Walking Albuquerque. Stephen Ausherman

       Turn right into the second parking lot entrance north of Plaza del Sol (the building shaped like a Mayan pyramid), and then walk east to 1st St. The arrow ahead indicating a “drive in fur & hide” is a bit misleading. It’s simply an old drive-in sign partially painted over and relocated to R.L. Cox Co., which boasts an impressive inventory of animal-based materials. Their neighbor to the south is a black box known as The Cell, where the FUSION Theatre Company has been producing and performing great American plays since 2001.

       Turn right on 1st St. and detour into the parking lot for a closer look at the Southwest Brewery and Ice Co. Building. The trackside operation began in an adobe structure that was destroyed by fire in 1887. The brick-tower complex replaced it in 1902. When the state enacted prohibition in 1917, the brewing permanently ceased, but ice production continued until 1997. Real estate mogul Joe Maloof snapped up the vacant building allegedly because his mom thought it was one of the prettiest buildings she had ever seen. An adjacent warehouse burned down months later, slightly damaging the tower.Warehouses near the south end of 1st St. are the city’s last remnants of an era when sheep surrounded the city and wool was a major industry. Youth Development Inc. occupies the Wool Warehouse, offering such services as after-school tutoring, gang intervention, and public housing assistance. Warehouse 508 is the town’s biggest arts and entertainment center for youth. Serving as both a practice and performance space, it’s likely the place to find the great local artists, actors, poets, DJs, dancers, and musicians of tomorrow. Walk-ins are welcome to tour the 26,000-square-foot facility. The mural on its south-facing wall is Quantum Bridge, described by artist Aaron Noble as “a semi-abstract time travel epic with aesthetic roots in comics, graffiti, and hip-hop.”

       Turn right at the end of 1st St. and follow the sidewalk west toward 2nd St.

       Take a sharp left onto the viaduct and stay on the sidewalk until you cross back over the tracks, this time entering the northeast quadrant. Admittedly the view is better walking west, so look back every so often to admire the skyline. The eastbound view provides a dramatic illustration of the vast amounts of space we dedicate to parking lots. Try to enjoy the mountain vistas as well. The Sandias peak about 12 miles east. The tracks below appear to be on a collision course with the Jemez Mountains rising about 40 miles north.

       Turn right on Broadway and use the crosswalks to safely navigate your way back to where you started. For reference, First Baptist Church is the big brick building one block south.Expert wanderer David Ryan recaps the walk accordingly: “I didn’t know what to expect at the start of the walk, but as we kept going we ran into something interesting at almost every turn. The unique designs on the old Federal Building were a total surprise. It’s worth a visit on its own. When I lived in Albuquerque in 1969, the Old Sears Building is where preinduction physicals were held by the military. Sears was long gone from downtown and located in Coronado Mall. Coronado and Winrock malls ended major retail downtown. Another unexpected highlight was when we took the elevator to the top of a parking deck at 3rd and Copper and had uninterrupted views of the Sandias to the east, the Manzanos to the south, and downtown all around us. This is a walk I would be happy to do over and over again.”