Marble Street Brewery, Chama River, Il Vicino in ABQ, and 2nd street brewery in SF all put Kelly’s to shame. Hell even Soccoro Springs (in Soccoro, natch) is better beer than Kellys. Ever since that old Italian feller quit running the kitchen at Kelly’s there is no reason to go there except to people watch the parade on Central Ave. from the patio. Eh, don’t mind me, I’m just pissed because back when OIF ran the kitchen, they had THE best Reuben in town.
About twenty years ago, I had to build a fake antique table for an art project. The trick is that you take your brand new, fresh lumber, beat it heartily with a heavy chain and hit it with a piece of wood with a nail sticking out of it. When you stain the wood it looks “old and distressed.” The replica looks okay from a distance, but up close you can tell it’s new lumber that’s been hit with a chain. Albuquerque is the antique table, Santa Fe is the expensive replica table that has had the cosmetic treatment. It’s gorgeous and expensive, but it doesn’t have the soul of the beat up antique you found at he flea market.
Santa Fe has a genuine historic town square, but by mandate all new buildings are built to look exactly like it. You can’t easily tell where the actual historic buildings end and the brand new buildings begin. It’s designed to maximize your “authentic” experience. The galleries in the historic downtown have uber-southwestern southwest art, pottery and jewellery. Zunis, kokopellis, stylized road runners up the wazoo! More southwestern than the southwest itself!
Umberto Eco has a book called Travels in Hyper-Reality that describes Disneyland’s Polynesian Village, with detailed replicas, imported plants, and Polynesian staff wearing traditional Polynesian garb, to re-create as faithfully as possible what the experience would be like if you went to Polynesia. Basically it distills everything so that the fake village becomes MORE Polynesian than the real place. That’s what Santa Fe is like. Many tourist travel there because they like that artifice. What better place to experience the southwest than a place that is 150% southwest!
The people I know here in Canada who really like Santa Fe are all wealthy professionals, such as lawyers and doctors, who like to take advantage of “acute culture” in a safe, predictable environment that is chock full of easily accessible, high-quality amenities.
Albuquerque is, as Crafter says, a “real” city. You can see the evolution of its history. They still keep the traditional motifs. The highway overpasses are painted sandy pink with turquoise accents for example, but you’ll also see gas stations that have remained unchanged since the 1950, some crappy architecture from the 1980s, and ugly concrete block buildings where you’d expect to find ugly concrete block buildings. You can buy native jewellery at MUCH lower prices at the flea markets nearby from the Pueblo Indians themselves. You have to choose wisely or it will look like a cheap trinket. In Santa Fe you’ll get really high-quality, super-expensive, white gold earrings with “traditional southwest patterns”, made by an expert goldsmith named O’Connor who moved there from Seattle and changed his name to Leaf. He probably produces exceptional quality work.
In general, if you are a tourist who likes to go on cruises, or travels to resorts, must include golf in a holiday, enjoys the opera, and relies on Starbucks for your morning coffee, you will like the “150% pure southwest” feel of Santa Fe.
If you are a tourist who seeks out the indy coffee shop that roasts their own beans, who wants to try a legendary green chili cheeseburger, hike up the mountain rather than ride the tram, check out the rodeo, and buy a pair of moccasins for your dad. Than you’ll like Albuquerque better.
Disclaimer: I go to New Mexico every few years because that’s where my family is from. Santa Fe is great for live music, otherwise I would never go there because I find it sterile.
Oh, I missed the part about being in the Four Corners area! :smack: I MUST highly recommend you go a little bit north to Mesa Verde National Park. It’s just up on the main highway a little ways into Colorado. It is so cool that I have travelled there more than once and would love to go again. Take all of the thread recommendations for Bandelier and double it for Mesa Verde. I say that as someone who LOVES Bandelier National Monument enough that I want to get married there.
Also in that area, if you are into hiking in surreal landscapes that look like another planet, are the Bisti Badlands.
If your main plans are to drive around northern NM and the Four Corners area, then Santa Fe is probably the better place for you to stay.
The Valles Caldera is my favorite place in that region, period. But I’m kind of a park nerd.
ETA: I do find Santa Fe to be kind of sterile and touristy. However I find Albuquerque brings to mind a sort of a mini-LA and I don’t like Los Angeles at all. Hence my voted preference for Santa Fe. But I’m not a big fan of either.