A New Mexicans View on Los Alamos & Española (Santa Fe: house, movies)
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I really truly love both towns, and love that we live in a truly multicultural place. Espanola has a great community college (Northern) with a wide class offering and excellent teachers, the Fiber Arts Center, the Boomerang Thrift boutique, some really good independent grocery stores and a wonderful animal shelter. Espanola has all the "funkiness" that Los Alamos is missing. Los Alamos has the quirky geek culture,a superb trail system, a wonderful ski hill, great music (like the Concert Association and the free summer concerts), good restaurants (and that wasn't always the case), I'm really sorry that people still think we're elitist here- we've been struggling with that one for as long as I've lived in New Mexico.
I've been in Santa Fe two years, and I have never taken the time to go up north, and now that my car hasn't worked in a month, I regret that decision. Yes I have been told about both communities, but I'm the type who would like to check out stuff myself before making a judgment call. I hope someday I will get the chance to check out both communities.
In Espanola vally the krqe news 13 news said that Espanola was the dangerous city in nm. People thought that abq was more crimimal because of the size of the city but actually it came in 8th place as criminal and Roswell came in 2nd place
Los Alamos was the safest city in nm but of course there are steal drugs around the city but otherwise it's a calm city, lovington nm is the 2nd safest city
Why do you ask, OP? I've heard the stories about drugs, etc. in Espanola, but I have a number of friends who live there, and they live perfectly peacefully as one would in any other town. They're not aware of the problems. Espanola has a relatively high percentage of Native American residents from the surrounding tribes, as well as Hispanics and Anglos. It's great if you like diversity. Los Alamos, on the other hand, is very Anglo, fwiw. The Hispanics and Native Americans who work there commute up there from the communities "down the hill" in the general area.
Each town is distinctive in its own way. I enjoy both of them. That is one New Mexico resident's view.
I live in LA because I work at the lab and I like having a five minute commute. I really know nothing about Epanola except that I go there now and again to get a breakfast burrito at Blake's Lottaburger.
LA is a very small town with lots of money because of the lab and all its employees. It's not like the rest of New Mexico since it only came to be with the Manhattan Project in 1943. For example, there is very little adobe here. Many of the homes here were built by the Army Corps of Engineers. Still, there is some neat Manhattan Project themed site seeing in town. The Bradbury Science Museum, historical museum, and Fuller Lodge are all good places to visit.
I haven't heard good things about Espanola but recognize that's all hearsay. Mostly I stay in LA since I like staying close to home.
What surprises me about Los Alamos is there isn't really a whole lot of businesses for a town that size, especially given the high income of the residents. It seems like there could be some fantastic business opportunities there.
What surprises me about Los Alamos is there isn't really a whole lot of businesses for a town that size, especially given the high income of the residents. It seems like there could be some fantastic business opportunities there.
Agreed, the place feels "empty" given the lab and the salaries.
What surprises me about Los Alamos is there isn't really a whole lot of businesses for a town that size, especially given the high income of the residents. It seems like there could be some fantastic business opportunities there.
LA's had what some might call an anti-business culture for some time (it wasn't that long ago where on Sunday nights there were only 1 or 2 places to eat in town). I think it's way better than it used to be.
Factors:
*Horrible zoning constraints. The topology of the town makes it impossible to say, throw a big building over behind this other building. There's a canyon there.
*Extreme labor costs. Once you run out of local high school students to staff your burger joint, you have to hire people to commute in.
*Local politics. Most of the residents of LA like it the way it is and has been. It still feels frozen in the 1950's in so many ways. You can't just come in and open a Chipotle without substantially more red tape than most businesses will tolerate.
*Breadwinner syndrome. If you are looking for classic 1950's culture, where dad goes to work and mom stays at home with the kids, LA is definitely the closest I've found in my travels. Instead of getting fast food or restaurant meals, mom usually cooks at home. This makes NM's sky-high restaurant patronage rate inapplicable here.
*Gubmint mentality. The federal government runs just about everything in Los Alamos, and this biases slightly toward a population that is non-entrepreneurial.
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