Remember The A-Pool?

[DebbieN]

This blog was done in 2009 but I’m just reading it for the first time. I was thinking about Yucca Elementary School and Mr. Apple my favorite teacher. Researching the past days on the internet brought me to read your comments. I was on the swim team at the A Pool and remember Peter Pan’s as well. I have 2 sisters and 2 brothers who also grew up with me until I was 10 years old on Utah Street. We all have great memories of those days. I hope somebody out there can reply and tell me what happened to Yucca school. Also Mr Apple. What a wonderful teacher!

[Zoidberg]

Originally Posted by DebbieN

tell me what happened to Yucca school

There must've been a huge number of elementary-aged kids in the neighborhood when Comanche ES, Yucca ES, and Montgomery ES were all built. Now there are far fewer by comparison. 1966's Comanche ES is still there, with some new construction in the past 5 years.

The 1955 Montgomery ES, so close to Comanche ES you can almost see one from the other, got converted to "The Montgomery Complex" in 1982, and as of last year has been completely torn down to the dirt and is now well on its way to becoming a high-school-sized teacher training center (modern but out of step with the neighborhood's bricky architecture).

That leaves the 1955 Yucca ES, or what Sandia High School took over in 1974 and refers to as "The Yucca Annex". It's largely auxiliary classrooms now for Sandia HS' overflow. I think I took an SAT or similar there back in the 90's.

Sandia HS's pool, a hop skip and a jump from Yucca, got enclosed and is now a pool. I'd swim there more often but their hours are inconvenient, they could do more to encourage people to shower before jumping in, and they could change the water out more often rather than dumping in more expensive/less effective chemicals.

One other interesting tidbit is 1964's Del Norte HS. Built at a time when standards were relaxed, budgets were tight, and/or construction materials were expensive, it was a maintenance nightmare, so about 5 years ago, they basically tore it down and built a modern 3-story high school right next to it.

[insulator_king]

Originally Posted by naport

I just drove by that Putt Putt today. That place has incredible staying power, no?

Closed in NOV 2017.
https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquer...le-closes.html

[Carronleslie]

Omg. I lived on Wyoming and candelaria. Went to SHS and we always went to the A pool...I wondered what happened to it....sheesh those were the. Days when nobody died having sex or doing a few recreation drugs...

[averdude1]

I think there was a pool behind the Princess Jeanne Shopping Center on Indian School Rd. Had my 1st beer with my dad at that Shakeys nearby. Just across from it there would be a White Fence Farm Chicken that had the best corn fritters. The Terrace Drive Inn was sometimes called the "Cha-Cha-Cha" by area kids due to the neon flamingo dancer facing the street in the Lomas Blvd. NE area. The Cinema East II Theaters was a walk away from the Holiday Park Housing development on Comanche NE and behind the development it was all desert with a cool hike to White Wash. Taco Sal's was the best tacos around and, I believe, Sal's son still runs it.

[straitgate]

I remember the pool fondly...it's where i learned how to swim along with my brothers and sisters in the early-mid 1970s when we lived in Albuquerque. I do remember that A in the middle and also have visceral memories of getting out of the pool and lying down on the hot cement to get dry rather than using a towel. I have a photo of my brother there next to the A ca. 1975 but can't figure out how to upload it here.