Someone let me borrow a fascinating item the other day and I thought this information might be interesting to some of you. Not to mention the photographs…

This 52 page informational booklet was given to visitors in 1978. This particular booklet is dated March of 1978. As you can see below, the heading is “Welcome to Los Alamos…” The image is an aerial photograph looking westward across the Pajarito Plateau to the Jemez Mountains.

I do find the blurb on the inside flap of this booklet quite interesting. This booklet says it is designed to answer most of the nontechnical questions that visitors ask. As a point of contact for plenty of newcomers to the area, I couldn’t help but wonder what visitors back in 1978 wanted to know. Turns out, not much has changed!

The booklet opens with a brief history of the area. Brief, because they start with, “About 12 million years ago,” and cover archeological information from that time to the Los Alamos Ranch School by the end of page 4. By the way, there is ONE SENTENCE about the Ranch School in this booklet. If you’ve been a member of our community for any length of time, you’re probably already aware of the strange absence of the ranch school’s history here in town until the Los Alamos Historical Society and community members interested in the earlier history of the Pajarito Plateau got active in research and sharing this information with the locals and visitors alike!

The very tiny photo above was included in the visitor’s booklet and comes from a book by General Leslie Groves written in 1962 and titled, Now It Can Be Told. I can’t help but wonder if the purpose was to draw comparisons between the cramped appearance of “downtown Los Alamos” prior to 1948 and the photo below of the Municipal Building and Ashley Pond that appeared on the opposite page. From cramped, wooden “barracks-type structures” to sweeping green lawn and a “modern” (by 1970s standards) civic setup.

The next seemingly big concern of visitors and potential Laboratory employees was what Los Alamos could offer you to do. This certainly hasn’t changed over the years, but I did very much enjoy the old photographs of some of our most popular amenities, so I’ll share them with you!

First on offer, of course, was the opportunity to ski! Check out this photo of the Pajarito Ski Area, still operated in 1978 by the Ski Club. Keep in mind that just behind the Ski Area you see the Valle Caldera. The Caldera was closed to the public at that time due to private ownership. Many locals can recall pausing atop the ski hill for a dramatic view of the Caldera, which you just couldn’t see driving past on State Road 4. There used to be a lot of wistful sighing from hikers, snowshoers, and cross country skiers who would’ve loved the chance to explore the Caldera.

The caption of the photo below actually reads, “While you are here you can play golf…”. These days we expect many small towns to have golf courses. The oldest golf course in New Mexico is the 9 hole course at the Lodge at Cloudcroft, which sits at 9000 ft elevation and has been in operation since 1899. Today there are approximately 97 golf courses in New Mexico. Only 29 of those are municipal golf courses like ours. And back in the seventies you wouldn’t have seen many golf courses at lower elevations due to irrigation issues. It isn’t difficult to imagine how intriguing it would’ve been for visitors and newcomers to play a few rounds of golf with dramatic, natural terrain and views that would probably be downright distracting!

The photo of the skater made me chuckle as it truly appears they cleared enough snow from the ice on Ashley Pond to have her pose there for a lovely photo op. I’ll admit to not having quite enough time to research the status of the Los Alamos Ice Rink in 1978. It’s possible the rink was undergoing renovations at the time the booklet was being put together even though it appears on the included map in the current position. There are an awful lot of old stories floating around town about skating on the pond in the early years. I’ve even heard folks talk of fishing, swimming, and even boating in Ashley Pond prior to the late eighties. So if you’ve ever paddled or skated your way across Ashley Pond, I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

After things to do in town, potential employees and visitors to the Laboratory were curious about what made the Los Alamos Laboratory special. Since supercomputing was just becoming the new hot thing in the seventies, the following photos of the Laboratory’s Central Computing Facility were offered up, most certainly for bragging purposes!

Back when the Laboratory still had family days, (circa 1980s?) I can remember getting a peek at the CRAY computers, which seemed to look a bit like a spaceship to a kiddo at that time. I think all of us knew they were “expensive” and computers were said to “fill a whole room”. But these photos look to my modern mind like rolls of ribbon and fabric at Hobby Lobby, a room full of strange washing machines and dryers, and a kiosk with seats around it. Hmm.

Because the idea of “expensive” in 1978 always makes me curious what that kind of money would look like in today’s economy, I asked Google what a single unit cost in 1978. The answer was in the ballpark of $7 million dollars per machine. Los Alamos had at least seven of these.

In 2024, that $7 million dollar price tag would be $34,576,843.80.

According to the booklet, “While you are here you can play golf, ski, raft down the Rio Grande, hike, fish, and camp, swim and bowl, play tennis, go to museums, attend colloquia, fiestas, Indian dances, and the Santa Fe Opera, tour ancient ruins and modern towns and cities, shop for sand paintings, pottery, jewelry, and hand woven rugs and blankets, and see some of the oldest buildings in the United States.”

Oddly enough, none of that has changed since 1978. What has changed are the expectations and standards of the general public. Folks used to come out here for the outdoor life, for the distinct seasons, for the opportunity to experience dramatic terrain and see a glimpse of wild animal life. So perhaps Los Alamos hasn’t really changed, which is sometimes what we both love and don’t love about it! When you’re ready to join our community, give me a call! I’m a hometown girl who loves to talk Los Alamos Real Estate. And I’d love to hear from you!