Those that grew up here. Share your stories!

Grew up in the north valley in the 60s and 70s. Albuquerque was much, much smaller then - the far northeast heights was all just empty high desert. Lots more stars in the night sky. Way, way less development on the Westside. Rode bikes on the irrigation ditches, caught Crawdads in them and kept them as pets, slept on the back porch in the summer (adobe house with no air conditioning).
Teen years (mid to late 70s), we partied at the Rock House (Juan Tabo Picnic grounds), and on the riverbed when the Rio Grande would dry up and be mostly just sand). Rode motorcycles on the empty dirt roads on the west mesa. It was a simpler place and a much simpler time.

I did a journalism internship at the Tribune (RIP) in high school, and I recall we occasionally got hand-written manifestos mailed to us by local man-about-town Don Schrader, and it was always a special day when it happened

Grew up here! My rebellious hang out as a teen with my friends was Billiards. A place that would sell cigarettes to teens, had pool tables and video games and of course bullet holes in the glass. Tho nothing ever happened when we were there. Lots of house parties cause there wasn’t a lot to do otherwise. Was here in my twenties and lived downtown, had great times at the Anodyne and remember eating delicious brats from a hotdog vendor at 1am. Again, lots of house parties.

The Beach was the best and I miss it! Uncle Cliffs was so fun too, especially when we got The Rattler! I haven’t been back for a long time but I remember running around Cliffs, eating snow cones or dip ‘n dots and riding the sea dragon or the log ride. Such a great time! I need to go back.

I remember when dance dance dance, its a teen thing was the big anti drinking and drugs event for kids in the city at the Beach, which is now gone. It’s also where I saw the most under age drinking and fighting at that age. Wild stuff. You could watch the televised version on local tv during the weekend.

I'd say my childhood was pretty normal but I probably did more hiking than people out east might do. Because our weather was so nice, we could play outside basically all year long. We used to get a little more snow in the winter back then, but that just turned into sledding down the street. The winter was for skiing at Sandia, and the summer was for going to The Beach

As a teenager we didn't have a lot of money but I was lucky enough to have a car. The "cool" thing to do was to cruise down the street for a few hours, maybe stop at a park or hang out in an arroyo.

Sometimes we would go to the dollar theater or Pizza 9, sometimes we would just sit and watch people skate at the skatepark. If we had money we might go to Cliff's or Nickel City Laser Tag but mostly we just wandered around the city to entertain ourselves.

It was also pretty common to go on little adventures with your friend group. Devil's den was supposed to be the "haunted" tunnel to explore, but we would also go to the railyards, or that creepy asylum in the North valley.

Pretty much every single person's first job was at Dion's. Everyone quoted the "shit burqueños say" video constantly. Everyone probably ended up in frontier at 3 AM at some point.

With being here your entire life it's impossible to not build some kind of community. Imo that makes up for the other issues this town has

Best part of growing up here before the internet is that there is no evidence. Not gonna provide any now.

I remember when my family moved here, there would always be lowriders on central and a couple years after moving here, the city put up "No U Turn between 7 pm to 7 am" signs at every median intersection. I moved away for a bit and came back to the ART bullshit and now you HAVE to make u turns on central. Fucking stupid.

There’s a ton of memories but one I often think of was when I’d wait for the bus in early morning for middle school. In the summer watching the sun come over the sandias. Gives me an unexplainable feeling. Like a fresh clean feeling.

My family has deep roots in ABQ and was one of the first Chinese families to live here! Our family owned the New Chinatown off Central and San Mateo. Theee best Chinese restaurant in ABQ (yes I’m biased). My fav memories from my childhood were every Chinese New Year celebration there with my family and patrons, feeding the dragon dollar bills during the lion dance! And my great auntie who bartended in the lounge giving me limitless maraschino cherries while my uncle Freddie played his dreamy sets. Our family couldn’t maintain it anymore and sold it when I was in high school, and the building has since been demolished. I was gutted when that happened. Still searching for Chinese food that compares here!

I grew up in ABQ and recently moved back home.

I love it here now, but it took a bit of growing to find that love. I definitely loved my childhood but wanted to see more of the world and thought ABQ was ‘too small’. I couldn’t wait to leave when I graduated high school.

I was fortunate enough to go to school out of state and have lived in 3 major American cities in the Midwest, Texas, and the west coast. All of that experience has shown me what NM and ABQ have that I didn’t recognize or know to appreciate as a child. And so here I am! Thankful for the natural beauty, the cuisine, the culture, and the people.

Edit: sorry, forgot to actually list activities here lol.

I remember science camps at explora back when it was in the mall before they opened their own building. There was the old pool on base and the splashdown nights, those were the best. Even if the beach was kinda gross at times I have great memories there. I spent a lot of time at page one and page one 2 in their old locations and while I like the new location the old ones will always have my heart. I also loved being able to ski so easily with the sandias, sad we get so little snow nowadays.

When I was a kid we had a dirt backyard and a xeriscaped rock front yard. We used to have barefoot hot rock races in the front yard in the summers Badass lil fuckers hahaha

Grew in the NE heights but wasn't immune to the crazy 😅 Heard a commotion one night up the street. Saw someone running down the street and a bunch of bros running after him on the sidewalk. The running guy tripped on the driveway in front of my house, and with the lights off in my rooms, I watched as the guys caught up to him and kicked the crap outta him and one guy went in with a baseball bat. Saw a mom running down the street and a bunch of girls yelling for then to stop. Woke the next morning to see some blood on the sidewalk and caught my street name on KOAT 7 that evening. Supposedly some dude from Eldorado was caught with some La Cueva dude's gf and hormone driven violence ensued.

That was probably more exciting than me and my friends going to Satellite and crashing their couch every Friday night with some sugar loaded frosty chais and tea 😅

Oh my gosh how could I forget Hastings!!!! I loved that place. Rented movies, got CDs, got cheap books. I worked there on my college breaks. I loved that place

I grew up up in the heights. I spent my summers either riding the arroyos, or climbing the boulders up at the top of menaul.

Anyone remember Crazy Larry or the Marilyn Man? That shit was wild....

Pretty cool that although the Tribune is gone Don Schrader is still alive and kicking after being injured

There is a movie called “The Whistle” on PBS which documents late seventies to early eighties which a group of teens thought up a way to share community. I wish I grew up here.

Read a lot of these and man oh man! These stories brought me back! Thank you all who shared. Y’all made me smile and me feel all warm inside. Angels on your pillowz

When I was in High School at Albuquerque High we played a game called "Cops and Robbers". There were two teams. Robbers who were on foot and Cops that were driving. We started at Netherwood Park aka Pregnant Park off Indian School with the goal of a robber to make all the way to Frontier Restaurant without the cops catching you. It seemed massive and felt like there were hundreds of kids playing. It's mostly residential until you hit UNM. Thinking back I can't imagine living there and seeing hundreds of kids running through the neighborhood being chased by cars at 9 at night. Haha.

I remember going up in the mountains (I was only about seven so not sure where, probably the Manzanos) and harvesting pinon. We did it the semi lazy way and spread blankets under the trees and the adults would shake the shit out of the tree. It actually worked really well and we got a lot of pinon. We also had tree sap all over our clothes and hair, lol. I don't know if families do that anymore...

First neighborhood I lived in was in the Warzone. Our house was broken into several times, lots of personal items robbed. I didn't think anything of it because I didn't know any better, but looking back, idk how my parents let my brother and I walk to school unsupervised. Didn't have many friends and stayed home outside of school, so not much to remember besides playing video games and being a kid.

The second neighborhood I lived in was right next to Bear Canyon Arroyo (that nature area behind the dam on Juan Tabo). Moved there when I was 8, in 2005. As a teenager, I spent a lot of time there, both alone and with friends, but mostly alone when I'd be depressed and needed to sort out my thoughts. It always lifted my spirits enough to veer away from suicidal ideation. It was a good spot to smoke weed with friends because there were lots of hiding places we wouldn't been seen in.

It's strange, though I'm no longer depressed and am married to the love of my life, I really miss how much simpler life was back then. I wish depression didn't take away my ability to cherish that time because it was a good life. If I could have that simplicity and freedom of time with my current circumstances, life would be perfect. Hindsight really is 20/20. At least my brother and I are still close, it's the closest I have to that sense of simplicity.

I remember the beach water park and almost drowning lol and watch the cliffs commercials when it was close to the end of the school year!

Great freaking thread.

Grew up in Corrales in the 90s. Horses in the yard. My sister and I used the irrigation ditches to explore and ride to friends houses. When the road in front of our house was being paved, a Native American pit house was discovered and excavated.. before being paved over.

Way back when, we’d all go to a place we called “the end of the world.” We’d go to Rio Rancho and take Southern Blvd up way, way past where anyone lived. We’d go up there and build big campfires, drink all kinds of beer, shoot guns and party way into the early morning.

I grew up in the mountains, so field trips toTinkertown and family dinners at Bella Vista were what's up.

Once I got my license (or, at least, had a car), it was the late 90's and we'd spend too much time drunk/high at Hinkle or down at Insomnia and The Pulse.

I'm back in the mountains now, and have my local place... where, oddly, a gal from the Insomnia/Pulse days frequents. Biggest small town and all, lol.

We'd go to movies 8 and wait in line that wrapped around the theater. Then go to the arcade in Montgomery Plaza until our movie started

I grew up in Abq in the 60s 70s. Went to Zia elementary. Jefferson and Del Norte High. Del Norte was brand new and was about the furthest point North in the city. I graduated from UNM. Anybody go to the Highland Theater? Eat at Griff’s burger bar? All the concerts! Saw Ry Cooder and Captain Beefheart at UNM Student union. CNS, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin and many others. Jack’s was the place for hamburger and green Chile pizza while at UNM. I remember when Frontier opened. There was a heights vs valley thing. In high school we would take are girlfriends to the greyhound race track in Juarez.

I saw Stone temple pilots open for the Butthole Surfers at The Beach Waterpark. During their set, Gibby Haynes pulled out a shotgun and started blasting off shots. I think now, it had to be a gun with blanks or something,

Also, raves in the 90s were great. Ritual and UN were always packed.

I always felt like going to high school in the 90s here was basically bisexual chicks and PM Dawn

There wasn’t mush to do as a kid but drugs, drinking, or fighting. I tried to distance myself from that by playing sports but even then, those things would show up on a daily basis. I was in middle school in 2008 and I remember how crisp the air used to be around September. By October you needed a sweater to go outside. I miss how cool it use to be around that time. I miss getting snow in November. 

My family moved to Rio Rancho in 1979. I was 14. Very different back then.

My older brother and I found the roundy-round dirt track races on South Eubank, across from the gate to Sandia Labs. Great fun. But! When the races ended, there was a busy street racing scene there. Perfect setup...two lanes each way, turnaround in front of the gate. Man, the 60s musclecars that showed up! Cruising happened, until racing happened. Some drunk mo fo would get between the northbound lanes, and cars would line up. Hemi Cudas, Boss Mustangs, SS Chevelles, all kinds of serious haul ass. It was a young man's dream! APD would blow through every now and then, 30 minutes later, we're all back doing same.

Then came the Kawasaki Ninja. In 1984...roughly...one was northbound from South Eubank...not racing, but going maybe 140? A carful of high school girls pointed west across Eubank pulled out to turn left, safe because the Ninja was a long ways off yet. Right? No. At 140 he broke their car in half and they all died. The Ninja pilot, all the girls. Everyone. APD shut that down 100% after that.

I'm a 1983 Cibola High School graduate. I'm appalled that there's no Bosque left between Rio and Bernalillo. Anyone remember a place called Asia on the river where we used to have keg parties?

My family was not outdoorsy, so I didn't start taking advantage of the trails/campgrounds until I moved out on my own.

But I liked growing up here. I grew up in the south valley, very close to the river and the train tracks. We used to walk our dogs down to the river every evening. We had an acequia in our backyard where we used to catch frogs and crawdads when it rained.

My cousins lived in Los Lunas, so I spent many weekends there, running around on our own and exploring the abandoned houses. On the weekends we spent in town, we would either hang out at the mall or get dropped off downtown with money to watch some movies and buy snacks. I was a quiet kid and didn't get involved with any drugs/alcohol until I was 18.

My mom used to take me to Pop N Taco after school because it was my favorite restaurant. I still miss their food. Hometown Buffet was our fancy weekend restaurant lol.

I grew up in the NE nights- Tramway was literally my back yard and was a dirt road. I remember playing outside, during the summer monsoons-barefoot along the gutters of the sidewalks , with a garbage bag for a rain coat. My friends and I would walk on the bike path to McDonalds, and south to Walgreens. We would hang out on the brides over Tramway, go to the YMCA and take the bus to the bowling lanes or the theater. We were about 10-12. Coming inside only after the last street light came on at dusk. Honestly, we even had a security guard in a red pinto type car who would give us gum every evening and say hi to us during his patrol. It wasn’t creepy or weird. Things just seemed so much simpler back then. Sigh. I too left New Mexico- and came back 3 years later :)

My favorite weekend activity growing up was going with my family to the flea market on Old Coors very early on Saturday, buying a torta from the food truck that was always there (I loved their tortas with a fresh horchata) and then begging my dad to buy me the latest pirated movie hahaha.

I grew up on the Westside in Paradise Hills when it was surrounded by mesa. I used to strap my .22 to my back and ride my bike not into what is now Ventana Ranch and shoot all day. We used to go out to the mesa and watch thunderstorms roll in and set tumbleweeds on fire until the fire department rolled by. In the 90s we used to skateboard all day and on the weekends we would rave all night downtown. 

As a kid, I remember the feeling of sand whipping my legs while on the playground in the springtime. Gosh, what a specific feeling that was! The smell of rain, and fall and chile roasting. The spinning gorilla at Winrock mall and Chelsea’s at Coronado and going with my grandparents for mall walks and trying to keep up! Shady Lakes, the zoo and the bread factory for field trips! As a teen, going to Dion’s with friends, the great snow storm of 2006 where school was closed past winter break for another week or so! Walking to Quarters for green chile stew. The night we walked around the abandoned insane asylum Taco Cabana for late night meals. I moved away 11 years ago but Albuquerque will always be home to me. Glad to hear you love it! Enjoy enjoy enjoy!

Grew up on the 'West Side' which was Westgate area back then. I rode my bike on the ditch all day during the summer, it was really ' when the street lights come on' curfew... We walked to a little gas station 10 times a day that had centipede, galaga and pac man an snacks, they made a fortune off us.

When we were older, My friends could use the car, but were not licensed to drive so not allowed to drive on the roads. They drove 'back roads' thru the fields from Westgate to 75th street to get me, and we drove all over to West Mesa high school, the McDonalds, it felt like we drove everywhere on dirt hills .

There was a place out there... Like a jeans place lol kinda in the middle of nonwhere, and the ' dressing room' was just a HUGE room everyone , like 40 women, would be undressed trying on clothes . So weird now.

We cruised central , slow and cool, looking for the boys we liked so we could ignore them, and then at 1151 we would make a turn, roll up our windows and drive 90 to get home by midnight.

I love Christmas time! To go see the luminarias! Do the kids still sell packs of luminarias at school for fundraisers?

My childhood was from 1995 to 2013. Growing up here didn’t seem too different than growing up elsewhere in suburban America. I grew up in Ventana Ranch, attended west side public schools. I played for Paradise Hills in little league baseball. We kinda were idiot kids in that we frequently rode our bikes in the massive arroyo in the middle of the neighborhood. We often went out into the mesa, once a rattle snake warned me and I about shit my pants. In my middle school days the two most popular styles were either skater or street depending on what music you predominantly liked. The most popular shoes it seemed were Vans and DCs, for the skater kids and Phat Pharm and Nike Cortezes. Except there was a time when Osiris shoes exploded in popularity and it seemed like everyone was wearing them. I never did, I went with the local flavor and always wore cowboy boots (still do). My mother always dragged us to art shows and festivals and while I hated it then I appreciate it now. Blake’s breakfast burritos were as big as your forearm and a favorite breakfast item amongst the football players at my high school. Chile is something definitely unique to our childhoods, it’s my favorite burger and pizza topping. Camping at Elephant Butte was a summer ritual with my grandparents. Swimming in the water with my cousin and listening to Alan Jackson are memories I will cherish forever. Cliff’s is always a summer favorite. The place to get your pumpkin for your Halloween jack-o-lantern is McCall’s pumpkin patch. When I got my first car I always drove my friends around. Graduated and moved to Phoenix for school.

I’m sure many of us have memories of end of season banquets at Dion’s. Riding the tram, walking the bosque, peeling chile every fall. First job was Dion’s or Blake’s Waking up at ass-o-clock in the morning to go to the Balloon Fiesta. Eating Navajo tacos at the State Fair. Overloading/overfilling a sopapilla with honey, or hell even having to explain what a sopapilla is to the uninitiated. Just Burqueño things.

Moved to ABQ in the sixties courtesy of Kirtland/Sandia Base. Went to Van Buren JR. High in what was then a fairly safe decent area but evolved into the Warzone and now International District. Highland High, UNM etc. Family Moved to over by Hyder Park Some names from the past such as Okie's, Roach Ranch West, Buckets, Friars Pubs, Grand Central. Fat Chance, The Bandidos, Golden Inn Beyond Ordinary. El Rey etc. ABQ was only about 200K population back then. The south and north valleys were nice, even westgate wasn't bad. Live in the PNW now but much of my family still live there. Good times, good old days.

I’m a 505er from way back. When I was 13, I worked sweeping out a Harley shop at 4th and Marble. Real bikers came in off the desert. I’m talking about the ones that were dirty and they packed guns and knives. They would drink in a bar called Mori’s while we fixed their bikes. It was my job to go over to Mori’s to tell them that their bikes were ready to go. I’d poke my head in the door and holler: ‘hey spike/snake/animal/bull, your bike is ready’.

I remember being about ten yrs old and having a lot of extra money. I had trained about 20 chinches to do tricks, and this eventually turned into a traveling circus event. I was tired of touring nationally and returned home for my moms biscochitos.

I was a kid in ABQ in The 90s. I remember things being weird/kooky/original, but at the time Chicago/Phoenix/Dallas hadn’t consolidated their population. So it felt and feels more like a local trip (Garcia’s, the Beach, Frontier at midnight) than an anywhere USA experience-which I loathe.

At the same time, Alquds didn’t imagine then, and they’re one of my favorite retardants in the world.

Moved here in the early ‘60s when I was just a baby, and we lived in rental houses in the N.E. heights. We moved a lot, but were always in the area between Eubank and Juan Tabo, Menaul and Constitution. When I was about 8 years old, we had one of those great afternoon summer thunderstorms. When the rain stopped, a couple of neighbor kids and I walked up across the mesa to White Wash. I can still remember the smell - wet dirt and sagebrush in the cool summer air. As we were walking up the canyon, we scared up a huge owl, and watched in awe as it swooped up and across to another perch higher up. This was my first hike, and led to a lifelong love affair with the Sandias.

I grew up on the westside (60s st - 80s was my shiii) in the 2000s. I miss that burque vibe and everyone in abq got pride abt their city. I miss the mourning doves in the morning, n my first time smokin weed lmao. Aside from the crime, it was amazing. I have so much memories of me n all my young jackass friends doing dumb skate kid shit. I was in walking distance of a skatepark, fast station, dollar store, Asian resteraunt, and a park so it was pretty cool. First time I picked up a spray can too lmao but so many good times 

I don’t grown up in Albuquerque, but lived there back in the 1980’s. I remember July 4, going up in the foothills east of Tramway with beer and friends to watch all the fireworks in town.

Grew up south of abq in the 90’s but went to school in town. The beach was always a hit minus the bandaids and rubbing your feet raw in the wave pool. We used to hang at lucky boy in middle school & tennis club of abq and Harold’s (a former laundromat/store that sold candy and single cigs). Parties in the middle of nowhere out near the mesa. Shit was wild. Can’t believe I’m still alive

A few memories- was a kid in ‘72 when the first Balloon Fiesta took place. They launched from the fairgrounds and drifted over the NE Heights. We’d get on our bikes and would race to where they’d land (lots of open space for landing in the Heights at that time). South Eubank (south of Central) was a place to hangout at night and line up and watch other teenagers drag race. In the ‘80s, there were lots of great dance clubs and pubs to hangout and meet the opposite sex. But I favored the hole in the wall places - El Rey Theater or my favorite, the Hofbrau to see Harvey and the Prowlers. The Broadway Elks were an exceptional band as well.

All I can say is that being a teenager here in the late 2010s and 2020s was miserable, compared to what everyone here is saying about their own experiences. My childhood was far more enjoyable-- I still experienced quite a few of the little things everyone is mentioning. Smelling chili roasting during morning recess and having an annual balloon launch at school. Catching ladybugs off a bush outside my cousin's house in the North Valley. Having my parents drive us up to the crest to see the stars.

Being a teenager in ABQ now is no fun, at least in my experience. Social media, drugs, violence, COVID-19 lockdowns. It was its own little hell. At least I'm enjoying myself more as an adult.

Born in 97' and lived there till 2019. Most of my life is there, went to school and graduated there and loved my up bringing due to my parents. We didn't have money, but we had each other. It was awesome for my experience cause of the people I had around me. The city has changed alot over that short time. It's been rough around the edges sure, but even rougher nowadays. Growing up here definitely made me humbled/grounded. Grateful for what you have. Now that I live in AZ and have traveled alot more. It's a different world out there compared to New Mexico. But I would say growing up in ABQ isn't for the weak.

Born in ‘91 and looking back, a lot of the city has changed, especially in the Heights, the Westside, and the Rathole.

Roads lengthened, expanded, houses were built en masse, malls were built, grass lawns became rock gardens, and yet, the city and surrounding area still has a subtle charm to it.

There were a couple of Italian-ish restaurants - Capo’s Hideaway and Garbonzo’s? - that my parents frequented a lot throughout the 90s and early 00s. Garbonzo’s went out sometime in the late 90s, Capo’s I think relocated to Bernalillo but I’m not sure what happened after that.

Also I miss Jackalope. And The Beach.

Frontier in 1973 was peak posole

I was here for elementary school, '75 to '80. My kids are tired of hearing about how everything north of the pyramid hotel was just desert, of my pointing out where our waterpark was.

I lived in NE Heights, Governor Bent was mid. We were the picture of Gen X, though, gone on our bikes all day, come home when the street lights come on. At 8 I was allowed to stay in my square bounded by Montgomery, Louisiana, Osuna, and San Pedro... Inside that square my and my bike could go anywhere. Special permission could be obtained to go to putt putt or the convenience store on San Pedro just south of Montgomery. For some reason we went on a field trip to Hardee's and watched them make burgers. We also got locked in the vault at s bank but I freaked out and the cutest girl in my 2nd grade class held my hand so I wouldn't be scared.

We used to hunt dove right about where I live now in Rio Rancho, it was waterholes for cattle. We camped up the hill from San Gregorio, and deer tags were just deer tags, no weekend or zone.

Balloon fiesta happened out on the mesa for the early years. The zoo was a concrete hellscape of miserable animals in tiny cages. There were lots more Mac's steak in the rough and their limeaide was great. Arby's only had potato cakes, no fries at all.

Noah's ark children's academy was just "the children's center." I went to kindergarten there and married my first wife on the playground with a dandelion for a ring. They did say are at night so my parents could go to Caravan east and dance.

I let myself in the house starting in first grade and had a snack and did homework until my mom got home at 4. We had my birthday dinner at Paul's Monterrey inn because I liked crab legs. Old Town at Christmas looks just like it does these days and so did Los Ranchos, we used to drive through to look at the lights.

My step dad was born here in the 40's, he said all the same stuff I'm saying. It's so big. Town used to end here. It used to be safe. I used to ride my bike to my dad's garage on central. I remember the first balloon party.

Where's my walker?

I grew up in Corrales, and transportation was always a problem. As I got in my teens, taking the bus became an option, but you still had to walk two miles just to reach the bus. I recall turning 16, and needed to start paying a higher fare, but I knew this one bus driver wouldn’t check ID provided I listened to his political conspiracies. So, I remember almost endless bus trips getting filled in on the oldest, moldiest John Birch/Joseph McCarthy ideas out there. And I know that today, there are teens out there in the Albuquerque boonies in the same predicament, unwilling listeners to similar drivel today.

I grew up in the Heights in the 80's and then moved to the East Mountains. I remember walking from Chelwood Elementary and seeing the funnel cloud in the middle of the city. I swear I recall hearing Tornado sirens, but can't remember if that was just something I imagined. I also recall the ditch on Indian School and Juan Tabo was dirt and it ended up flooding that intersection (and I believe there was a fatality because of it). The ended up paving that ditch after that. Not much to do as a kid, but spent a lot of time at Roller King or walking around Coronado Mall. Cruising Montgomery was a blast and I miss downtown when you could get $2 Fat Tire and Jager at the Distillery.

there used to be a village inn i would go to a lot, but it's closed now

Grew up near the train tracks when young and we'd play ghetto games like 'touch the train'. Moved to the North Valley a little later and rode my bike with my friend with our BB guns strapped across our backs, riding the ditch banks and exploring them when the water was shut off in the fall. ABQ had The Beach Waterpark, arcades, several Putt-Putts, movie theaters, batting cages, and plenty for kids and teens to do - was a different time.

dnoyeBOrdinary! 💪🤜🤛

Eightish years ago, I Had to pull my knife out to defend myself against a homeless man in nob hill where los victors is now. There used to be bushes there enclosing their patio. He had asked me for money (in the dark) about a block up Harvard, told him " sorry man I don't have any cash."

He took off toward central, and literally jumped out at me shouting demanding money while taking several steps putting himself just out of arms reach.

Pulled my pocket knife out and pointed it right at him and said "dude I will fuck you up. I do not have any cash. Bounce."

Then he started mumbling about "these fucking worthless bums" while jogging up central towards frontier.

That event really informed the way I move about the city.

Growing up here sucked. There’s not a damn thing to do but fuck around and find out - and back then at least we had a water park. That stated, as an adult I love it. I wouldn’t have kept my children in Albuquerque any longer than I had to though. I’m just not a can’t of the huge class sizes in abq.