The Farewell Tour- New Hollywood

Every time I move out of a city, I do a kind of farewell photography tour.  I go to the places I'd wanted to visit but never had, seek out the quirks of a city, and carry my camera everywhere.  I find myself in that mindset today, thinking about photographing what makes Albuquerque the city it is before leaving for Santa Fe.

One of the things that makes Albuquerque unique is the film industry here.  It's not unusual for sections of the city to be closed down for filming, or to see parking lots reserved for the vehicles of the film crew... parking lots filled with trailers, honey-wagons, and catering trucks.

From time to time people complain.  They find it inconvenient to have to go around the detours.  They don't want the parking spaces filled. And, I guess, they simply don't think about the money that's coming into the city in local hiring, in the restaurants and hotels and rentals that go along with the film industry.

At other times, businesses seem to capitalize on it.

This sign is now a regular feature on 6th St between Central and Copper.  Across the street is one of the parking lots most frequently used by film crew.  They first went up during a huge filming a couple weeks ago, and even though the film crews are gone, and to the best of my knowledge never filmed on this particular block, businesses seem to imply that filming is going on now at those businesses, and that you can be a part of it by just getting your hair cut or your boots repaired here.

Of course having two kids in the film industry I may be a little more sensitive to what other Albuquerquians have become inured to: The piles of equipment being stacked up outside of buildings, or the sudden closure of parking lots, and the lighting equipment pushed up against the building as crews put out the detour signs.  The residents blink and realized "oh, there's filming going on" when it's in progress... I see the events leading up to the filming, the signs of what's coming, before the closure, before the cameras roll, before the lights are turned on.

One day I remember driving by the Bank of Albuquerque to see its new sign read "Bank of Southern Los Angeles"  and knowing Bank of Albuquerque hadn't been bought out over night, also realized that the bank was about to become part of film history.

Film trucks are likely to be part of my farewell photography tour... as will be some of the other unique features of the city.