Life, food, events, and community in Albuquerque, NM

Growing up from Grants to Albuquerque

Hello -- grew up in Grants, New Mexico from about 1952 through 1960, then spent most of the next 30 years going to school and working in Albuquerque. Interested in hearing from anyone who can share memories --not only about Albuquerque (see "Born in 'Burque") --but also about San Rafael, San Fidel, Laguna, Acoma, Cebolleta, Milan and Grants back in "the olden days."

Tags: 1950s, acoma, grants

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Permalink Reply by JMG on January 5, 2009 at 11:20pm: Wow, I'd love to hear those memories, too. We (DCF biker gang) rode our motorcycles from Los Lunas to Grants via old Rt. 66 last week. Budville (with the history of Bud and Flossie), Cubero, Paraje, San Fidel (with the classic car junkyard), McCartys (with the small replica of the Acoma church build in stone against the cliff wall).... what intriguing places. If there are any who have memories of these areas, I'd love take a trip in my van (and other vehicles if there are more than six people) with anyone who can give us insight or memories of these towns.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Michael J aka Kirk C on January 17, 2009 at 7:26pm: The main memory I have of Budville is the amazing trading post. My dad was a meat cutter who liked to take day trips to Albuquerque to chat up the butchers in the Big City. So, once or twice a month, we'd trek from our home in Grants to enjoy the food and attractions in Albuquerque, and sometimes stop along the way. I can remember room-sized Navajo rugs for sale in Budville for no more than ten or fifteen dollars. (Alas, we "anglos" didn't place much value on those magnificent rugs in those days. Twenty-twenty hindsight!)

In the 1950s I knew 66 from Grants to Albuquerque and back as well as I knew my own hands. Whenever I'm there, which is nowhere near often enough, I like to try to get off I-40 and take the old road (now 124) through places like Cubero, Laguna Pueblo, McCartys, Acomita, San Fidel, and the side roads north to Mt. Taylor --the sacred Navajo Mountain, called Tsoodził (turquoise mountain) by the Diné and cebolleta (tender onion) by the Spanish-- and beyond to San Mateo, or south, to Little San Rafael and the volcanic flows, tubes and cones of El Malpais National Monument. As a matter of fact, long before uranium mining began around Anaconda and brought profound post-war changes to the economy and culture of the Grants-Milan area, the area's volcanic soil supported a flourishing carrot-growing region.

Any one of the side roads will take the visitor through places of amazing, diverse beauty and astonishing four and five hundred-year histories. Take your time if you visit. I grew up there, and still haven't learned all there is to know about that enchanted place.; ▶ Reply to This