Monday Photo Stroll

My Great-Grandfather, Joseph Albert Wright Van Cleave, brought his family to New Mexico Territory in 1903, via covered wagon from Indiana. A few years later my Grandmother donated a plot of land on the corner of Broadway and Gold in Albuquerque for the construction of the Broadway Christian Church. The old building has seen better days. Lumix G1, Minolta MD 50mm-f/1.7 lens.

Detail of a switchboard on display at the New Mexico Telephone Museum, on the corner of Central Ave. and 4th Streets, where the old and new alignments of Route 66 cross each other. Lumix G1, Minolta MD 50mm-f/1.7 lens.

This switchboard was used at a local Albuquerque hospital. Mr. Hurtado and Doctor Kenneth Gardner each get two numbers; Dr. Munsick only gets one. What's up with that? Lumix G1, Minolta MD 50mm-f/1.7 lens.

I was an Interior Communications Technician in the US Navy, and worked on shipboard telephone equipment such as this X-Y switch. The solenoids on this switch mechanically stepped the electrical contacts (upper right corner) into the wiring harness of the switchboard cabinet to contact the appopriate set of wires. This switch, plus its X and Y position values, represent the last three digits of a phone number. The cabinet that the bank of switches are mounted within are the 4th digit. Add a 3-digit area code and you have a 7-digit phone number. When a call was made, two such switches, in different cabinets, would connect the sender and receiver's numbers together to complete the call. Lumix G1, Minolta MD 50mm-f/1.7 lens.

After my downtown stroll I went up to the Nob Hill neighborhood, a frequent destination. Lumix G1, 14-45 Lumix lens at 14mm.

A garage behind Kelly's Brewery. Lumix G1, 14-45 Lumix lens at 14mm.

Dumpster behind the Flying Star Cafe; the part of the restaraunt business the customer shouldn't see. Lumix G1, 14-45 Lumix lens at 14mm.