Where Things Useta Be in Taos

People are always giving directions in terms of where things used to be thus it has become necessary to produce a directory thereof.

Some of the establishments listed no longer exist; there may even be some that never did. At the moment I don't have any dates on these things. Add your knowledge: drop me a line --ebear@zianet.com

• A B C Lock (now immediately north of Wendy's), was located in the "Black Hole of Cantu" (the lower part of the Cantu building) at the foot of Camino de la Placita.
  
• Amigos Coop was in El Prado in the 80's, where Camino Real Imports is now, and then moved to the south side, just north of Fred's. It disintegrated in 1999.
  
• Anthony's (C. R. Anthony Co.) was a clothing store in the Cruz Alta Shopping Center where Beall's is now.
  
• Armory Street is now called Civic Plaza Drive. Other names have been suggested, including Ila McAfee Drive, after the lady who lived on the street for untold decades; the house is called White Horse Studio.
  
• the Blinking Light: there were two; long-time landmarks. The one at the south is still there, in front of San Francisco de Asis Church. The one at the north was at the intersection of US64 and NM522 (formerly NM3) and the Ski Valley Road, NM150. It is now shrouded in mystery -- when the intersection was realigned and full signals put up, the blinking light was taken down, laid to rest by the side of the road, and captured by UFOs or local nostalgists or whatever.
  
• Blue Streak -- see Oriental Blue Streak
  
• Bowling Alley -- see Floyd's
  
• Brett House Restaurant was one of a number of various establishments that have been in the building nearest the north Blinking Light on the southeast corner.
  
• le Bunnerie, '80s, was one of many restaurants in Pueblo Alegre Mall. Others included Joe Mama's, Carl's, La Cigale, and the Punjab Palace.
  
• Burrito Wagon used to be at the edge of the old Furr's parking lot (more recently Ramona's, and in between a leather goods factory whose name I forget. Started with an A). Before that it was on the northwest corner of N. Pueblo Road and the Plaza. Before that it was in the old Safeway parking lot, what is now Pueblo Alegre Mall, across from Smith's.
  
• the Bus Station I gotta totally rewrite this. It moved a couple more times. What I last had, now seriously out of date, was: moved around a bit; it's now at the muffler shop behind the Fina gas station / car wash, having moved there April 10, 1996 from next to the Chevron station at the bypass. It had a number of homes before that; the one just previous was in the "Sleeping Boy" building where Hawk Mechanical is, at Cruz Alta and S. Santa Fe Rd. It gets a little further out of town every time it moves. Another was where the Chinese restaurant is now, between Hot Tracks (Taos Sports Co.) and La Bell Cleaners (Kentucky Fried).
  
• Caffe Tazza first opened on Valentine's Day, 1983, where the Sunbringer secondhand shop was until recently, and La Folie's soup shop was last time I looked, on Guadalupe Plaza. It had a couple of other homes before settling on Kit Carson Road. One of them was outside in back of the TAA Stables Gallery.
  
• Cantu Furniturewas in the upper part of the building on the edge of the hill, where Alhambra is now.
  
• Carl's Deli followed Le Bunnerie in Pueblo Alegre Mall; owner Carl Fritz later opened Carl's French Quarter at the Tennis Ranch and then eventually closed the Deli. (Well, for that matter, he eventually closed the French Quarter too.)
  
• Casa de Musica has had so many homes I don't know where to start.
  
• The Chamber of Commerce was across from Smith's for many years.
  
• Artie Sharfin's China Trade Shop's most recent move was from one place in Cruz Alta Mall to another; before that, though, Artie and his faithful canine companion were across from McDonald's, where the Taos Mox store is.
  
• Chuck's Gun Shop was in the old Randall Mill building, the wood-sided building across from Randall Lumber. CD World is there now.
  
• Laurent Guerin's la Cigale (the Cricket) was another of the many restaurants in Pueblo Alegre Mall.
  
• Copy Queen was on Bent Street for eons, in the first building next to the parking lot at the jog in the street.
  
• Corning-Revere outlet store was next to Bravo! having long outlasted the London Fog store which was in the Bravo! building. But it's gone now too.
  
• Coyote Cafe was in the building now occupied by Pioneer Investment Co., or maybe it was in the other building in the front. They used paper plates.
  
• The Cruz Alta was a landmark that no longer exists, even though it is the starting point for a very large number of surveys.
  
• Da Nahazli School became Taos Valley School, which closed in 1998.
  
• Department of Motor Vehicles was in the "Black Hole of Cantu" (Cantu Plaza) at the foot of Camino de la Placita, and down the hall between A Little Fishy and ABC Lock.
• Drive In Movie; Drive In Road is now called Camino de Merced; Wal-Mart is on that corner now where the Drive In used to be.
  
• Don Pablo Gomez Restaurant is now Lambert's. In between times it was a barbecue place that was pretty good but they used paper plates and didn't exude whatever it might be to justify the prices.
  
• Don Pedro's Restaurant is now Jacquelina's
  
• El Prado Post Office was in the south end of El Prado Plaza in beautiful downtown El Prado.
  
• El Prado Shell was immediately north of El Prado Plaza
  
• El Taoseno Restaurant was across the street from its present location where Toby's is now.
  
• End of the Universe Cafe was in Cantu's upstairs addition, overlooking NM68.
  
• Enos Garcia Middle School was once the high school, and now is named Enos Garcia Elementary School although the grades in it have changed very little. The Junior High is now called the Middle School.
  
• First New Mexico Title, originally Sterling Title, used to be at 224 Cruz Alta, where La Plaza Telecommunity Foundation is now.
• First State Bank, Armory Street Branch is now the Taos Police Department. I don't know what they use the driveup window for but it's still there.
  
• Floyd's Cafe: Floyd sold out to Arturo Archuleta's El Taoseno which had been across the street in much smaller quarters. He used to have a bowling alley in the back, now a party room/bar/dance hall.
  
• Fred's Place was just south of Amigos Coop, which is gone too. It was a very popular dinner restaurant, with amazing ceiling art by Tim Linhart.
  
• Furr's was where Ramona's tried to be, across Albright Street from the county offices/courthouse/jail, until the Furr's organization bought up all the Safeway stores in the state and moved over to Cruz Alta Plaza where the Safeway had been..
  
• Gallery West was on Kit Carson Road; it was run by Jim Parsons. There are and have been a number of galleries with confusingly similar names.
  
• Gilberto's Restaurant was where the Chinese place is across from McDonalds'. Had some really delicious green chile burritos. They were so good I have to wonder if he used MSG.
  
• The Gulf Station was on the corner at the traffic light by the Plaza.
  
• Mark Nettleton's Happy Guitars was in the west end of the building behind the north branch of People's Bank.
  
• Harwood Library was run by UNM along with the Harwood Museum for decades after the Harwood family gave the building and stuff to UNM; the library was transferred to the auspices of the Town of Taos several years ago, and moved out of the building into a new facility in 1996.
  
• The Highlander Restaurant was where La Ultima is now, across from the Cruz Alta shopping center..
  
• The Holiday Inn, not the one that exists now, is now the Quality Inn. For a while it was the Taos Lodge or something like that.
  
• Hot Tracks bike shop used to be on the south side of the Sleeping Boy building at Cruz Alta & Santa Fe Road, and later across the street from McDonald's.
  
• House of Taos was started on Guadalupe Plaza by Ron and Carol Kalom. Some years ago it was sold to a French couple who since moved it to the outer reaches of El Prado.
  
• Jack Denver's Motel was across from the last home of Amigos Natural Foods ("the Coop"). Funky place, run by a real character -- for instance he would always pay his electric bill at the last possible moment before getting cut off.
• Joe Mama's Restaurant was yet another in Pueblo Alegre Mall.
  
• Joe's Boardwalk Cafe was on the actual boardwalk, when there was one, near the Dunn House on Bent Street. Actually it was closer to the road that runs behind the north side of the Plaza.
  
• The Junior High School is now called the Middle School, for what reason I don't know.
  
• Kentucky Fried Chicken was across from McDonald's; it now houses La Bell Cleaners. Robert Arnold Gallery was one of a number of businesses there inbetween. There's a new KFC nowadays elsewhere.
  
• La Bell Cleaners was in the middle of "Gallery Row" on Kit Carson Road.
  
• La Cocina restaurant and bar was on the north side of the Plaza
  
• La Plaza Telecommunity Foundation's first offices were in the back of the UNM-Taos facility on Civic Plaza Drive, a.k.a. Armory Street. More History
  
• The London Fog outlet store space is now occupied by °Bravo!
  
• Mainstreet Bakery was originally Workingman's Bread; it started in Albuquerque, then moved to Santa Fe, and eventually to Taos to the building that now houses Southwest Spiral Designs. Two ladies named Barbara bought it, changed the name, and moved it off the main street to Guadalupe Plaza.
  
• Maxae's Books was in the Dunn House. Became Moby Dickens Bookshop
  
• McCrory's was a discount store in Cruz Alta Plaza; previously T G & Y, later Bargain Time. All three brands were owned by the same corporation. None prospered. Their problem was probably the fact that they always bought bargains for the store and not for the customer. For more on that philosophy, read Peter Drucker's memoir "Confessions of a Bystander"
  
• Michael's Pizza was across the street (N. Pueblo Road) from Michael's Kitchen, and a little south, in the little building next to People's Bank. It now houses realtors.
  
• Mick's Powerhouse, predecessor to the Taos Spa & Court Club, was a weight room run by Mick Sopyn in the Ranchos Trading Post in the early 80's.
  
• Ming's Chinese Restaurant was where Joseph's Table is now, on the crest of the hill going down to Ranchos from the Talpa turnoff.
  
• Mixtech Productions was a video production outfit in the Return Gallery building, on the back of the plaza, with a little-used front door on the lane that exits from the town parking lot to the plaza. Actually you can't drive into the plaza from there because it would appear to be going the wrong way on a one-way thing, for a whole eight feet or so.
  
• The Mormon Church (LDS) was on the north side of town in the building now occupied by, among others, Woodall Brothers, Emanuelli Advt. & Design, and Presto Computers (me).
  
• Motor Vehicle Dept. office was ... where? I can't remember.
  
• Mount Wheeler University was a private pre- and elementary school run by Tanneguy and Lila de Joubecourt. Most of its history was in the building now occupied by Southwest Moccasin and Drum, near the northside Lotaburger.
  
• Museum of Taste was in Madrid (NM) until 1982.
  
• Murray's Deli: "Murray" was really Steve and he eventually sold it to Zippy. It was in McCarthy Plaza.
  
• Oriental Blue Streak a gas station, was where the La Fonda sign is on the northeast corner of Route 3 (now 518) and Route 68 (Santa Fe Road); there was also a band named after it.
  
• Our Lady of Guadalupe Church was next to the present church, the site (Guadalupe Plaza) is now the parking lot between First State Bank and Mainstreet Bakery. The church burnt down in the 60s. Actually that was the second church.
  
• Piggly-Wiggly Supermarket became Furr's, which later took over the Safeway store at Cruz Alta Plaza when Safeway bailed out of this part of the country. The space then became Ramona's, a short-lived night club.
  
• the Plaza Cafe, setting of one of the scenes in Easy Rider, was in McCarthy Plaza, about where Murray's was.
  
• Post Office
  
• Presbyterian Church used to meet in a small building behind Enos Garcia Middle School.
  
• Pueblo Motors was the Chrysler (etc.) dealer on the corner of Los Pandos, now it's Scheid Motors.
  
• Punjab Palace was another in the interminable series of restaurants in Pueblo Alegre Mall. The food was good but widespread rumors of the help being abused, seriously abused, caused Taosenos to stay away in droves.
  
• Ramona's might have flown in another town, but aqui in Taos? Nope, didn't make it. It was a night club, across the road from Centinel Bank. Now occupied by SuperSave supermarket.
  
• Ranchos Post Office was across the highway from San Francisco de Asis Church, in the north end of the building.
  
• The USFS Ranger Station on Armory Street was used by the Town of Taos for offices while another building was rebuilt after a fire, and then later became the UNM-Taos building.
  
• Rendezvous (the Flea Market) was in the old Winn's store, the south half of the building housing the original Furr's, which later was ext/pensively remodeled as Ramona's, and in between a leather goods factory, name started with an A.
  
• Return Gallery was in the adobe building across from Guadalupe Church, the one with the little pyramid on top. Another entrance was just off the Plaza on Teresina Lane.
  
• The Rexall drug store was on the north side of the Plaza; it had a lunch counter that served good burgers (and the exhaust fan in back had so much grease on it you wouldn't believe it).
  
• Roadrunner Cafe was one of several attempts to run a restaurant where Fred's finally made it big.
  
• Ron Cooper Studio was in the Ranchos Trading Post building, where the Trading Post Cafe is now.
  
• Safeway ended up as Furr's but had been other places before settling in Cruz Alta Mall. They include the First State Bank building just off the Plaza, and what is now called Pueblo Alegre Mall across from Smith's.
  
• Schlotzky's was between Pizza Hut and True Value Hardware, now occupied by Island Coffees And Hawaiian Grill.
  
• Sierra Sports was in the building just north of McDonald's.
  
• Sleeping Boy was a bar on the corner of Cruz Alta; the building is still there and the statue was recently restored to the nicho high on the front of the building.
• Smith's was in the "Old Smith's Building" (its customary but unofficial name) adjacent to the present store.
  
• Speed Bumps used to be a prominent feature of Valverde Road. How many were there in 1982? (This is one of my Trivia Questions.)
  
• Spotted Bear started out in the little adobe building north of Johnny's Barber Shop.
  
• Sterling Title became First New Mexico Title, in the offices now occupied by La Plaza Telecommunity Foundation.
  
• Sunbringer second-hand store was in El Prado originally, and later on Guadalupe where Caffe Tazza started and La Folie is now.
  
• T G & Y -- see McCrory's
  
• Taco Bell was where Wendy's is now. In between it was Mac's Steak in the Rough. We won our microwave in the drawing at the Taco Bell grand opening.
  
• Taos Bike Shop -- see Taos Sports Co.
  
• Taos Herb Co. was on Siler Road for a number of years before moving to Cruz Alta Plaza.
  
• Taos High School now houses Enos Garcia Middle School.
  
• Taos News was for decades at the corner of Placita and Ranchitos.
  
• Taos Plaza Theatre was downstairs on the south side of the Plaza, near First State Bank.
  
• Taos Savings and Loan Association -- one of those S&L's that crashed and burned; the building now houses First New Mexico Title. I have the wrought-iron "and" from their sign. An actual "andiron".
  
• Taos Sports Co., formerly Taos Bike Shop, was across from McDonald's. Lawrence and Ann (who ran Sunbringer) moved to Florida or something. The building next housed another bike shop, Hot Tracks (listed above). Now it's Dave's motorcycle shop.
  
• Taos Tire Co. was across from the present Holiday Inn, across the side street from Wal-Mart. It burned. Big smoke.
  
• Taos Typesetting used to be in the Old Smith's Building.
  
• Taos Valley School, Canon Campus. The upper grades at TVS were housed in the old Canon elementary school building, down the lane opposite Anglada's Building.
  
• Templeton's Laundry was where Gus Foster's & Larry Bell's building is, on the corner of San Antonio Lane and Ranchitos Road.
• Tea & Coffee Co. was upstairs from the Apple Tree in the early 80s.
  
• The Architects -- one of many "the" outfits -- has moved often, but always within the same building at 211 Cruz Alta.
  
• The Electricians -- Bill Wadsworth lives in Albuquerque now.
  
• The Plumbers -- Bob Draper's outfit, now Phoenix Mechanical.
  
• The Programmers were at 211 Cruz Alta, in the same building with The Architects.
  
• Toby's Restaurant was back for a while in the late 90s where it was in 1982; for much of the time in between El Taoseno was in there.
  
• Western Bank was one of the pieces that People's Bank was made from; the building is now occupied by Re/Max Real Estate, next to Baskin-Robbins..
  
• Winn's moved from what is nowadays called the Old Smith's Building to the south end of the Ramona's building.
  
• Wildcards Computers used to be in the building that replaced Taos Tire after it burned down, next to Mailboxes Etc. Later it moved to the building behind Susan's Grill. Sold and renamed Computers de Taos, now closed.
  
• Winn-Dixie was in the Old Smith's Building; became Winn's
  
• Wordcrafter was in quite a few places under the original management (Wayne Carter). I don't have the details. Couldn't keep track of him. Eventually sold and finished out its days two spaces south of Radio Shack in the same building, next to the Post Office.
  
• Workingman's Bread -- see Mainstreet Bakery.
  
• Yellow Front was a discount store on Camino de la Placita.
  
• Yucca Builders was a hardware store on North Pueblo Road which dwindled and closed, and was turned into a multi-store building called Yucca Plaza.
  

Contributors include myself:

ebear@zianet.com (Eric Bear Albrecht)