Driving Around Downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico in 4k Video

Filmed on Saturday, March 9 2024, I drive around downtown Albuquerque, NM to see what's going on.

Albuquerque was founded in 1706 as an outpost as La Villa de Alburquerque by Francisco Cuervo y Valdés in the provincial kingdom of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.

The settlement was named after Alburquerque, Badajoz, Spain.

Albuquerque developed primarily for farming and sheep herds.

After the New Mexico Territory became a part of the United States in the mid-19th century, a federal garrison and the Post of Albuquerque were established here. Albert D. Richardson passed through Albuquerque in late October 1859—its population was 3,000 at the time—and described it as "one of the richest and pleasantest towns, with a Spanish cathedral and other buildings more than two hundred years old.

During the Civil War, Albuquerque was occupied for a month in February 1862 by Confederate troops under General Henry Hopkins Sibley. He soon afterward advanced with his main body into northern New Mexico. During his retreat from Union troops into Texas, he made a stand on April 8, 1862, and fought the Battle of Albuquerque against a detachment of Union soldiers commanded by Colonel Edward R. S. Canby. The residents of Albuquerque aided the Republican Union to rid the city of the occupying Confederate troops.

Many Anglo merchants, mountain men, and settlers slowly filtered into Albuquerque, creating a major mercantile commercial center in Downtown Albuquerque. By 1900, Albuquerque boasted a population of 8,000 and all the modern amenities, including an electric street railway connecting Old Town, New Town, and the recently established University of New Mexico campus on the East Mesa.

The first travelers on Route 66 appeared in Albuquerque in 1926. Soon dozens of motels, restaurants, and gift shops sprouted along the roadside to serve them. Route 66 originally ran through the city on a north–south alignment along Fourth Street. In 1937 it was realigned along Central Avenue, a more direct east–west route. The intersection of Fourth and Central downtown was the principal crossroads of the city for decades.

The establishment of Kirtland Air Force Base in 1939, Sandia Base in the early 1940s, and Sandia National Laboratories in 1949, would make Albuquerque a key player of the Atomic Age.

On April 11, 1950, a USAF B-29 bomber carrying a nuclear weapon crashed into a mountain near Manzano Base.

On May 22, 1957, a B-36 accidentally dropped a Mark 17 nuclear bomb 4.5 miles from the control tower while landing at Kirtland Air Force Base. Only the conventional trigger detonated, as the bomb was unarmed.

These incidents were not reported as they were classified as secret for decades.

Albuquerque hosts the International Balloon Fiesta, the world's largest gathering of hot-air balloons, taking place every October at Balloon Fiesta Park, with its 47-acre launch field.

Albuquerque is a hub for production studios, including Albuquerque Studios, which is one of the primary productions hubs for Netflix. Several major motion pictures and television shows have been filmed and produced in Albuquerque, including the Breaking Bad franchise, The Muppet Movie, The Avengers, A Million Ways to Die in the West, In Plain Sight, Speechless, Daybreak, Just Getting Started, and Stranger Things.

The Albuquerque Isotopes are a minor league affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, having derived their name from The Simpsons season 12 episode "Hungry, Hungry Homer", which involves the Springfield Isotopes baseball team considering relocating to Albuquerque.

Beginning with the Manhattan Project in the 1940s, federal labs such as Los Alamos, Sandia, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have cooperated on multidisciplinary research in the region; contractors for these facilities bring highly educated workers and researchers to an otherwise relatively isolated area. The federal government spends roughly $4 billion annually in research and development in and around Albuquerque.

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