The truth about Albuquerque

[finmqa1]

Originally Posted by mid-western sweetie

can You tell me some of the nicer places to go ? We have been here 9 months and we have found virtually no night life that would be appealing to 30 somethings.

Sure thing, Season's and the Q Bar in Old Town is great. Try the Zinc Wine Bar (downstairs at Zinc Restaurant), Two Fools Brewery, O'Neils, and many others in Nob Hill. In the NE Heights I would recommend The Barley Room, and Horse and Angel. There are several others but these are some of my favorites as a 30 something myself. If you are interested in other things to do around town, just send me a private message, as I life long resident I think I might know a thing or two. My wife moved here from San Francisco, and by keeping an open mind and having a great attitude, she has really come to love this place. It may not turn out to be your utopia, but it can certainly be a place to enjoy while you're here.

Check Duke City Fix occasionally as they are really great about updating things to do around ABQ.

[casden]

Originally Posted by mid-western sweetie

It is a very dirty city and the crime is very bad . you have to worry about your car getting stolen no mater where you live .

I travel quite a bit (all over the world) and I have to say that I can't agree with you at all.

If you're from the Midwest (I'm living in Chicago right now), you might have seen on the news that just a couple of days ago (last Sunday, Feb. 03) a guy went into a Lane Bryant store, in a pretty nice suburb (Tinley Park) of Chicago and killed 5 women (look it up, and take a look at other Midwestern City Newspapers while you're at it). Shot them point blank. I've never heard of anything like that happening in Albuquerque. Just a little bit of an eye opener for ya!

Also, I happened to go to the same shopping center right after that incident to eat lunch with a good friend and his father, not knowing what was going on. All the stores were closed except for an Arby's where we ended up eating and the counter person told us what had just happened.

Apparantly the guy was from a smaller town in Indiana.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by finmqa1

While staying in Cincinatti for work I remember seeing neighborhoods that make our ghettos seem like Disneyland. I could go on and on about some of the things I saw. I could also call out some pretty shady areas of Chicago or any other midwestern city for that matter. Some of these cities have areas of town that are so old and run down it would be hard to compare to even our worst areas.

Yeah finmqa1...I tell you what, while there are some pretty darn shaky areas of Albuquerque for certain, I would still reasonably be comfortable venturing into almost all areas of Albuquerque during the daylight hours. Here in Milwaukee, there are some areas in the Central City, the Northwest Side, etc., where I would not feel comfortable going even during the daytime, much less at night - they are war zones.

And Chicago? Good Lord. There are some areas on the south side and the west side where I would never wish anyone to be stuck at any point in the day...seriously, they are hard-core tough areas. I would literally panic in some areas of Chicago if my car broke down there, and I am very non-crime-a-phobic.

Chicago is actually the city in the Midwest I frequent the most next to Milwaukee (obviously, only being 75 miles away), and they actually do a fine job with crime considering its immense size, but please...as you say...these big Midwestern cities obviously have areas that are extremely bad.

And that isn't to "knock" Milwaukee, Chicago, or any big Midwestern city! But similarly, Albuquerque shouldn't be knocked for its bad areas (which aren't so bad in comparison to many other cities) when most of the city - NE Heights, North Valley, Nob Hill area, new SE Heights areas, West side, NW Side, Rio Rancho, etc., are so safe.

Originally Posted by finmqa1

And yes people in ABQ are not as friendly as some of the cities I've visited in the South and Midwest, but I also find it hard to believe we could be classified as some of the rudest.

Wow fin, I know you are going out of your way to be very good-hearted to an overly negative poster, but I actually even would take this farther than you!

I found the people in ABQ to overall be VERY friendly...far more than those - in general - than I have found in the Milwaukee metro area and even moreso in Chicago.

In Albuquerque, people are more laid back and live and let live. Due to so many people being transplants, folks are very nonchalant in general to others that are different. Albuquerque atracts so many characters too, and they all sort of blend in in a way that you wouldn't find in many cities.

Due to the temperate climate in ABQ, people aren't as intense as they are up here often I find (and overall I think Milwaukee area folks are fairly friendly too). But things in ABQ aren't as cut-throat and rushed.

People in ABQ I have found to be sincerely warm and genuine. At times it is hard to make "great lifelong friends" in ABQ, but overall, I think people are far more cordial in ABQ than in many other areas.

I guess I never quite get the whole "rude" thing as it relates to cities. In all big cities, you'll find nice folks and you'll find jerks. It just is what it is. It is so hard to generalize this.

However, in my broad generalization, I think ABQ folks are some of the friendliest in the land.

[christina0001]

I know many of you love where you live and feel hurt or offended when people say negative things about it. But please try to keep a cool head, and remember the Terms of Service, or this thread will end up turning into nothing more than arguing.

Thanks.

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[norm]

I grew up in the southeast part of The Bronx, one the worst ghettos in New York City. At one time NYC was one of the most crime ridden cities in the country but even then crime was limited to the "bad" neighborhoods. Up until 8 years ago I lived in a very nice middle class section but since we were near a major highway exit we had the second highest incidence of car theft in our area so we put a club on the car and had alarms installed and we had no problem. What I am saying is that every city has it's good and bad areas and you should be savvy enough to stay out of the bad ones.

Albuquerque is one of the four southwestern cities we are considering moving to, so in May we will visit each one of them to see what they are about. If you move to a city and later discover it's not what you wanted because of crime or lack of nightlife you didn't do your homework before making the move.

[ABQSunseeker]

Norm, you're absolutely right. I moved here from NYC last year and did my research and scouted everything out pretty thoroughly. My move has been successful and I don't look back. Of course, any big city is going to have some crime, some dicey neighborhoods, some traffic, some weather season that's less than ideal, but it's all a matter of balance and perspective. The strengths of Albuquerque have far outweighed the disadvantages.
Good luck on your trip to the Southwest in May and in your ultimate decision and move.

[casden]

Originally Posted by mid-western sweetie

It is a very dirty city and the crime is very bad . you have to worry about your car getting stolen no mater where you live . I am from a larger city in Ohio

mid-western sweetie:

As I mentioned in an earlier post, a guy shot 5 people in a Lane Bryant store here in Chicago last weekend (on Saturday). Well here's some more news about crime in the midwest - a guy just stabbed and shot a teacher (his wife) in front of her students in an Ohio classroom:

ABC News: Suspect in Ohio School Shooting Dies



Like I said, crime in Albuquerque is by no means any worse than it is anywhere else. Just be smart, and stay away from sketchy areas. If you have to go into sketchy areas be a little observant - look around, be cautious.

Albuquerque is like any other city - there are bad sections of the city, but for the most part the city is pretty safe.

If you are looking to move to a city, please take the suggestion that so many on this thread have mentioned ==> research the place you want to live, and make a trip out to that city to scope it out. Then you can make your own decision and not feel dissapointed like mid-western sweetie obviously does.

[Agape51]

I am from a larger city in Ohio - I travel all over the world and I have not met people more rude and unwelcoming than those from abq.

Midwest Sweetie -- the two times I've visited ABQ, I found people very friendly and warm. However, I also know how jarring moving from one part of this country to another is. I grew up as an army brat and moved all over the world (and the U.S.) and I can safely say that the first year in any new place is a major adjustment -- so, hang in there and follow some of the advice in this thread. Sounds as though you should be able to settle in soon.

Good luck.

Agape

[abqsunport]

great intelligent post norm!!!!!

Lets be honest, you can't really judge a city unless you have lived there for 3 years. It takes awhile to meet people, learn the streets, learn the culture, etc. It is once you accomplish all of these things that you can make an honest and objective judgement.

[EnjoyEP]

Well folks, it looks like the original poster for this thread is no longer actively posting, and the thread was started in 08-12-2006.

I have heard some requests from members that indicate since this thread is so old and has largely disintegrated from time-to-time into bickering and personal attacks, that we lock / close it. I agree.

Time to start some new threads.