DON’T BE FOOLED BY THE SUNSHINE, surrounding mountain ranges, occasional adobe building, or even the town’s name, which is Spanish for “fat cottonwood.” “Alamogordo is not a Southwestern town,” asserts Deb Lewandowski, who manages the Tularosa Basin Museum of History, in the heart of Alamogordo. “We’re a Northeastern town dropped into the Southwest.”
What she means is that Alamogordo was founded in New Mexico’s territorial era by Anglo entrepreneurs, who built an economy based on railroads and extractive industries and named their main drag New York Avenue. Nestled in the Tularosa Basin, between the Sacramento Mountains and miles of flowing gypsum dunes, the city thrived for decades but never achieved the cachet that has drawn hordes of people to settle in other recreational hot spots in the West. In fact, for many of the nearly 800,000 people who visit nearby White Sands National Park every year, Alamogordo is little more than a town to drive through.
A $1.9 million grant … to beautify the two most retail-heavy blocks of New York Avenue will fuel the momentum and add an improved decorative plaza.
That’s changing. A band of visionaries has begun luring visitors by spotlighting the town’s varied history with monthly walking tours, revitalizing grand old buildings, beautifying the very walkable downtown area, and coordinating fun events for visitors and residents. Craft brews, New Mexico–made wines, hip lodgings, and down-home cuisine help seal the deal.
Born and raised in New Mexico, as a kid I played
