August 19, 2017 The Mayor One comment

Guest Post: Taco Sal

Note: Alphaquerque is pleased to publish another Guest Post courtesy of Albuquerque’s own Julie James-Griego. – The Mayor “Hey Doll!” That’s what you’d hear every time anyone walked into a great little New Mexican food restaurant in the Northeast Heights. Growing up near this great place I always thought the sign to be festive and nostalgic. And over 50 years later it still is! Owners Felix and Cecelia Gabaldon opened their first restaurant in Truth or Consequences, NM right after […]

May 14, 2017 The Mayor Leave a comment

Garcia’s – The Pretorian Guard

In the mid-1980s, I worked for a printing company that produced the highly unpopular Door Store Shopper. The Shopper was a weekly publication comprised of ads and coupons that was left on your doorstep whether you wanted it or not. Did I say “publication?” I meant “litter.” We kept an odd schedule. Ad sales were done during the day, so ad production took place at night. We’d work 4:00pm to midnight all week, except Saturdays, when we had to report […]

December 18, 2016 The Mayor 3 comments

Mac’s: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dom

Although I was born in Albuquerque, my military family moved around quite a bit for the first few years of my life. We returned to Albuquerque for good when I was five, and that’s probably when I started forming lasting memories of my hometown. On a sergeant’s pay, we didn’t go out to dinner much, so when we did it was kind of a big deal. I can count on one hand the number of times we went to a […]

August 11, 2016 The Mayor Leave a comment

Guest Post: In the Dog House

Note: Alphaquerque is pleased to publish our first Guest Post courtesy of Albuquerque’s own Julie James-Griego. – The Mayor So… I am driving back from lunch east on Central Avenue from the Old Town area and I’m thinking about all the great Route 66 signage that is still around. And then I see it.… an obscure Albuquerque gem right there on Central, the Dog House. I’m thinking this is a great piece of Albuquerque’s history. Then I look at the […]

December 31, 2015 The Mayor One comment

The Cooperage: What’s in a Name?

There’s a lot to consider when you pick a typeface to represent your company. In addition to the visual elements like line, weight and shape, you might also want to consider contextual elements like historical or cultural references. Then again, sometimes just the name of the typeface is enough to get the gig, as I suspect is what happened in the case of The Cooperage and its choice of Cooper Black for its wordmark. Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper The Cooperage […]

December 10, 2015 The Mayor Leave a comment

C’mon Baby, Let’s Do the Twisters

In 1987, Albuquerque experienced a rare weather phenomenon for this area: a tornado. This was no over-hyped dust devil, but real honest-to-goodness twister, complete with uprooted trees and damaged buildings but (fortunately) no loss of life. Now we have Twisters all over the place. Not the cyclone kind, but the burrito kind. (My weekend is not complete without the No. 4 with red chile.) Holy Ad Lib!!! The typeface in the Twisters logo is a perfect analogy of the 1987 […]

November 16, 2015 The Mayor Leave a comment

Kellys Kicks on Route 66

Some of my favorite graphic design taps into easily recognizable cultural elements that give an identity context, or at least a point of reference. Kellys Brew Pub, housed in the former Jones Motor Company building on historic Route 66, has chosen to honor the legacy of the location with a nostalgic nod to a recognizable roadside sight. A Star is Born The Kellys sign draws its inspiration from the old familiar the Texaco station. Signs heralding Texaco (an abbreviation for […]