A tour of Nob Hill (Albuquerque, South Valley: how much, houses, neighborhood)

[mortimer]

I've always wanted to take some pictures of the houses
around Nob Hill to show friends and so I did last Wednesday the 12th.
Then I wanted to make a little web site and it turned into a larger
project than I wanted it to, but being an anal-retentive nerd, I kept
working it till I had something that was kinda cool, so I'm sharing.

Often times on this forum, members direct new people to Nob Hill as an
area to check out. Now, there is a resource that shows what it looks like.

Looking at Nob Hill in Albuquerque

What I worked up is just a series of photgraphs of almost every house
from the Nob Hill shopping center to Garfield along Amherst, SE and
then back down Tulane, SE to Central.

I went back up to the intersection of Carlisle and Lead then down to the other
side of Central up Amherst, NE across Marquette to Purdue and returned.

There are well over 100 photgraphs of over 100 different homes.

Naturally, I picked garbage day to shoot, so almost every house in
the series has a trash container sitting in front of it. At first,
I though "what a bummer," but then thought better of it.

We like to think that Nob Hill is some sort of edgy and sophisticated
part of town, but in reality it is just more visually interesting,
but is full of sweatpants-wearing slobs like me typing out this note.

Having all the garbage cans in front of the houses gives it a little dose of reality.

As if to reinforce that, whilst taking pictures, more than once, a
passer-by in a car layed on their horn - making me jump and have to
take the picture again. What is it with those dorks?

I *did* photoshop out a few light poles and such. Eagle-eyed viewers
might catch one or two instances of this.

Looking at Nob Hill in Albuquerque

Note that once the trees get their leaves, the look of this neighborhood
changes drastically, but you can't see the houses as well.

I'm reminded of the bungalows in the towns along the Penninsula in the
San Francisco Bay area. Much of the housing stock in Nob Hill would
sell for over $1 million there. Many owners there have added 2,000
square foot additions in their back yards - keeping only the front
facade or worse, leveled the structure and replaced it with a
McMansion. Hopefully, it won't come to that here.

Note on the tour: Clicking the last picture on a page jumps you to
the next page in the series. However, there is a special area in the
'center' that only has one link from the index page, so don't forget
to check that out. I put it in because every time I go there, I
wonder what it must have looked like before all the trees grew up to
obscure the fantastic views in all directions.

[penelopelp]

Great pictures! We were walking in that area today. I guess I could have spared myself the sore feet today & just looked at your pictures.

[jrod2828]

Very cool pics. Wow, if my wife and I do decide to move here from Indianapolis it's going to be a major culture shock. That place looks like Mexico. I love the style of the homes but they are definitely going to freak my wife out.

[Chaparral]

Originally Posted by jrod2828

That place looks like Mexico.

Wow. I can't believe I just read someone comparing Nob Hill to Mexico.

There are parts of Mexico that are quite nice, but somehow I don't think that's what jrod had in mind when the statement was written.

Them's fightin' words...


Chap

p.s. Nice work Mortimer. Thanks for sharing!

[GregW]

Mortimer - nice job. Looks like a nice neighborhood. Some of the views are fantastic. Just what I would expect of a southwest city with a hill or two. Thanks, GW

[amigadelsol]

Awesome job, Mortimer. We've rented a place near Nob Hill for a month, coming up soon. I look forward to "walking your walk!"

[jrod2828]

Originally Posted by Chaparral

Wow. I can't believe I just read someone comparing Nob Hill to Mexico.

There are parts of Mexico that are quite nice, but somehow I don't think that's what jrod had in mind when the statement was written.

Them's fightin' words...


Chap

p.s. Nice work Mortimer. Thanks for sharing!

You have to understand I'm from the midwest where homes are big, trees are big and leafy and lawns are big and green. I'm sure there is a big difference between Mexico and New Mexico. I don't know that distinction yet, so it all looks just kind of mexican to me. Didn't mean that as an insult at all. It looks really cool. Just much much different than anything I've ever seen.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by jrod2828

You have to understand I'm from the midwest where homes are big, trees are big and leafy and lawns are big and green.

Whoa, whoa, whoa jrod...remember...

If you took photos in Indianapolis from any time say NOV 1 through MAY 15, things would NOT look "trees leafy" or lawns "big and green."

Instead, the trees would look bare (like they did in mort's photos, except they are leafy for 2-3 more months of the year in ABQ than they are in the Midwest) and the grass would look brown (eg: dormant).

So keep that perspective.

This weekend, my wife and I were driving down I-43 just outside of Milwaukee, and we were both talking about how "brown" Midwesterners sometimes said they found ABQ in comparison to their Midwestern memories, however, we looked around at the barren, dormant landscape, and noted it was as brown and moreso than anything we'd seen in ABQ.

Those Midwesterners are thinking of "green" in the Midwest from late-May until late-September (and October for the fall colors). But for over 1/2 the year, it is more brown than even the high desert.

As mort said, had he taken those photos a few weeks later when the leaves are on the trees fully, it'd look more green already in that respect.

As for the housing stock size, believe me, you'll find plenty of houses in ABQ that are big. House sizes are no different in ABQ as a general rule than they are in the Midwest. You'll find big, huge, medium, and small, just like the Midwest.

These photos were taken in an "older" area of Albuquerque, and houses were built in a certain style/size and way in the Nob Hill area. This is JUST ONE SMALL AREA of Albuquerque...housing stock will look much different in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, the North Albuquerque Acres, the North Valley, all the way through to the South Valley, the Southeast, etc.

There are plenty of areas in ABQ too where houses utilize architecture styles other than the adobe / pueblo style (although I don't know why...I prefer that adobe / pueblo but that is just me).

Things are not "smaller" in Albuquerque. If you want a nice, big, 2500 or 3000 square foot home with a big yard, there will be plenty an ABQ realtor happy to show you where they are!!

[EnjoyEP]

AWESOME photos / site mort. Mucho, mucho appreciated.

Gol dangit, I cannot describe just how much that makes me miss my ABQ.

[EnjoyEP]

Check out this thread too:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/albuq...to-thread.html

Mort did an awesome job with thorough and beautiful photos of one particular area of ABQ, however, again, it is just one segment of the city.

You'll see that there are plenty of large, varied, and diverse areas in terms of housing, yards, etc, throughout the city.