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I guess when I say overlooked, I mean that it doesn't get the credit it deserves. I live near Fayetteville, Ar and its popping up on "best places to live" lists constantly. When I look at LC, the weather, scenery, COL, it just seems like it should be more popular. Did you find LC to be a pretty place?
I/we (My wife and I) have had some business connections and friends in Las Cruces, an easy 4.5 hour drive of 300 miles. We also have long time friends in Arizona... I have always enjoyed the great Southwest.
In the last 40 years or so, we had moved a lot due to employment. My wife picked our last move 20 years ago which was a job promotion for her. So we ended up in the Albuquerque area.
I have lived in the states of AL, AZ, FL, GA, MA, MD, NM, NY, PA, SC, TX and several Overseas locations.
I spent 22 years of continuous active duty in the U.S. Military. That is one reason we moved around...
This current location is the longest my wife and I have lived in one location, 20 years in the same spot and same house... We have been retired for a while now... Some family members had followed us here. I use to go on a lot of business trips and wondered and gawked about places I had business's to deal with.
I seem to recall a trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas... All I remember was the aircraft at the museum. (My wife and I are/were private pilots, we use to own a Cessna 150, aircraft.)
My wife and I have no problems with the possibility of living in Las Cruces, we just settled where we currently are at...
I don't think Las Cruces is scenic at all compared to Tucson, Flagstaff or Albuquerque but compared to El Paso I think it is.
It is very brown there except for down by the river where it is pretty green. It is high desert with mountains close to the east and more distant to the west.
The other thing that is disappointing about LC is although there are some nicer new neighborhoods and a nice old area in Mesilla Park, there is no old part of town that is very nice like you see in some cities and towns. The housing and stuff they put up from the 40s to the 70s is downright horrific except for up on the east Mesa. Some very nice neighborhoods up there.
Also some really nice newer stuff that is more remote out on the west Mesa. But the middle of town is pretty crummy.
The scenery doesn't hold up to the places you mentioned in the original post and that's probably why it's not mentioned. But you aren't far from some really nice mountains. A little over an hour away you can be in some really beautiful areas.
I don't think Las Cruces is scenic at all compared to Tucson, Flagstaff or Albuquerque but compared to El Paso I think it is.
It is very brown there except for down by the river where it is pretty green. It is high desert with mountains close to the east and more distant to the west.
The other thing that is disappointing about LC is although there are some nicer new neighborhoods and a nice old area in Mesilla Park, there is no old part of town that is very nice like you see in some cities and towns. The housing and stuff they put up from the 40s to the 70s is downright horrific except for up on the east Mesa. Some very nice neighborhoods up there.
Also some really nice newer stuff that is more remote out on the west Mesa. But the middle of town is pretty crummy.
The scenery doesn't hold up to the places you mentioned in the original post and that's probably why it's not mentioned. But you aren't far from some really nice mountains. A little over an hour away you can be in some really beautiful areas.
I agree some of the mid 20th century neighborhoods aren't that appealing, but these places you say are nice are the very antithesis of the same "old part of town" neighborhoods that you seem to lament the lack of. They are very suburban to outright sprawling, gobbling up large tracts of open land, and have none of the close-knit charm of old neighborhoods. And I suspect they are populated in large part by people who don't have roots in the area.
But there are some of those old neighborhoods in Las Cruces too, like the Mesquite-Tornillo area for one example. There are scattered pockets elsewhere.
I agree some of the mid 20th century neighborhoods aren't that appealing, but these places you say are nice are the very antithesis of the same "old part of town" neighborhoods that you seem to lament the lack of. They are very suburban to outright sprawling, gobbling up large tracts of open land, and have none of the close-knit charm of old neighborhoods. And I suspect they are populated in large part by people who don't have roots in the area.
But there are some of those old neighborhoods in Las Cruces too, like the Mesquite-Tornillo area for one example. There are scattered pockets elsewhere.
The old town section of Las Cruces COULD be leveraged and be quite beautiful. My belief is that at some time in the future, 40-50 years from now, it will be. It has similar architecture to Mesilla. But it is, in spite of some recently arrived businesses in the Tornillo-Mesquite old town area, a very depressed neighborhood. There remain a lot of old abandoned buildings in this district. However, if Main St continues to draw life into its veins on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as the Saturday morning farmers market, I do not rule out a renaissance at some point in the future.
The old town section of Las Cruces COULD be leveraged and be quite beautiful. My belief is that at some time in the future, 40-50 years from now, it will be. It has similar architecture to Mesilla. But it is, in spite of some recently arrived businesses in the Tornillo-Mesquite old town area, a very depressed neighborhood. There remain a lot of old abandoned buildings in this district. However, if Main St continues to draw life into its veins on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as the Saturday morning farmers market, I do not rule out a renaissance at some point in the future.
Yes but a renaissance/gentrification will put more money in the pockets of people who already have it, and will do little for if not further marginalize the low income people who live there now. The same way Mesilla has been priced out of the reach of the average local. Predominantly low income, working-class neighborhoods, that's what these places always were before being revived into vacation and retirement homes for Californians (and others). Well there was always a mix of rich and poor, to be sure, at least in Mesilla, but the trend is heavily slanted toward the richer in Mesilla now.
As I understand it there was an urban renewal effort in Las Cruces in the 1960s that still is a bit controversial with some long time residents. The city planners did a job on the downtown area. The link is to a thesis abstract that gives an idea of what happened.
I'm more in to the natural scenery than the beauty of a city. As long as the city itself isn't a total dump, the aesthetics of the city don't really matter to me. I used to live in Naples, FL which is extremely manicured and regulated city. It was nice but I just get bored in places that are flat. Can't wait to visit.
I agree some of the mid 20th century neighborhoods aren't that appealing, but these places you say are nice are the very antithesis of the same "old part of town" neighborhoods that you seem to lament the lack of. They are very suburban to outright sprawling, gobbling up large tracts of open land, and have none of the close-knit charm of old neighborhoods. And I suspect they are populated in large part by people who don't have roots in the area.
But there are some of those old neighborhoods in Las Cruces too, like the Mesquite-Tornillo area for one example. There are scattered pockets elsewhere.
Yes, east Mesa neighborhoods are certainly not "old part of town" but they are still are nice neighborhoods.
And talking about scattered pockets, there is some nice older homes on Alameda north of dowtown but I wouldn't even say it's a full neighborhood.
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I'm more in to the natural scenery than the beauty of a city.
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