrol should check out their info page here. Bike Patrol is on duty anywhere on the mountain during operating hours. For those members of the NSP, the duties aren’t much different from that of the winter season. Except you can’t toboggan an injured person during the summer so logistics takes quite a bit of planning and communication. Patrol members often say that the rewards of being an outdoor/wilderness first responder are worth every second of hard work.
If you want to volunteer with the Bike Patrol, you’d become a “Bike Host”. Bike hosts become a point person for visitors to the mountain helping with navigation, safety, and even helping with small bike repairs when necessary. While bike hosts don’t go through the same rigorous Outdoor Emergency Care certification process, they do receive a lot of the same training until they feel comfortable with their role on the mountain.
Take Your Power Pass On The Road!
As with ski passes purchased through Pajarito Recreation LLC, the Summer Mountain Bike Pass gives you access to a variety of other resorts with Mountain Biking opportunities. This includes Spider Mountain Bike Park in Austin, TX! Talk about a great way to enjoy summer. Check out Spider Mountain on the web HERE.
So next time you’re wondering how to get the whole family outside for some fun on a beautiful summer weekend, visit the Pajarito Mountain Website and plan to get out and ride! And when you’re ready to join our community here in Los Alamos, give me a call. I love to talk Los Alamos!
One of the things I love most about being in the real estate business might surprise you. Sure, the flexible hours are great. I love being able to meet new people and talk about (or brag on) a community that I really enjoy being part of. But truthfully, getting the opportunity to take a peek into other people’s living space is fascinating to me. I suppose you might call me voyeuristic, but I’m not being creepy. I’m just interested! And sometimes, being interested pays off. For example, I recently purchased two beautiful works of art a client had inherited from his grandparents. It was a crazy amazing opportunity for me and a welcome way for this client to find a new home for something he didn’t have a use for.
It might surprise you to realize that Los Alamos homes are full of unusual and often valuable trinkets and works of art. You might scoff, but I promise you it’s true. Art in particular is something we don’t necessarily realize Los Alamos does well. At the end of last year I did a post on galleries and art classes here in Los Alamos. This week I’d like to talk about two artists in particular who are famous for their love of Northern New Mexico and their artistic renderings of Southwestern culture.
Donald “Keith” Kelley
When you plan your next (or first) visit to the Smithsonian, don’t forget to seek out a photograph by the nationally and internationally acclaimed artist, Keith Kelley. I have fond memories of Keith as he lived not far from my grandmother when I was young. He was a kind man and I own several of his paintings, which I love!
Born in Illinois in 1928, Kelley moved with his wife to Los Alamos in 1949 to work at the Safeway store. He worked at the Piggly Wiggly, later Mesa Market, until he was 46 years old. It might seem so very odd that anyone would move to Los Alamos in order to manage a grocery store, but Kelley loved the Southwest. He studied Archaeology at NMSU as a young man, but when he retired, he decided to dedicate his time to painting. He’d always had a talent for oils, but was an avid photographer as well.
Kelley was the same sort of artist as he was a man: an individual. He used a combination of oils and razor blades to achieve the gorgeous works of art which reflected life in the southwest. In 2015, after Kelley’s death in September of 2011, his family donated five of his paintings to the Los Alamos Medical Center to hang in the front lobby. He often gave works of art to friends all over town, some painted during the time he was still working at the grocery store. For that reason, many of his paintings can still be found in homes all over Los Alamos.
Kelley was 82 when he passed away, but he still has family living here in Los Alamos and in other places in the United States to carry on the memory of this talented man. Kelley’s art hangs in American Embassies in Moscow, Russia and Pretoria, and South Africa. Every painting by Kelley includes a “hidden bunny”, something Kelley did deliberately to encourage viewers to enjoy his art in new and unique ways.
Secundino “Sec” Sandoval
A story folks use to tell about Sec Sandoval is that he once took a painting class and was asked to paint a nude model. When the model disrobed, Sec reportedly left the classroom and went outdoors to paint birds. The talented artist was mostly self taught and though he often sought to improve his technique, he didn’t enjoy being told what to paint.
Sandoval began drawing at the age of five, struggled in school as a young man, but ended on a high note as the captain of the football team before graduating 7th in his class at LAHS. He graduated with a BA from Adams State in Alamosa, CO and went on to be a technical illustrator for the US Army Aggressor Center in the late forties and fifties. Sandoval returned to Los Alamos and worked for the Lab for 15 yrs before retiring and devoting his time to his love of painting.
Sandoval is known for paintings of the Southwest that are so true to life that they resonate with other lovers of Southwestern culture and landscapes. Sandoval never painted while outdoors. He reportedly didn’t like the unpredictability of the weather. Instead, he took pictures and painted from those. Or, he was fond of making a sketch of a rock or a tree and then creating a painting based upon his own ideas. In the end, most of his paintings were of fictional places inspired by places and animals he saw throughout his daily life. He is best known for oils and watercolors of the aspen trees and wildlife of the Pajarito Plateau. He reportedly told one a friend that he could never get the aspens “quite right”, but that he intended to keep on trying until he did. If you’ve ever seen any of Sandoval’s paintings, you probably agree with me that he certainly got that right and so much more!
If you’d like to acquire some of these works for yourself, you might try contacting the Karen Wray Gallery. Or, you might be surprised what you find by contacting the Cricket Window and checking out some of their estate sales around town. And when you’re ready to buy or sell real estate in Los Alamos, give me a call. I’d love to talk about Los Alamos with you!
During the pandemic, many Americans opted to purchase a camper, trailer, or RV of some kind. Many of us liked the idea of having “our own space” while we travelled. When hotels and other travel options were entirely shut down due to quarantine, having an RV of any kind became a way to escape to nature for some down time away from those four walls you might’ve been sharing with your family for far too long.
Los Alamos has a fairly long history with trailers, trailer homes, campers, RVs, and plenty of other stopgap housing measures. You can read more about that HERE. But even if you’re not in need of a permanent place to park your RV so you can live in it, Los Alamos has more options for local camping than you might realize.
Los Alamos Main Gate Park
Located at the top of the Main Hill Road, Main Gate Park provides ten camping spaces to the public. The views are actually spectacular even if the “campground” looks rather Spartan at first glance. There are bathrooms (located behind the Main Gate facade), picnic tables, water spigots, a small pet yard, and even an RV dump station. That last one is probably important information for anyone who owns an RV no matter where they camp. In years past there was no fee to use the RV dump station, but it would be best to call the Parks Department at the Aquatic Center or email the staff to double check. This campground is open year round and it’s only $10/night. Visitors are allowed 14 nights in a 30 day period and permits and payments can be made at the front desk of the Aquatic Center.
White Rock Visitor Center
Now, if you have a bigger RV you’d like to use in Los Alamos County, you’ll need to camp down at the White Rock Visitor’s Center. The park is situated between the Visitor’s Center and the Fire Station on State Road 4. The lot includes sixteen 15×50 foot spaces, each with electric hookup. There is an RV sewer dump on site. The interesting thing about White Rock is that you don’t make any reservations and there is a small credit card pay machine. This is amazingly convenient if you have relatives coming into town who have no good idea when they might or might not arrive. They can simply pay their $20/night at the machine when they arrive. The only negative about the machine is that it only allows you to pay for one night at a time. The same rule applies to the number of days you can camp in the park. 14 days out of each 30 is the maximum number of nights to camp. Bathrooms are also available in the small latrine trailer parked in the lot if needed.
Bandelier National Monument
We don’t typically think of Bandelier being part of Los Alamos, but it can be if you’ve got relatives looking to find a place to stay or if you’re looking for a camping vacation close to home. There are three camping options within this park and one of them could mean just about anything.
The Juniper Campground is for families or groups of less than ten campers. There aren’t any electric hookups or showers, but they do offer public restrooms with running water. Some of the spaces are large enough for a 40 ft RV and there are picnic tables and outdoors grills at each space. During the summer the campground will have a host on site to help out with information you might need about the area and amenities. No reservations are necessary and campers are given spaces on a first come, first served basis.
The Ponderosa Group Campground can accommodate camping groups of 10-50 people. This is a bit of a different environment. The Ponderosa Campground is accessed about six miles down State Road 4 from the main park entrance. Reservations are required as this is a fairly high demand campground for big groups. There are only two campsites at Ponderosa and each offers bathrooms with pit toilets though there are no showers or electric available. Water can be obtained from spigots as long as there is not snow! The Ponderosa is located at 7600 ft in altitude and sits at a spot that often gets more frequent snowfall than other parts of Los Alamos. That means the campground usually isn’t snow free with running water until mid to late April!
The other camping option in Bandelier is to backpack in and find a spot you’d like to camp on the trail. There are a host of things to consider if you’d like to try this option sometime. Water isn’t something you’re likely to find on the trails in the back country, so you’d need to pack in and out whatever water you need. Permits for backpacking in Bandelier can be obtained at the main visitor’s center. Check the National Parks Service website for more information and for the latest updates about wildlife in the park. Recently they’ve been spotting bears in and around the campsites and as we all know, there is plenty of wildlife to see here in Los Alamos. Both of the predator and prey varieties, so caution is always recommended!
If you’re looking for a quick vacation or getaway, you might consider one of these camping options. It’s a great way to get away without a lot of traveling. And it could be a fantastic way to host friends in town if your living space isn’t quite ready for a large gathering. And if you’re ready to buy or sell that house in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’d love to chat real estate with you!
Last time we looked at a good number of thrift shops here in Los Alamos. Most of the items in those shops focuses on clothes or home goods. But if you’re looking to accessorize your closet on a budget, there are a couple of stores around town you really need to check out!
Seeking Chameleon
Located in White Rock at 35 Rover Blvd, Suite H, Seeking Chameleon is the sort of store you want to budget some extra time to enjoy. The store has everything from vintage items like jewelry and art to handmade crafts, antique collectibles, and everything in between. They also do some reselling, which is a really cool way to not only find some fabulous things for yourself, but a way to repurpose things you don’t need anymore. I hear so often from folks who are moving that they have collectibles or knickknacks that they don’t necessarily want, but they aren’t ready to pitch in the trash yet either. One of the most enjoyable things about buying and reselling is that one person’s discard might be someone else’s treasure of a lifetime.
When it comes to Seeking Chameleon, those items might even be vintage toys! Sometimes it’s fun just to shop old toys even if you’re not looking to purchase. And if you’ve ever wanted to get a great gift for a hard to shop for person, try a toy they might’ve longed for in the past. Talk about nostalgic moments! So whether you’re looking for antiques or unusual glass items and art supplies, stop in White Rock at Seeking Chameleon and have a look around.
The Cricket Window
If you’ve never visited The Cricket Window, it might be due to their previous location being somewhat out of the way. However, the new store (pictured above) at 2101 Trinity Drive, is just across the street from Ashley Pond. This new first floor location provides more room and good light for customers to see the merchandise and there is a LOT to see!
While The Cricket Window is less thrift store and more vintage antiques, artistic gifts, and functional decor, they also offer a rather unique and wonderful service to the community; estate sales. There is no doubt in my mind that more than one of you know someone, are related to someone, or have experienced what happens when one of our local Los Alamos residents has been in their home for a good 40+ years. The sheer amount of stuff accumulated in that amount of time is daunting! And yet, most of that stuff isn’t useless, it’s just too much. As you can see in the photograph below, The Cricket Window has a knack for organizing that stuff, identifying the gems, and tagging the entire sale in a way that makes potential buyers able to find what they want and feel confident in their purchases.
So the next time you’re telling yourself there’s nowhere to shop in Los Alamos, don’t forget the thrift and vintage shops! We have some great stores here locally that could really use our support. And when you’re ready to jump into life here in Los Alamos, give me a call! I love to chat Los Alamos and real estate. So when you’re ready to buy or sell here in Los Alamos, don’t forget I’m your hometown Real Estate Broker!
Spring is finally here and whether you’re looking to shop for some fun spring items, find a place to donate your old spring items, or swap one for the other, Los Alamos has you covered!
Casa Mesita
Casa Mesita has been here in Los Alamos for a lot longer than you might think. The thrift store is an entirely volunteer managed and run organization that supports several charitable projects. Projects range from a group home for at risk girls to providing household goods, clothing, and other goods to those in our county displaced by fire or other personal disaster. The group home first began in 1972 and the thrift store began soon after.
Casa Mesita has been located in more than one spot here in Los Alamos. In the seventies and eighties it shared space with the Performing Arts Center and the home of the Los Alamos Little Theater. Later the store moved to MariMac Plaza where we’d once had a pet store. Since September of 2020, Casa Mesita has been located at 1370-B Central Avenue just down from Subway.
The store really has a lot of interesting items to catch the eye. Even better, they welcome your donations around the back of the building. The staff asks that you call 505-662-7235 and make an appointment to drop off items.
Boomerang
In November of 2022, Boomerang celebrated it’s eighth year here in Los Alamos. The Consignment and Resale shop is located at 1247-A Central Avenue in the same building as the Los Alamos Daily Post and the Karen Wray Gallery. If you’re looking to trade your stuff for something new and exciting, Boomerang is the place to go. Because so many of us are eager to trade the old for the new, Boomerang has a fantastic selection of designer and vintage clothing you might not find elsewhere. In addition, they offer furniture, books, DVDs, and even VHS tapes (for that classic feel!).
In 2021, Boomerang added the Gaia Gift Shop to their space. The gift shop has a variety of new items that appeal to tourists looking for snarky, science themed souvenirs and fun tie dye merchandise. Owner Anna Dillane is great at helping folks find a comfortable price for their consignment items and the knowledgable staff can assist anyone in putting together the perfect outfit for their next social event. Call the store at (505) 662-1479 for more information on hours and consignment.
The Shop on the Corner
Located in the church basement just across Canyon Road from the Griffith Gymnasium parking lot entrance, the Shop on the Corner is a thrift store selling gently used clothing and household items to benefit community members in need. Not only do they have a handy donation box outside the shop, they donate their proceeds to multiple charitable community organizations in and around Los Alamos. For a better idea of the shop’s mission, check out the website here. The hours are also on the website, but the shop is most frequently open on Wednesday mornings. They also offer hours on the second Saturday and the third Tuesday of every month in an effort to accommodate work schedules that don’t permit Wednesday shopping. If you’re looking for a new place to browse, you should definitely try this local shop.
The United Church Thrift Shop
The United Church Thrift Shop is operated by the Women’s Christian Service Society (WCSS). Located at 2525 Canyon Road at the United Church, the shop’s limited hours mean the early bird often catches the worm. They have quite a large selection of items and the shop operates off of mostly local donations. They accept donations of gently used and clean clothes, linens, housewares, jewelry, shoes, toys and children’s books. Donations may be dropped off any time at the bins near the door at the lower level of Craig Hall. Proceeds from the shop go to mission projects supported by the WCSS. You can find more information on the church website.
Are you surprised yet by the number of thrift stores we have here in Los Alamos? Or maybe you’re a savvy thrift shopper and you’re thinking to yourself that I’ve missed a few. I have missed a few important thrift shops here in Los Alamos. So check the blog next time for info on a few places that lean more toward vintage and shabby chic while offering some unexpectedly awesome services. And if you’re ready to buy or sell real estate here in Los Alamos, then give me a call! I’m your hometown real estate broker and I’d love to chat with you about living in Los Alamos!
According to Mappit.net there are 45 books set in and around Los Alamos. That might not surprise you given the enormous amount of war history centered in the Secret City. But the list doesn’t include only biographical or historical accounts of things that actually happened. There are some really great historical fiction books by local authors and of course, a notable coming of age book that used to be considered too “adult” for readers under 15. And there are even quite a few books I’ve read that didn’t make the Mappit list. If you’ve read a good book about or set in Los Alamos, please feel free to add it to the comments or post it to my wall on Facebook. I’m always looking for recommendations! And for the time being, here are some interesting books you might want to check out!
So pick up one of these books and enjoy getting a different view of our wonderful city! And when you’re ready to buy and sell real estate here in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’d love to chat about Los Alamos with you.
On March 5 of 2022, Los Alamos lost a member of our community who had far more impact that a lot of us probably ever realized. It’s been nearly a year since the passing of Roger Waterman. If you haven’t been part of this community for long, you might not realize the enormous impact that the Waterman family and their company TRK Management have had on the Los Alamos landscape. But as I was passing by the now empty lot where the Hilltop House Hotel used to stand, I was thinking about all of the other creative and sometimes bizarre building projects around Los Alamos that happened because of the Waterman family creed: conceptualize, reuse, repurpose, recycle, move, and move forward (all for the good of the town).
The Hospitality Business
In a previous post, I talked about the history of the Hilltop House. This one structure has been the talk of the town decade after decade as it was recycled, expanded, renovated, moved, renovated again, and then eventually abandoned. But this property wasn’t even the first creative use of building materials the Waterman family brought to Los Alamos. And it is only one example of the Waterman Family’s successful hospitality based businesses.
Their first local business was the Los Alamos Motor Lodge at Trinity and 15th Streets. The motor lodge is still there, but it now houses Trinity Urgent Care and a smattering of local office and retail space. In fact, if you consider the motor lodge concept from the seventies when you look at the narrow parking set up, it might make a whole lot more sense! But to get the whole picture, you need to know that those buildings weren’t built on that site. They were purchased in Western New Mexico and moved up to Los Alamos. In later years, that would become one of the things the Watermans were known for: picking a building up off its foundations and moving it to a new location.
The Waterman family also “built” and maintained the White Rock Motor Lodge, which has since become the Hampton Inn. The original structure was one story of repurposed buildings moved from a demo job on Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque. But that was the way the Watermans like to do things. Reuse, repurpose, recycle. Some of you might remember the original White Rock Motor Lodge. It was one story to begin with. But then – because this was something else the Watermans were known for – they jacked up the first story and built a first floor underneath. The motel later became known as the Bandelier Inn in the nineties before eventually being torn down.
These Group 18 homes began life in 1957 looking much the same as mirror images of each other. During renovations a first floor was added to the home on top, the carport was enclosed, and a beautiful deck and exterior front door were added. Notice the similar window patterns on both original first floors.
The Motor Lodge wasn’t the only building that Waterman opted to lift in order to double its size. There are also several distinctive homes in the neighborhood around Oakwood Loop and Myrtle Street that began as typical one story homes. At some point during the nineties, these homes were also lifted so that a footprint sized first floor could be added. Roger Waterman’s comment to another local contractor was that it was far easier to build a floor than a roof!
As I stated in my previous post about the Hilltop House, when the gas station moved from the front of the building beneath the restaurant to the end of the property near Central Ave, the former one time cafe and short time real estate office was separated from the other portion of the building and moved from Los Alamos to Rover in White Rock where it is still a part of Herman’s Automotive.
If you want to see this building now, take a trip down Rover and you’ll find it tucked into the corner of the property and still housing the office of Herman’s Automotive.
While that might seem more than a little ambitious, it’s not nearly the largest building here in Los Alamos to be picked up and moved off the hill. In the late 1980s, the Los Alamos Christian Church on East Road decided it was time to replace their fellowship hall and auditorium. Instead of demolishing the current building, Waterman suggested recycling the structure by moving it someplace else. The original building had been a dormitory during the early years of Los Alamos. The former dormitory looked very much like the women’s dormitory still located near Peach Street which was recently acquired by the Los Alamos Historical Society.
former women’s dormitory
The church building was sold for one dollar to another church community in the Chama region and moved out of Los Alamos. The cost of moving the building was $100,000. Not a small amount of money by any stretch in the late 80’s, and yet the project made the cost of a “new” church building entirely doable for both church communities. One church saved on demolition costs and the other on building costs. And that was what Roger Waterman and his family found so very satisfying.
Ironically, the new auditorium designed and built by Waterman for the Los Alamos Christian Church and Waterman’s later Bradbury Science Museum look oddly alike in some ways. Most of the similarities can be attributed to architectural trends of that era, but both buildings certainly have presence.
TRK Management
If you know anything about commercial real estate management, you might be familiar with TRK. However, you might not recall or ever have known what TRK stands for. It’s deceptively simple. Bob and Alice Waterman, the first Watermans to settle here in Los Alamos, had three sons. Ted, Roger, and Kent. This wasn’t the first clever business name in the brothers’ history. Their first home building operation in the 1970s was called Namretaw (Waterman spelled backwards). TRK building and later management is still a successful company here in Los Alamos to this day with several commercial and residential complexes in their holdings. TRK currently owns and manages the Bradbury Science Museum building which houses the museum, offices for LANL contractors such as N3B and Compa, Yuan’s Noodle House (did you know Subway started out there?), and even the new offices of Los Alamos Family Council.
In later years, Roger Waterman was heard to comment on the sad shift of construction that makes it no longer feasible to recycle and reuse buildings due to simple labor costs. I think a good number of us would like the idea of adding a piece of history to our current home by recycling beams or metal or repurposing old wood. Perhaps there will be another shift in that direction in the future. Or maybe we will come up with new and creative ways to tip our hats to the old when building the new. Either way, I’d love to discuss housing in Los Alamos with you! Give me a call when you’re ready to buy or sell real estate here in Los Alamos. After all, I’m your hometown real estate broker!
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