Albuquerque Jane’s Walks
Saturday, May 6, 2023
Mountain Road Arts Corridor Walk
(Approximately 2 miles)
Jane’s Walks Background:
Jane’s Walks are held in over 200 cities worldwide and are named after Jane Jacobs who was a pioneer in protecting urban neighborhoods. Her 1961 book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, is credited with starting the urban revival movement. The volunteer-led walks are held on the first weekend of May to celebrate her birthday.
With most of Albuquerque developed after World War Two and built for driving, this walk is a refreshing alternative as it goes through neighborhoods that is meant to be walked. Walkable neighborhoods have sidewalks, narrower streets, houses closer to the sidewalk, and a mixture of commercial and residential activities.
2023 Mountain Road Arts Corridor Walk:
Our walk begins at the Julianna Kirwin Printmaking Studio at the NW corner of 8th and Mountain.
- Julianna’s house was once a grocery store
- Mountain Road was the route between Old Town and the mountains
- Rumor Pizza at the SE corner was once a gas station and has had several incarnations as a coffee shop and the like
- Stephan Watson is responsible for renovating several buildings in the immediate area. Many of his renovated houses are decorated with tiles from his Santa Fe Tile company.
Mountain Road:
From Julianna’s house we’ll walk west on Mountain Road.
- As you walk along Mountain you may notice History of the Neighborhood banners hanging from the lamp posts. The banners are the brainchild of Julianna Kirwin. There are splash codes on the lamp posts explaining the story behind its banner.
- Almost immediately at 815 Mountain, we’ll run into the historic With House (pronounced “Wit”). It is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, home in the area.
- Next door to the With House is Slow Burn Coffee at the NE corner of Mountain and Forrester. Slow Burn opened in October 2020 and is an excellent example of how a commercial space can enhance the walkability and quality of a predominantly residential neighborhood. The building has had stints as a grocery store, architect’s studio, performance space, and other retail activity.
- Continuing along Mountain, we’ll soon run into 10th Street. 10th is very interesting as it is very narrow and almost looks like an alley. But if you look north, you’ll see that it has houses on both sides of the street. It also has a stub end due an acequia that used to run through the neighborhood.
- At 11th Street we’ll run into Golden Crown Panaderia. It is a popular hangout and a great part of the neighborhood.
- At 12th Street we’ll run into New Mexico Tea Company on the NE corner and Cocina Azul on the SE corner. Both are worth checking out.
- When we cross 12th, we’ll start running into several fantastic murals. There is the “A Z U L” mural on the south side of Cocina Azul’s parking area; west of the parking area is the amazing three-wall mural of Little Bird de Papel art studio; next to the studio is the mosaic tile of ALMA Mosaic Collective (they are responsible for many of the mosaic art decorations throughout the city); and finally on the west facing wall is the is mural of an amazing pair of eyes watching you walk by.
- We’ll keep walking west until we reach 14th Street. On our right, across the parking area, is the eclectic art shop Next Best Thing to Being There. It too is decorated with a fantastic mural.
14th Street:
- We’ll cross Mountain and head south on 14th and will be passing the religious community of Villa Mathias. It occupies the entire block between Brother Mathias (13th Street) and 14th Street and is the residency for the Brothers of John of Godwho run the Good Shepherd Homeless Center at 2nd and Iron Streets south of Downtown. Brother Mathias Barrett, who founded Good Shepherd in 1951, is buried at Villa Mathias.
- We’ll continue south on 14th, passing a mixture of older and newer homes, to Marble.
Marble Avenue:
We’ll turn left on Marble and start heading east toward 11th Street. Again this is a residential street with a variety of interesting homes.
- One of them is at 1317 Marble. It has a great color and is decorated with a Frieda Kahlo tile.
- Immediately east of 1317 at 1313 Marble is a mural depicting people who make-up New Mexico.
- We’ll have to cross 12th (watch for traffic) to continue to 11th.
- Marble ends at 11th.
11th Street:
We’ll turn right (south) on 11th and almost immediately run into Manzano Court on the east side of 11th.
- Manzano Court is a small collection of houses with a parkway in the middle of the street. It was built in the early 1920s and is now a designated historic landmark. (Notice the property pillars designating the northern and southern limits of the development.)
- We’ll continue south to Orchard Place. Before turning left on Orchard, you’ll notice Lowe’s Grocery Store just to the south and west. Having a grocery store nearby contributes to the walkability of the neighborhood.
Orchard Place:
We’ll head east on Orchard.
- 1021 Orchard on the north side of the street (the house without a sidewalk) was once the home of Erna Fergusson. She was a well-known author and celebrity when she lived in the neighborhood almost a century ago. The public library branch on San Mateo Boulevard is named after her.
- The mural at the end of Orchard, where it makes a jog to the right to Slate, was painted just a little over a year ago.
- We’ll make the jog to Slate to reach Forrester. Before turning left on to Slate, you might notice the backs of several houses facing Luna Circle and Lomas to the south. The houses are now offices for several professional services.
Forrester Avenue:
We’ll be turning left on Forrester to head north. Forrester is a very special street with many wonderful homes and front yards.
- Forrester is the place to be on Halloween. Its famous Halloween Trick or Treatblock party attracts people from all over Albuquerque. Both Forrester and 8th Street (to the east) are blocked off by bales of hay, and the street is filled from curb to curb with trick or treaters. It’s something worth checking out.
- If you’re a Breaking Badaficionado, you’ll want to pay attention to the front porch at 1011 Forrester on the west side of the street. This is where Todd shot Andrea to punish Jesse for trying to run away.
- Other movies have also been shot on this street.
When we reach Mountain Road (across the street from Slow Burn), we’ll turn right and head east to 8th Street. (This is a good place to bailout, if you’ve had enough.)
8th Street:
Before turning south (right) on 8th Street, it’s worthwhile to look around. Stephan Watson of Santa Fe Tile restored the buildings on every corner of the intersection.
- Rumor Pizza opened less than two years ago and has great pizza. It has limited hours and you can only order a pizza online. But it does make a contribution in the liveliness of the neighborhood.
- We’ll walk south on 8th Street to Granite Avenue. Like Forrester, 8th Street has many nice homes – many of them have had extensive renovations – and also participates in the Halloween extravaganza.
We’ll turn left on Granite.
Granite Avenue:
We’ll walk east on Granite for one block to 7th Street.
- Before reaching 7th, we’ll pass a house made out of adobe blocks. It even has buttresses on a couple of the corners to support the walls.
7th Street:
When we reach 7th Street, we’ll be at the Harwood Art Center. Harwood was built in 1925 as a Methodist girls boarding school. It now houses the art center and a Montessori school.
- As we walk in front of Harwood, we’ll want to make a detour down the alley in the middle of the block on the west side of 7th. There we’ll see a couple of houses along the alley; an entrance to a housing complex on Mountain; and an Easter Island statue at the very end of the alley. (Nooks and crannies like this are part of what makes older and walkable neighborhoods so interesting.)
- When we reach the corner of 7th and Mountain, we’ll want to check out The Poet’s Plaza on the SE corner. It was created by Cassandra Reid in 2005 and funded by city’s public arts program. Each ceramic tile covered bench has a poem on its front side.
Again, from here one can bailout or continue east on Mountain to 6th Street.
Mountain Road:
As we walk east along Mountain Road we can spot:
- A large painting of a fractal is on the north wall of Harwood.
- The former church on the SW corner of 6th and Mountain is also part of Harwood. It too has murals.
- We’ll cross Mountain to check out the mural and building on the NW corner of 6th and Mountain. Less than two years ago a developer repurposed these two commercial/industrial buildings into residential apartments. This is an excellent example of how underused buildings can be turned into fantastic housing.
- The mural on the 6th Street side of the housing complex was part of the renovation project and was funded by the city’s public arts program.
From here we’ll walk north on 6th Street to the next street Rosemont Avenue.
6th Street:
Wells Park, and the namesake for the neighborhood, is directly across the street from us.
- If you look across to the community center, you’ll see a tall domelike structure that represents a wigwam (or teepee) burner. Wigwam burners were used by sawmills to burn scrap wood. It is an homage to the sawmill district that used to be north and west of here.
- If you come here some evening, you might get a chance to watch Albuquerque’s women’s roller derby team practice.
- When we reach Rosemont, you’ll see a large tract of vacant land to the north. The city will soon be vacating Rosemont between 6th and 5th to expand Wells Park into the vacant land. Plans for the park addition can be checked out in the community center.
From here, we’ll turn left a walk this short stretch of Rosemont to Los Tomases.
Los Tomases:
Rosemont ends at Los Tomases. We’ll turn right and head north on Los Tomases.
- Immediately after making the turn, check out the yard on the east side of the street at the corner. It has a very cool metal sculpture of a cricket (or a grasshopper).
- Like all the other streets on this tour, Los Tomases has interesting houses and yards. It also has several vacant lots.
- At the next street, Summer Avenue, take a look to the east. You’ll see murals of a stylized raven and coyote along the alley wall.
- We’ll continue north on Los Tomases to the next street Kinley Avenue. The house and yard on the SW corner of the intersection is very interesting.
- But even more interesting are the street names embedded in the sidewalks at the corners. At one time, Kinley was named McKinley and Los Tomases was named Virginia Boulevard. Bellamah, one street to the north, was once named Taft. There obviously was a presidential theme for street names in this area at one time.
We’ll turn left (west) on Kinley.
Kinley Avenue:
At this point we have several options. We can take Kinley west to either 7th or 8th Street to head back to our starting point at 8th and Mountain. Both routes have the same amount of walking distance (a little more than two miles). 8th Street is part of the Troche Moche walk, so 7th Street may be a better option.
It is worthwhile to check out the embedded street names at the intersection of 7th and Kinley, and again, you’ll see that Kinley used to be McKinley.