When I moved here in 1993, age 31, my criteria for what makes for a great town was a little different than it is in 2024, at 62. I’d probably place it somewhat lower today, but upon arrival in ’93 I had my doubts about this place until I stumbled across (perhaps literally) the jukebox… Read More Jack’s Lounge Jukebox: One More For the Road
Albuquerque’s City Commission passed legislation on August 18, 1963 outlawing housing discrimination as outlined thus by the Journal the next morning: As emergency legislation, it went into effect only eight days after unamimous Commission passage. The story was front page news: Just as ABQ had done with passage of anti-discrimination legislation for public accommodations in… Read More Gap Between Civil Rights Law and Getting Civil Rights
As the nation enters into its 37th federally observed Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Weekend, it’s important, and often uncomfortable, to remember that something becoming a law or a person having a federal holiday named for them doesn’t mean everybody suddenly becomes enlightened into knowing it’s a good idea. That goes both at the time… Read More ABQ Housing Discrimination, Chapter .1 of Many
Today, a clock stands at pretty much the southwest corner of Albuquerque’s “Civic Plaza,” which I put in quotation marks primarily because it’s such a bland, uninformative title desperately calling out for some pizazz. Maybe “Stolen Tiwa Land Plaza” or “John Lewis Plaza,” given that the great jazz pianist grew up here in South Broadway… Read More Mystery of the Missing Sculpture
Came across this advertisement the other day from the March 21, 1933 Albuquerque Journal: My first reaction was probably like yours: Mayonnaise as centerpiece of dieting strategy? I actually wrote up a bit about that ludricrous idea, but scratched it after researching my next question: Who was Lilyan Tashman? A classic movie fan, I don’t… Read More Lilyan Tashman: More Than Mayonnaise
We take a break from our Albuquerque-focused news today because when you find the brass band performing on bicycles story, you’ll go to the ends of the Earth. Or at least to St. John, Michigan: The “Safety Bicycle” with wheels of equal size was sweeping the automobile-free nation, reaching beyond St. John, Michigan to potentially… Read More 19th Century Cycling News
