A company called Modern Albuquerque has launched two guided walking tours mostly along Central Avenue (aka Route 66) in the Duke City.
The business’ co-creator, Thea Haver, stated in an email:
While the tours focus on the mid-century modern styled buildings on the tour route, the road on which most were built is Route 66. The tours are marketed under ‘Retrograde Tours’, a brand we created specifically for our Visit Albuquerque partnership. Modern Albuquerque is dedicated to mid-century modern architecture and history in the city; the walking tours are a small part of what we’ll do.
The 90-minute Hairpin Legs walking tour, which starts at $25, is described as an “introduction to mid-century modern architecture in Albuquerque led by a local modernism enthusiast.”
Haver provided a few details about what will be seen on the Hairpin Legs excursion:
… Guests will see a glittering high-rise bank tower, replete with exterior tiles made with 23-carat gold, a three-story store with a wall of glass, and the site of the first active solar heating system in the world.
The second 90-minute tour, called Retro Risque, is in the same area but is designed for people age 21 and older, as this description indicates:
Fallout shelters. Neon. Négligées. This spicy variation on our modernism tour mixes architecture with Albuquerque’s explosive mid-century past on and off Route 66. Bring your own pearls to clutch.
Haver also provided more information about that tour, which also begins at $25:
Guests will hear about what happened when Jayne Mansfield touched down in Albuquerque, what crazy means business owners were willing to go through to make it when Route 66 was replaced by I-40, and other happenings that caused quite a stir in their time.
The distinctive Retrograde Tours brought to mind Esotouric in Los Angeles, which conducts true-crime, literary and California Culture tours in the region. But no one can accuse Haver of being a copycat — at least consciously:
We actually hadn’t heard of them when we began development; the idea for the tours crystallized as I began to lament that most of the city’s modernist buildings were so spread out we couldn’t tour them easily, and suddenly realized the exception was our own neighborhood! A colleague tipped us off about Estouric when we told her our idea, and we just had to look into them. They’re so cool!
(Image of the Enchantment Arts & Crafts building and the Zia Motor Lodge sign in Albuquerque via Retrograde Tours)