A quick trip to Albuquerque today to get my nose swabbed - a guaranteed 24-hour turn-around PCR ready-to-fly test ... (fingers crossed). Driving back down Central, which seemed extremely depressed, and full of vacant shops and businesses - and then I saw a bus stop: "International District." Er, what? I could see - looking around - a Mexican restaurant, which hardly counts as International, and a Vietnamese restaurant, which does ... but ... and then a sign on a lamp post, also proclaiming - International District.
This has traditionally been the poorest part of Albuquerque, with the highest crime rate (think Breaking Bad) and was known as the War Zone - unofficially - until 2009, when it was decided to re-name it ... In fact, when settled in the early C20th, there were a lot of African American people there; and a number of Air Force employees, until Kirtland AFB started to build its own housing. And then - since this was Route 66 - lots and lots of motels (sadly, at least for roadside history, very many of these have been demolished in the last decade), and this was where immigrants tended to settle, especially Vietnamese. All the same, "International District" seems a crazily grandiose term for urban decay, graced with a weirdly expensive bus stop.
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