As we gear up for Halloweekend 2022, I thought it might be interesting to dig into the Great American Main Street Program in general. Most of us realize that our amazing Halloween festivities are planned through Los Alamos Main Street, but we might not realize that this organization is actually part of a huge network supporting small towns across the United States.
Main Street, Anytown, USA
According to MainStreet.org, “collectively, the Main Street movement is the leading voice for preservation-based economic development and community revitalization across the country”.
What does that really mean?
Think about our struggles here in Los Alamos to pep up our downtown areas. We spend countless hours talking about bringing in businesses, restaurants, and activities that encourage residents to enjoy our community. That’s what The Main Street Movement is all about.
This movement focuses on small towns, mid-sized communities, and urban commercial districts. The United States has a long history of small town life going back to our identity as a fledgling country. A number of towns used to have a town square, (or a plaza!) with a community building or courthouse in the center, and businesses, financial institutions, and restaurants occupying the surrounding streets. Or maybe the towns were more like Western towns you see in old movies where there was a main street lined with mercantile stores, hotels, and businesses. Perhaps these business centers were clustered around the railroad or a main highway crossing. No matter where they were, these central areas were the lifeblood of the surrounding community. A place to gather and enjoy the fruits of labor.
Ashley Pond during the Manhattan Project days. I think we need to give our downtown area more credit for progress, don’t you?
Gradually over time, super highways and air freight terminals changed the way that local businesses were able to compete. Big box stores moved in with lower prices and a larger selection of goods and services. Smaller businesses couldn’t compete and gradually were lost to time. Since the addition of Internet shopping to the economic landscape, small businesses struggle even more to maintain storefronts that allow them to connect with their communities.
Main Street America is all about salvaging that community feeling. Our Los Alamos chapter was given the Great American Main Street Award in 2016. That’s quite an honor! The award was established in 1995 and each year since, the organization has picked winners from towns and districts nominated all over the country. In 2022, Biddeford, Maine, Hammond, Louisiana, and Laramie, Wyoming have all been honored for their amazing efforts to revitalize their Main Street districts.
In 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission built our Community Center as a place for community life in Los Alamos. The complex housed the post office, retail shops, and even a cafeteria. From 1953-1995, this complex also housed the Mesa Public Library. These were the very beginnings of Main Street Los Alamos, a term that would not become “a thing” until developer Tom Netuschil renovated the Community Center Complex into Central Park Square in 1998.
Community Center circa 1950s
Here in Los Alamos, the efforts to revitalize our Main Street are still full steam ahead. You might have noticed that the Hilltop House Hotel is coming down. We have modern apartment complexes going up and a continually growing number of Main Street activities planned to help our community connect. Los Alamos is a great place to be! When we were granted the Main Street America Award in 2016, we were dubbed “One to Watch”. So while the progress might seem slow at times, the wheels are in motion. And if you’re willing, volunteer with Main Street Los Alamos and get involved! Or, if you’re ready to join our community, give me a call! I’d love to talk Los Alamos real estate with you.
I happen to really enjoy the history behind our housing options here in Los Alamos. But a few of my readers have recently asked if I have any information regarding up and coming plans for potential NEW housing in Los Alamos County. If you want to see what’s in the pipe, you can always check the Community Development Page HERE. But here are a few of the possible and/or probable new housing projects going in around the county.
Arkansas Place
You might not know this property by its contemporary name, but almost everyone in Los Alamos County knows of The Black Hole. This was once home to the Piggly Wiggly before Ed Grothus acquired the property for the use of his Los Alamos Sales Company. Although Rutherford Homes advertises on their website that Arkansas Place will be ready for move in by Spring of 2021, a quick drive by the property suggests they might be behind schedule. The last update on the Community Development page happened in December of 2019. This project was most definitely affected by Covid-19, but it does seems as though there has been work going on lately.
The plans submitted to the county council boast 44 townhouses each with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths. Units are designed to be tall and narrow with a two car garage at the base of each home. Two of the units are freestanding and the others are duplexes. Considering the location and the builder’s promise of an open floor plan, the views throughout each home are likely to be magnificent. Go to the Rutherford Homes website for more information and to sign up for updates.
Ponderosa Estates Phase 3
According to the Los Alamos County Development page, the newest expansion of Ponderosa Estates near the Guaje Cemetery is moving forward. Final sketches have been approved and the council is awaiting the submission of a final subdivision plan. Even on the most recent satellite imagery it is possible to see machinery in the area of construction. If you’re wondering where exactly this new phase is going to go, you’re probably not alone.
New lots in Ponderosa Acres to the left of Maple Dr as planned on the Los Alamos Parcel Viewer
Over 30 years ago, the original plan was for 222 dwellings on 111 acres. This latest phase will have a higher density of homes than originally planned. The reasoning behind this change might surprise you. Sure. We could use the additional housing, but the first phase of Ponderosa Estates was pre Cerro Grande fire. The area now proposed for building was affected by fire and flood, which changed the density of the vegetation. Several decades later the builder has proposed that this makes the terrain better able to support more homes per acre. Still, it’s a little daunting to imagine 49 residential lots on 11.62 acres. That works out to be about .24 acres per lot.
This is a view of the existing parcels from the same map. The difference in parcel size is fairly significant.
It might be hoped that smaller parcel sizes in larger quantities might help to offset the increased costs of building a home in 2022 vs what the cost per sq ft was back in 1993 when phase 1 was started. One thing is for certain, this neighborhood has amazing outdoor access for those lucky enough to call it home. As of yet, nothing has been mentioned about Phase 4. The parcel map below shows the location of this final phase. If you’d like to explore the Los Alamos County Parcel Viewer, click HERE.
Phase 4 will likely occupy the large yellow section outlined in red.
The Hill Apartments
In case you’ve no idea where these are located, you’ll find them just below the hospital at the end of 35th Street on the Omega Canyon side. The plans submitted to the county suggest the completed apartment complex will include 149 units. The plot of land is just under 10 acres, so probably larger than most of us realized.
I think we should expect a little more work to be done on Trinity Drive in that area over the next several years. 149 new apartments will generate quite a lot of traffic during the morning and evening commute. That’s also in the general vicinity of the proposed new location of Los Alamos favorite, Pet Pangaea. The plans submitted to the county included a storefront on the corner of 35th Street and Trinity and four apartments on the second floor of the structure.
North Mesa
Any development of the land on North Mesa between the Middle School and the baseball fields has been tabled for the moment. That land belongs to the Los Alamos School District. However, there is another privately owned plot of land right beside Broadview now under consideration for housing.
This chunk of approximately 17 acres is currently addressed as 659 San Ildefonso Rd. There has been a bit of buzz lately in the Daily Post and around town that this might become a new subdivision. If so, the lots along Pueblo Canyon would include some really lovely views.
A canyon view is one of the coolest perks of living in Los Alamos.
Since the beginning of private housing in Los Alamos County, developers have been a bit wary of putting too many houses on North Mesa. Remember that access to North Mesa is tricky in bad weather or when it comes to evacuation. While traveling through Rendija Canyon isn’t exactly a pleasant way to evacuate, Barranca Mesa does offer this as an alternative to the roundabout. Exiting Barranca Mesa also involves a right turn onto Diamond Drive into a dedicated lane. Not so for those of us coming from North Mesa. Depending upon the number of additional homes being planned for the future, it might require some additional infrastructure to address traffic issues.
Regardless of what part of the county you live in, there’s no doubt that life in Los Alamos comes with plenty of adventure. Whether you like the outdoors, the history, or just the small town community feel, Los Alamos is a great place to be! When you’re ready to talk housing in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’m your hometown real estate broker.
U.S. News & World Report released its annual rankings for the Healthiest Communities in the U.S., and in 2022 Los Alamos County, New Mexico, came out on top for the third year in a row. It’s the first community to take the number-one spot more than twice. ~ Travel & Leisure
Hmm. We’re the first community to take the number one spot more than twice? Considering the first time we won this award was right smack in the middle of the 2020 pandemic, it’s getting me thinking about what makes living in Los Alamos healthier than other communities.
View of Los Alamos from canyon’s edge at American Springs.
If the criteria for being considered the healthiest community in America is population health, equity, education, economy, housing, food and nutrition, environment, public safety, community vitality, and infrastructure, I have to say I would love to see the scores in each category for all of the 500 communities evaluated. How on earth would you put a numeric score on our aging infrastructure or our stop and go vitality. These topics are pretty consistently in the minds of the public. Of course, the other big topic is housing. So how did Los Alamos snag the number one spot?
Rendija Canyon
“Los Alamos County received a perfect score for its availability of affordable housing, public safety, population health, and access to parks.” Travel & Leisure
Wow. Surely some of us are wondering at the notion Los Alamos gets a perfect score in the category of affordable housing. So how does our available housing stack up?
Interestingly enough, according to a 2022 study conducted by Pew Research, Americans worry about the availability of affordable housing more than they worry over drug addiction, the economic and health effects of Covid-19, and crime. Pew studies also go on to say:
About six-in-ten U.S. adults living in urban areas (63%) say that the availability of affordable housing in their community is a major problem, compared with 46% of suburban residents and 40% of those living in rural areas. ~ Pew Research
Careful what you wish for! Affordable housing used to look like this!
This actually infers that while the housing crunch is a national concern, Los Alamos is less worried about this issue than 499 other communities. That actually makes me feel pretty darned positive! It’s hard to let go of that insulated feeling when you’re living in a tiny county perched atop a mesa. Los Alamos was never meant to be anything but solitary. So it’s good to hear that in some things, we’re just like everybody else. Housing all over the world is difficult to find. In America we’re experiencing a tough time finding our dream home, but it’s happening all over the country!
If you’re out there shopping for a home in Los Alamos, have faith that the right situation is out there for you just as it as for so many other hopeful homeowners in other zipcodes. And in the meantime, don’t forget to take advantage of the other amazing things that make Los Alamos the healthiest community in America! Head to the park, plan a hike to the reservoir to check out the fall colors, or go play a round of golf. Get involved, enjoy, and when you’re ready to buy or sell real estate in Los Alamos, give me a call. I’m your hometown real estate broker!
There’s no doubt that the pandemic has changed the way we grocery shop. For some, ordering both perishable and non perishable items online has become the way to go. Perhaps you’re a big fan of Amazon subscribe and save. If you do go to the grocery store, you’d best be prepared to play hide and seek with the items on your list. In fact, if you really want to know where to find something, ask the nearest employee pushing an online ordering cart in front of them. Personal shoppers are now a staple of the grocery industry and chances are, they’ve already had to seek and find everything you’d ever want to locate!
Nowadays, local Los Alamos grocery shopping is limited to either the Smith’s in White Rock, or the one in Los Alamos. Our Los Alamos Smith’s has been expanded to include retail that resembles a super Walmart, which is actually a pretty nice perk. But if you haven’t been in the area for long, you might be surprised to discover that there used to be more than one grocery store chain in town.
Piggly Wiggly
Before the Black Hole or the current plans for beautiful new housing at Arkansas Place, there was a grocery store. If any of you can remember exactly when this market opened, please feel free to comment. If asked, most long time residents who recall the Piggly Wiggly at 4015 Arkansas Avenue can’t actually remember it not being there. Some folks called it the Tom & Jerry Market because of the mural painted on the Arkansas facing side of the building depicting the famous cartoon cat and mouse. It’s possible that the store was operated independently for a short time after Piggly Wiggly pulled the franchise, but that hasn’t been confirmed. Whatever its name, the grocery store was still around in the 80’s before closing and eventually becoming the Black Hole. If you live at that “end” of town, you can imagine just how handy it was to have a small grocery store option in the area.
Ed’s Market
If you ask Yelp, Ed’s Food Market at 1183 Diamond Drive is still open for business. Considering the space is primarily occupied by Gracie Barra Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Los Alamos Social Services, you’re probably not going to be able to swing by for a gallon of milk after work. Not long after the Smith’s Marketplace opened, Ed’s Food Market closed its doors. Back when the store was still operating, it certainly made a handy place for high schoolers to pool their funds and pick up snacks or meals. The mom and pop grocery store was owned and operated by a local Los Alamos family, the Kindsfathers. With kids in the local school district playing sports and participating in activities, Ed’s was a great example of a small business involved in the community.
Safeway
Before the big Smith’s Marketplace, the “main” grocery chain in Los Alamos was located over in the MariMac Plaza. The space is vacant now, although it is still owned by Kroger. Most of us are marginally aware of this as it becomes a hot topic off and on in regards to what amenities might possibly go into the enormous space.
Back in the early days of the Mari Mac Plaza when Revco and TG&Y occupied the other storefronts, more about that HERE, the grocery store anchor was Safeway. Sometime in the nineties the store was absorbed into the Furr’s Supermarket chain before Kroger took the store in hand and opened the second Smith’s in Los Alamos County. Interestingly enough, even while the store in Los Alamos was changing names, signage, and being remodeled, the White Rock Smith’s was pretty much exactly as it is today.
Los Alamos now hosts both the Co-op Market and Natural Grocers along with Smith’s. When we’re bemoaning the loss of some of our smaller grocery options, it’s important to remember that our small town isn’t the only one going through these ups and downs with the merchandise industry. Towns all over America are changing with the times. Perhaps its time for all of us to get involved at the local level and get excited about things to come! And when you’re ready to talk Real Estate in Los Alamos, give me a call. I’m your hometown real estate broker!
No matter where you live, shopping for a car is always a significant experience. It can be positive or negative, but for many it’s a rite of passage. And here in Los Alamos, a good number of locals remember starting to shop for their first ride on the Lemon Lot.
For anyone who doesn’t know, the Lemon Lot is the portion of the Sullivan Field parking lot situated on the corner of Trinity and Diamond Drives. For quite a long time, this southern section of the parking lot was just overflow parking for the football field. At some point in Los Alamos history, local folks began to park cars there when it was time to look for a buyer. Because the lot is somewhat located in front of the Methodist Church, some locals have been known to refer to this setup as “Methodist Motors”.
Why a lot full of used cars? As we all know, Los Alamos doesn’t have the population numbers to support a full scale car dealership. At various points in our town’s evolution, there have been one or two used car lots in town. In the eighties there was a small lot operating out of what is now Chiliworks. For a very short period of time another small outfit ran a lot down on DP Road. There have probably been more than a few that are outside my memory. But the Lemon Lot has been the only consistent place to car shop in Los Alamos.
The Lemon Lot was so well known that it made a notable appearance in Judy Blume’s 1981 novel, Tiger Eyes, where the author reports, “Anyone who wants to sell a car in Los Alamos parks it here and potential buyers come to see what’s available.” If you’ve never read the book, it was targeted to a young adult audience and set almost entirely in Los Alamos. While the descriptions of town are rather outdated now, it was pretty accurate back in the day.
image copyright Bradbury Publishing
In the early days of the Lemon Lot there was no permit required. At some point Los Alamos County assumed management of the operation. Permits began to be required. First just to keep the number of vehicles from being overwhelming. Then the county began to require proof of ownership in order to park a car on the lot. I’m sure you can imagine why that rule went into effect!
Beginning in August 2021, permits can now be obtained online! This is great news for anyone wanting to sell a car. It’s a rather interesting shift in our culture that parking, getting out of your vehicle, and actually going inside our stylish County Municipal Building in order to speak with customer care and get your permit is such a hassle.
And by the way, while the name Lemon Lot is rather self explanatory, the origin probably isn’t what you think. It has nothing to do with a yellow fruit looking good on the outside and being sour on the inside. The word “lemon” in this context comes from the Middle English lymon, which meant “something that proves to be defective”.
Of course, buying a used car is always a bit of a gamble. To be honest, buying a new vehicle can be a gamble too. Historically, the Lemon Lot has hosted a variety of cars, trucks, motorcycles, and RVs. Prices tend to be extremely reasonable or rather outrageous. But when shopping, you’ll want to keep in mind that the value of any vehicle is directly related to what someone is willing to pay for it. Maybe not you, but somebody. And the Lemon Lot is a fantastic place to discover unusual or hard to find vehicles that have likely been sitting in someone’s garage for decades or more.
If you’re a local looking for a car, I’ll probably see you around the Lemon Lot. After all, I’ve got some kiddos getting ready to get behind the wheel altogether too soon! And when you’re ready to talk buying and selling real estate in Los Alamos, I’m your hometown real estate broker! Give me a call! I’d love to chat with you.
If you’re looking at the title of this post and thinking of pleasant sounding chamber music on your home stereo system, think again. When I say Musical Houses in Los Alamos, it’s more comparable to the children’s party game involving chairs and fast paced music.
How many times have you moved from one home to another in your lifetime? Once? Twice? Twenty times? More? According to relocation expert Joshua Green, Americans move an average of once every 5 years. Green also points out that statistics suggest most people move within their own county or town.
Truthfully, Americans have always been rather mobile. Isn’t that why the United States became a thing in the 1600s? Perhaps we should all just be glad we’re no longer having to move via three masted sailing vessels or covered wagons. Considering how “easy” it is to move these days, it’s not a surprise that so many folks decide they want a change of scenery.
What if I told you that residents of Los Alamos in the 1950s were almost certain to move to a “new” house every spring? Why spring? Because every year on February 2, the Housing Policy Board recalculated the number of “points” accrued by each employee. More points meant a “better” house. Some residents called this process “musical houses”. If you’ve ever lived on a military installation, you’re probably familiar with the idea. But if you’ve ever wondered why Los Alamos has such a difficult time with housing and how it worked “back in the day”, then let me back up and explain a few things.
In an earlier post about how “rent” used to be calculated in Los Alamos, I spoke about what one early resident called the “curious experiment in socialism”. During wartime, rents were based on salary and not on the type of quarters you might be occupying. Interestingly enough, there wasn’t nearly as much drama associated with that situation as with what happened beginning in 1947 when the “point system” went into effect.
How many points would your family have?
The Housing Policy Board was created to meet and oversee the distribution of what was then, and will likely always be, very limited housing resources. The board was made up of members from three entities: the Laboratory (LASL), Zia Company, and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Each of these three entities had employees requiring housing. Each entity was eventually given an “allotment” of houses. Prior to the completion of Groups 11-15, it was a bit less organized. Each employee had points, but any houses coming available during the year were also allotted based on what entity needed to hire what employee. By the time construction had been completed on Group 15, each entity had a set number of dwellings to work with. This literally meant that they could only employ as many people as they could house. Stop for a moment and consider the implications of that. It’s a very different concept from the one we’re used to today.
At that time, if you weren’t directly employed by those three entities, you did not live in “town”. In a previous post, we talked about the Zia Company. LASL itself was science staff and some administrative or technical workers. The AEC was a bit more complex. They sponsored living quarters for school, church and hospital staff, people who staffed businesses in town (remember they were all managed by the Zia Company back then), and anyone else who might not fall into a typical category.
A 2 bedroom Denver Steel would have cost you $35/month to rent in 1955. You would’ve had to have been a married couple with at least one child to have enough points for one of these!
Residents applied for their housing points when they were hired to their jobs. Points were given for two things: 1 point per dollar of salary earned and 2 points per month of tenure that you had. The number of points was established when you were hired and recalculated each February 2. The rest of your housing desires were determined by which “list” you were on. Those lists were where you could make requests because of family size or any medical needs such as handicap needs or a desire for first floor housing. A resident could be on any list they qualified for. Newer housing, a particular area you wanted to live in, anything you might desire. Each time a new house came available on one of those lists, the employee with the highest number of points on that list got first dibs. If they didn’t want to move, the second highest number of points got a chance and so on down the line.
If there were dual income households, could you combine your points?
Not really. You just got more spots on the lists. Like buying more raffle tickets. If one spouse worked for LASL and another worked for Zia, they each had a point value. Zia and LASL both had their own housing lists because each entity had their own housing allotment. So if you were waiting for a two bedroom unit, you’d get the opportunity to be on both the Zia and LASL list for the house you wanted. But you couldn’t combine your points to try and bump your spot higher on the list.
The point system was meant to make things as “fair” as possible. But the reality was that it created some rather bizarre situations. Such as what would happen when someone retired. Housing Policy Board records suggest that retirees were encouraged to move out of Los Alamos “soon”. Let’s just say that there were no returning employees on “visiting scientist” status back then. Either you were in, or you were out.
You didn’t retire and stay in Los Alamos in the 1950s. Someone else needed your housing!
And if one spouse retired and the other stayed on, your family might have to move into a different unit. If one partner worked for LASL and the other for Zia and your family was living in a Zia allotment housing unit, you wouldn’t be able to stay there once the Zia employee retired. You’d have to move into a LASL allotted housing unit. Unless, of course, you could get the employers to do a “swap”. Occasionally this would happen. But there were several notorious cases where it did not. The most notorious case on record was a widow with five children. Her husband, a Zia Company employee, was killed in a work related accident. She was employed by the Los Alamos County Commission. She made a request to her employer that she and her children be allowed to remain in their “premium” house in Western Area. Her request was denied after the Housing Policy Board determined it would be unfair to make even one exception to the rules. It sounds rather heartless, but that was literally how they kept the balance back in the day.
Most residents rather enjoyed the regular moves. More than a few residents were hired around the same time, married in the same general year, and subsequently had their kids around the same time as well. There are documented situations where families moved apartment buildings or neighborhoods together four to six times. Regular “musical houses” kept things fresh even if you didn’t get exactly what you wanted right then. After all, you’d earn more “points” and hope for a better allotted unit the following year. You made new friends, kept old ones, and all lived in the same town anyway. It isn’t unlike most communities today. Just because you move out of the “neighborhood” doesn’t mean you lose the friends you made there. It’s just an opportunity to meet new people to add to your group!
In the 1950s, playing musical houses kept Los Alamos feeling like one big neighborhood. But there are lots of reasons why life in Los Alamos is unique. And when you’re ready to be part of our small town unique, give me a call! I’d love to chat real estate with you.
When modern American consumers think about a home, their minds often drift to housing developments like Mirador in White Rock. These enormous subdivisions dominate cities throughout the United States. As you descend in an airplane in a city like Dallas, TX, you might see a patchwork of homes that all share roughly the same dimensions, a limited variety of exterior designs or colors, and perhaps even identical backyards with kidney shaped swimming pools or brilliant green lawns.
In cities like Albuquerque, newer areas like Rio Rancho have seen a similar pattern of growth. These properties might have buff colored rock in the yard and desert flavored landscaping, but the basic neighborhood outlines are the same. The homes are nearly identical. Builders generally have three or four models to choose from and from there, you get some fairly limited options when it comes to exterior and interior features. Even if you splurge on “custom features”, you’re probably not going to be able to tell that your home has custom anything without a close inspection.
Here in Los Alamos, we don’t have acres upon acres of homes in the typical “cookie cutter” design you might see elsewhere. There are neighborhoods like Broadview, Loma Linda, Hawk’s Landing, Quemazon, and now Mirador that might seem at first glance to be quite similar to the subdivided neighborhoods found in other areas. Then of course, there’s Western Area. Or perhaps you might consider the “Group” housing scattered across town to be subdivisions of a sort. But one of the best things about Los Alamos is that our neighborhoods have very distinct histories.
Long time residents might see “Group” housing as average looking homes while those who didn’t grow up with this style of home might think them odd. One of the things that has always made housing in Los Alamos unique is that even in homes that probably looked rather identical when built, years and years of creativity, ingenuity, and rehabbing or renovating has turned “same” into decidedly “not same”! Having had a peek at a lot of homes in Los Alamos, I can assure you that the results are pretty darned awesome.
Regardless of what you think of tract housing and modern subdivisions, there’s no doubt that Los Alamos has most certainly not followed housing trends seen in other regions. In fact, throughout Los Alamos’s housing history , great pains have been taken at every step to avoid the tract housing flavor. Hence my title reference to Sunken Living Rooms. If you were part of the Los Alamos community in the late 1940s, you would have been dying to get a Sunken Living Room. It was a rather unusual feature after all.
Sunken living rooms were popular in the 60’s & 70’s and are actually making a comeback!
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, housing was the constant social topic in Los Alamos. Norris Bradbury was very concerned about living situations for his workers at the Laboratory and there was no doubt that things were tight. The laboratory’s technical facilities were in the process of moving from the Ashley Pond site to their current(ish) location on the South Mesa. When that happened, residents were thrilled at the announcement of a housing expansion. W.C. Kruger & Associates of Santa Fe started planning in late 1947 and by 1949 the units were going up. The projected population was 13,000. Kruger was informed that there were to be 628 new units built at the rate of 80 units per month. Even by modern standards that is a ridiculous pace! But even at that rate, I don’t suppose I need to tell you that any possible housing surplus wasn’t going to last long.
It might have been nice for the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to come up with a clever name for this new neighborhood. But that really wouldn’t have been in line with Los Alamos tradition. So, in keeping with the last housing development of “Western Area”, “North Community” was born.
Group 11 was considered the most ambitious housing project in Los Alamos housing history!
The first “group” to be planned and built was Group 11. We’ve talked about how the groupings came to be called that in a post quite some time back. But for those of you who don’t know or don’t recall, Groups were established because of when a group of housing was built. All of Group 11 were planned and built in the same general timeframe. The fact that they were built in three areas of town just made it more confusing later on. The question of why there is no Group 1 thru 10 has been pondered by more than one person. Craig Martin suggests in his field guide to Los Alamos Housing that this is because there were ten different housing “groups” in Los Alamos prior to the first officially named Group 11. Let’s be honest. Shall we go ahead and be thankful that not all of 1-10 survived to now? I cannot imagine taking potential buyers into a Wingfoot or a Hanford House!
Group 11 was built in three areas. First on Pueblo Mesa in the vicinity of Orange and Nickel Streets. Second around 40th-48th Streets around Urban Park (then known as Slotin Field). Lastly across School Canyon on 35th through 38th Streets and Villa.
A few interesting facts about Group 11
Buildings were cocked at odd angles to the street to prevent the “feel” of prefabricated housing. The AEC actually told the contractor that if the homes were going to be prefab, they shouldn’t “look” like it.
While Los Alamos residents were clamoring for single family homes, only 142 single family homes were built in Group 11 because “Congress dictated that a low ratio of single-to multiple family units be maintained (Martin, 2015)”.
Previous issues with building Western Area caused the AEC to specify that roofs in Group 11 housing be pitched at one half inch to the foot. They also required the bathtubs to be anchored to the walls. It’s kind of funny to imagine what incidents lay behind these requirements.
On May 31, 1949 families who had lived in Los Alamos since 1945 could apply for the new houses. Open sign up for housing requests opened up on April 1, 1949.
Group 11 included five housing styles. Each unit had solid oak flooring, which still exists in most remaining homes today and is a huge bonus for modern homebuyers! Units had lots of windows, but the kitchens had metal cabinets that tended to invite condensation. Many residents described the cabinetry as “frosty” and “stewy”.
There were 13 two bedroom duplexes – 26 units – that had “Sunken Living Rooms”. These quickly became the most sought after homes in Los Alamos thanks to this “unique” feature!
What is a “sunken living room”? When entering the front door of these Group 11 duplexes, you had to take three steps down into the living room from the small entryway. The kitchen was also below grade level. The 2 bedrooms and single bath located in the front of the unit were at ground level. Bathrooms included a shower and a tub, which at that time was something of a luxury. For whatever reason, the “sunken living room” homes became the most sought after housing option in Los Alamos. Perhaps just having something different is enough to make a resident feel proud to call a house a home. This is something I find is still true today.
The Group 11 Sunken Living Room Duplex
In total there were 351 buildings in Group 11. This created 584 units of housing. The original project was to include 628 units, but budget issues caused a cutback in the number of buildings. That’s something to keep in mind when you’re considering the purchase of a home whether it is new or existing. The cost of building a home has always been an unpredictable thing. And when you’re trying to build a neighborhood, it’s even more difficult to manage.
Whether you like the “sameness” of modern era subdivision housing or you long for a custom home, think back to the post war explosion of homebuilding. This was the age of Lustrons and other innovative prefab home solutions. Everyone wanted a house and they wanted it fast! In fact, it’s not unlike the factors driving the current home market here in the United States right now. Sometimes the little things, like a “sunken living room” make a house you might not have considered before become the home of your dreams! And if you’re ready to buy or sell your dream home in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’d love to talk real estate with you.
There are a lot of little ironies about life in Los Alamos. One of my personal favorites is that the anniversary of Los Alamos becoming a “real town” happens to be on April 1. Last year, in 2021, we celebrated a 75 yr anniversary. On April 1, 1946 the powers that be decided Los Alamos would become a permanent research facility. The almost outrageous plan to house a “few dozen scientists” at the old ranch school on the Pajarito Plateau had come full circle. But the reality of operating a permanent townsite was much different from the tasks associated with operating a scientific laboratory. Nowadays our minds immediately turn to our county sponsored services. But creating that sort of administrative infrastructure takes time. Keep in mind that there weren’t even private homeowners here in Los Alamos in 1946. So in order to keep things running smoothly, general contractor C.D. McKee, whom you might remember from my post on McKeeville and other early housing solutions in Los Alamos, incorporated The Zia Company.
According to Zia Company records, by July 1, 1950, Los Alamos had approximately 2,800 houses and apartments on four mesas. It had 1,225 dormitory rooms, and 160 trailer spaces in its Trailer Park. At that time, any temporary housing was scheduled for eventual removal and plans for new housing had reached the vicinity of North Community. Any housing plans beyond North Community centered on replacement of wartime era prefabricated structures.
All of the current housing in Los Alamos. Any future building plans. Maintenance and management of existing structures. Public services. The Zia Company was responsible for it all.
An Excerpt from “The Tenant’s Handbook” Courtesy of the Los Alamos Historical Society Archives:
Responsibilities of AEC Under the particular circumstances existing at Los Alamos, the Atomic Energy Commission has a responsibility to provide adequate housing for employees and their families. Adequate housing means a sufficient number of trailer spaces, dormitory rooms, apartments and houses for our single employees and for our married employees and their families. It means also a variety of choice within each type of housing to try to match the desires and the income of individuals. It means essential home equipment and surroundings suited to a comfortable standard of living.
It might sound simple to say that The Zia Company oversaw operations in Los Alamos from 1946 until the early 1960s. The Zia Company further oversaw a good deal of laboratory operations until mid 1986 when the contract was taken over by Johnson Controls World Services. But nowadays, most modern residents of Los Alamos have no clue just how much The Zia Company actually did back when our tiny town was still shrouded in a great deal of mystery and necessary secrecy.
An Excerpt From The Zia Company’s Organization Chart:
Within the Divisions and Departments are listed:
Fiscal Division: Accounting Sub-Division, IBM Service Section, Cost Section, Property Accounting Section, General Accounts Section, Rental and Collections, Invoice Audit, Disbursement & Reimbursement, Timekeeping, Payroll, Budget
Special Departments: Radio Station KRSN, Lodging and Eating, Los Alamos Hospital, Veterinary Hospital, Mesa Library, Youth Activities, Schools
Personnel Division: Files, Records & Reports; Job Evaluation; Employment; Employee Relations; Training
Safety Division: Investigation, Restricted Areas, Heavy Equipment, Const. and Maint., Trans. Shops
Engineering Division: Inspection, Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, Architectural, Field Engineering, Records
Maintenance Division: Work Order & Property Section, Building Maintenance Sub-Div., Public Works Sub-Div., Tech. Maintenance Sub-Div., Utilities Sub-Div.
Transportation Division: Dispatching, Bus and Taxi Oper., Heavy Equipment, Stationary Equipment, Parts Department, Motor Vehicle Maint., Machine Shop
Okay, first off, can I draw your attention to a few things just to give you a laugh? Under the first bullet point of “Fiscal Division” we have an entire section devoted to IBM Service. For those of you who grew up with a LANL employee for a parent, those decommissioned and auctioned IBMs were the beginning of our home computing experience!
And under “Warehouse Division” we have a typewriter shop. Until word processors became mainstream, typewriters were a hot item at The Zia Company public auctions. More than a few mechanically inclined guys with a desire to bring in extra cash would pick them up, refurbish them, and sell them around town for a quick profit.
Ashley Pond circa 1957 – Do you recognize anything?
Beyond these amusing anecdotal bits about life in Los Alamos, pause for a moment and take in just how important The Zia Company was to life in Los Alamos. In the early days they ran KRSN (the radio station used to occupy a small building on North Mesa), the hospital, veterinary clinic, restaurants, library, schools, youth activities, bus and taxi services, all utilities, housing, maintenance, roads, and the list just goes on and on. Essentially everything that is now considered the responsibility of our Los Alamos County public services, plus so very many private institutions such as the hospital, animal clinics, and mental health and social services such as those offered by Los Alamos Family Council, were all handled by The Zia Company. They even ran a newspaper. The very first edition of The Zia News is dated August 26, 1949. Employees of The Zia Company got the latest edition every other week with their paycheck.
The Zia Company wasn’t a typical landlord either. At that time, residents of Los Alamos had been living in furnished dwellings. Most people were not encouraged to bring much of anything with them to Los Alamos. This meant that a service contract might include not only your toilet and your kitchen appliances, but repairs or replacement of your basic household furniture as well. Can you imagine the number of employees and the corresponding number of hours it took to keep our town running?
While most of the actual furniture was long ago donated to the Historical Society or has been worn out from use, certain household items marked with The Zia Company’s familiar logo still exist in and around Los Alamos. If your home was once on the Zia roster of available housing, you may find their stamp on the back of a bathroom mirror or on non exposed portions of your cabinetry. If you ever go to replace any of these items, please don’t take those Zia marked items to the transfer station before you give the Historical Society a call. They love Zia era memorabilia!
It’s so difficult for the modern mind to grasp the way it was back when Los Alamos had just been designated “a company town” by the Atomic Energy Commission. Now we think of multiple subcontractors at the Laboratory. Many residents are employed by the school district or the hospital. Some employees work at the county offices doing administrative work or even hard physical labor with the Parks & Rec department. But when Los Alamos was new. You either worked for the laboratory or you worked for The Zia Company. There was nobody else. The work was still too hush, hush to expand the pool of contractors.
Gradually, Los Alamos has been becoming its own independent town. It’s taken quite a lot of time. And there are still things to be done. When I get frustrated with how long something seems to be taking, I remind myself that The Zia Company left some big shoes to fill. And thankfully, most of us own our own furniture these days. We get to choose what veterinarian we want to use. We go to hospitals in Santa Fe and Albuquerque for specialty services instead of waiting what might seem like forever for someone to be brought up the hill. And yes. We’re still missing a few varied goods and services. But all in all, Los Alamos is an incredible place to live with an even more incredible history. And when you’re ready to join our community, give me a call! I’d love to chat real estate in Los Alamos!
If your current living situation isn’t what you wish it was, it’s so easy to feel as though you’re the only one searching for your dream home. This isn’t true of course. But our emotions don’t usually follow logical patterns of thought. Obviously you’re not the only one looking for your dream house because if you were, it wouldn’t be a big deal to find it. And if you’ve been putting in offers on potential homes and haven’t had your offer chosen, there’s a good chance you’re not alone. There are probably a dozen other potential home buyers who were disappointed that day too. What if there were 214 potentially disappointed home buyers? What if you were one of 215 families on a waiting list for housing here in Los Alamos? In 1946 that’s exactly how long the waiting list at the Los Alamos housing office was!
We wait in line for lots of things in life. Why not a house?
1946 was the year he MED (Manhattan Engineer District) contracted to build the Western Area neighborhood. It was supposed to be the ultimate answer to the housing crisis in Los Alamos. Except that the potential occupants had more than a few gripes about construction that they wanted addressed. By the time a task force from Washington DC was called out, the whole thing took a lot longer than anyone anticipated. You can read about more about that here. In the meantime, the MED started to get a bit anxious about that waiting list for housing. Losing the Laboratory workforce due to housing issues might impact the work. And as anyone who has been around Los Alamos knows, nothing gets LANL moving more than the possibility of inconvenience to the work!
Early housing wasn’t always pretty and didn’t necessarily include indoor plumbing.
There were several stopgap housing solutions. I’ve been blogging about these temporary neighborhoods for the last few weeks now. You can go back and read about “Morganville“, “McKeeville“, and the “Denver Metals” by following these links. There’s another stopgap housing neighborhood I touched on briefly, but these little beauties deserve a little more explaining. “Hanfordville”, as the Army newspaper the Daily Bulletin dubbed it, was made up of 107 prefab “homes” that arrived in Los Alamos after being moved from Hanford, Washington.
Welcome home to Hanfordville!
The blocky one and two bedroom units had been assembled in 1943 to house construction crews working at the MED’s plutonium facility. The workers were no longer needed as the Hanford Reactors were completed. The construction camp at Hanford was deconstructed in 1946-47. You might say that the MED needed to do something with the little camp houses so they figured they might as well bring them to Los Alamos. Another common name for the Hanford Houses back in 1946 were the Pasco Houses. Pasco was another town in Washington State where constructions crews for the reactor site were housed. If you haven’t ever looked into the link between Hanford, Washington and Los Alamos, you should. Did you know they have their own Manhattan Project Museum?
With diesel fuel currently rising to nearly six dollars a gallon, it would be difficult to decide whether fuel costs or the price of construction materials would determine the practicality of such a solution these days. But back in 1946 the MED decided it wasn’t such a big deal to commission 214 tractor trailers with flatbeds to bring 107 prefab houses nearly 1300 miles to be reassembled. Each Hanford house had to be broken into two parts for transport. It must’ve been a crazy sight!
Over the years Los Alamos has seen some amazing things go up and down the narrow twisting road up from the canyon floor to the top of the mesa. Remember though, when early contractors were tasked with building the Laboratory facilities back in the early forties, their first chore was to somehow build a road to haul all of their construction crews and supplies up the hill.
Before that, in the days of the Ranch School, there were several other options for supply roads. Historical sites in Bayo Canyon and out on Kwage Mesa show evidence of wagon trails from early homesteaders on the Pajarito Plateau. Seen in this light, the MED must have been fairly desperate for quick housing solutions to consider this an acceptable stopgap solution.
Regardless of the cost, the MED moved 107 Hanford houses to Los Alamos in 1946. A good number of the homes were assembled in the vicinity of Kiva and Iris Streets. Today this is in the general vicinity of the Iris Street Condos. The others were placed along 10th Street, Canyon and Rim Roads. “Hanfordville” was right next to “McKeeville”, which was next to “Morganville”. A likely question when you made a new acquaintance in Los Alamos in those days was “Where do you live?”. Your answer would probably be met with either envy or commiseration. After all, housing woes in Los Alamos are what made us all equal back then and even now.
Whether your Hanford House had a one bedroom or a two bedroom floorplan, you were guaranteed the same basics. You got a combination living room and kitchen. There was even a swing curtain you could put between the two in order to keep “cooking odors” out of the living room. The bathroom had a shower, a sink, and a toilet. And your bedroom or bedroom(s) were tucked into the end of the unit with barely enough space for a double bed and a dresser.
Residents were strangely positive about a few amenities we would almost certainly take for granted these days. An oil stove in the family room heated the entire living space and each unit had a three burner electric stove and a “modern” electric refrigerator. Considering the rationing of electricity in Los Alamos during the war years, that electric stove was living large in those days. Remember that prior to this, electric hot plates had to be purchased on the black market. Such different times!
The Hanford Homes weren’t super popular. In fact the quote was “they’re considered solid shelter”, which is rather frightening if you think about it. Perhaps keeping people’s expectations low means they are more satisfied with less. Another quote from an interview between writer Craig Martin and former Hanford resident Hal Kerr was that “the only problem was that when a driving rain came from the west, the place leaked like a sieve.”. Perhaps not a huge deal in all seasons, but considering the terrific monsoon rains we’ve been getting in the last few weeks, a dry roof over your head can become really important at times.
The Hanford Homes were never meant to be permanent. Thankfully we’re not seeing them on the current MLS and you’re not likely to be shopping for modern appliances that might possibly be compatible with your Hanford. They’re a part of our past and perhaps a good reminder that no matter how crazy we think the real estate market is here in in Los Alamos, it’s not nearly as nuts as it back when it all started. In fact, if you’re ready to talk modern real estate in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’m your hometown real estate broker. I’d love to chat about your home in Los Alamos.
There is one thing that has always been and will likely always be true about housing in Los Alamos. It’s creative. Whether you live in group housing, a condo, an apartment, a single family home on Barranca Mesa, a five acre plot of land in Pajarito Acres, a mobile home, or even an Air BnB. You’ll probably agree that housing options in Los Alamos are sometimes unusual, but always creative!
There are currently three mobile home parks in Los Alamos. La Mesa and Tsikumu Village are up on North Mesa and of course Elk Ridge (formerly Royal Crest) is on East Jemez Rd at the top of what we locals often refer to as the “Truck Route”. Each mobile home park offers its own unique array of amenities.
Homeowners in Tsikumu Village own not only their manufactured home, but the lot it sits on. Some of these homes have incredible views from the canyon’s edge. La Mesa Trailer Park has a more traditional arrangement with manufactured homes owned by the homeowner and lots owned by a landlord. The park itself has a great location on North Mesa close to a dog park, playgrounds, athletic fields, and the Middle School. Elk Ridge offers a little more flexibility in the sort of “trailer home” an occupant wants to put on their rented lot. If you’ve got a travel trailer of any sort, you’re welcome to set up for “permanent” use at Elk Ridge.
It might be difficult to imagine choosing to live in your fifth wheel or camp trailer for months on end while working at LANL. However, if you look back at the beginning of Los Alamos housing history, you’ll find that Laboratory employees have been doing this since the very beginning. Not only that, but the sort of camping trailers available on the market in the 1940s weren’t going to come with a full kitchen, shower, satellite television, and perhaps even a gas fireplace. They were pretty basic back then. And a good number of them were manufactured by their owners.
Back in the early to mid 1940s, the Los Alamos site had already far exceeded its original call for “sufficient housing for a dozen scientists”. It didn’t take long for even the most skilled workers to be given a bed in 23 expandable trailers and 47 standard trailers. Even though the term “expandable trailer” calls to mind any number of modern camp trailers, these were most definitely not modern. By the time the sides had been folded away from the middle, the living room wound up being about 13×6 feet. If you can’t imagine what sort of space that is, think a box stall for livestock in a barn. Thank goodness they weren’t trying to fit their big screen television inside!
The trailers brought in to serve for temporary housing weren’t going to win any esthetic design contests.
Of course, if came to the Manhattan Engineer District when the trailer park was already full, you might have been assigned a hutment. Quonset Hutments were originally designed for war in the Pacific theater. Thanks to this fact, Los Alamos residents dubbed the huts the Pacific Hutments. Shaped a bit like an airplane hangar, these were used as duplexes with one front door on either end of the tube.
Last but not least, we come full circle to the folks who took the option to drive their own campers or “caravans” up to Los Alamos in order to take up residence in the trailer park. In his book about Los Alamos housing, Craig Martin estimates there were over 250 privately owned trailers parked in town to provide housing for their owners. If you’ve ever looked at a RV from the 1940s, they weren’t going to provide you with the creature comforts we expect from such a vehicle today. In fact, these didn’t even have any kind of indoor plumbing.
These days it isn’t uncommon for people to debate what to do with the MariMac Plaza or the old Hilltop House hotel. There’s been a lot of talk about how to best present Los Alamos to the public when newcomers first drive into town. Now, imagine a time before tourism. The first thing people saw when they approached the general vicinity of our new roundabout was a maze of over three hundred expandable, standard, and camper trailers. It’s rather amazing anyone stuck around!
Quonset Huts in the Pacific were white. Here in Los Alamos they were Army Green!
That’s right, folks. The location of Los Alamos’s very first “trailer park” is the lot occupied by the MariMac Plaza and the Hilltop House hotel. Just across Central Avenue from this “trailer park”, the Pacific Hutments crouched in rows of round topped buildings. Keep in mind that none of these dwellings had indoor plumbing. This meant that there were latrine and shower trailers parked in between the rows of trailers and hutments.
While Los Alamos wasn’t exactly putting its best foot forward back then, people were here for the mission and not the housing. Maybe, like almost all of us at one time, newcomers were so transfixed by the incredible views that they simply didn’t care how creative their housing was. They just wanted to be here in this amazing city on the hill. If you’d like to join the community of Los Alamos, give me a call! I’d love to talk Real Estate with you!
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