Art Heals at Secret Gallery

May 11 2022

New Mexico Magazine / Read Full Article

Albuquerque Artists Sustain Connection Despite Social Distancing

Shelterforce

By: Johanna Gilligan

May 19, 2020

Placemaking is an inherently in-person practice, but it doesn’t always have to be. In Albuquerque, a community exhibit was reimagined to highlight the work of local photographers, who captured striking images of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

When I called Gabe Gallegos, the curator of our collaborative photography show, Social Distance, to ask him a few questions, I was worried that I was interrupting him. He responded, “No, I can talk—I’m just in the middle of waiting.” That made me laugh; what an apt description of life across America right now.

Gallegos is one of Albuquerque’s original placemakers. He started Albuquerque Artwalk (known as ABQ Artwalk), one of the city’s most successful placemaking initiatives. ABQ Artwalk gets thousands of residents in this sprawling, car-centric town to do something uncommon: walk around downtown Albuquerque. The monthly event raises the visibility of local artists while supporting small businesses downtown. It’s an alternative to the usual weekend club scene, as it offers an inclusive way to experience visual art and draws a broad cross section of people.

In early 2020, Homewise (the CDFI and development organization I work for) was fortunate enough to get Gallegos on our team as a part-time consultant and curator, planning out a slate of Artwalk events at the Ruppe Drugstore, a building we purchased that I’ve written about previously on Shelterforce. We were planning monthly Artwalk openings at the space beginning in March, a plan that was promptly derailed by the COVID-19 outbreak. On March 12, just six days after our successful March First Friday event, social gatherings were limited by our governor. The next day schools were closed, and by March 16, we were all working from home.

We continued our weekly placemaking planning meetings remotely. The first meeting was tough—Gallegos was eager to consider how we might move forward with in-person events. The rate of change was head-spinning, and accepting that the way we did everything was going to have to change for a while was the first step toward reimagining how we might move forward. It quickly became clear that April Artwalk events would not happen. I felt for Gallegos—he had worked so hard to build up this tradition and now it was shutting down overnight. Similarly, we had been getting great traction with community use of the Ruppe space and I was disappointed that we had to halt the momentum we had generated.

Placemaking is a delicate balance of assessing a community’s assets and potential and using those strengths to creatively foster a deeper sense of place. It’s an inherently in-person practice, centered on experiencing public spaces together. When successful, placemaking benefits the health, happiness, and well-being of individuals and deepens social bonds. It’s something ephemeral—hard to pin down but easy to recognize when it’s done well.

Thinking, as always, about assets first, “I asked ourselves what we had,” Gallegos said of generating the idea for Social Distance. “We had a group of photographers who wanted to produce work that was relevant.” Gallegos redesigned the April exhibit into a show that would share images photographers captured of life in this strange time of separation.

“Working through all of this on such a quick timeline without any in-person conversations has been hard,” he said. “Artists are visual thinkers, and normally I always meet in person to plan out a show. But we’ve been successful promoting the installation through social media. I’m working with people I’ve never met on this show; the content people are generating has been awesome.” In a week, 52 images were submitted, 37 of which will be included in the show.

Social Distance is an installation that will have a digital platform and selected images will also be installed in the windows of the Ruppe. The show is a partnership with IGers (Instagrammers) of ABQ, a virtual community of nearly 13,000 followers who share photos that capture the striking natural beauty and daily rhythms of life in Albuquerque. Gallegos noted that it was fortuitous that we had a group photography show already slated for May. “Photography is the most reliable way we have to understand history. Artists all have their own aesthetic, so the show will become an expression of the different versions of this shared reality.”

In addition to the visual content of the show, we wanted to expand into other digital modalities. We connected with Dr. Frank Mirabal, host of a podcast called Portraits in Color, which offers a unique look at race in America through the stories of artists and entrepreneurs. Mirabal is doing interviews with First Friday artists and collaborators that will complement our digital shows. He began with this interview of Michelle Sena, owner of All Chola, a T-shirt company that “sheds truth on what it means to be a Chola through fashion, culture, and art.” An episode about the Social Distance exhibit is forthcoming.

The website will link to a COVID Emergency Fund established by the Albuquerque Community Foundation. We know that art can inspire a sense of beauty and community, and wanted to give people a way to contribute to their city’s response to this crisis. The Albuquerque Community Foundation made a $10,000 investment in an emergency mortgage assistance fund we’ve established at Homewise that will help homeowners across the city who are receiving no other federal assistance, such as immigrants.

A poem by Albuquerque Poet Laureate Jessica Helen Lopez will adorn the door of Ruppe, surrounded by photos in the storefront’s windows.

In La’kesh

Now is the time we dwell In La’kesh, 

you who are me. I who am you. 

Together we are alone.

Alone we are together. 

Do you see all of the springtime branches showing their colors?

The seasons have not shuttered their doors. 

The sun, still a shimmering ball of warmth.

Burque ablaze with sunset heat, alive with the pink 

and watery gold feathers that brush our heavenly sky. 

Everyday a painting created for you. For me. 

Our hope gathers despite the separation.

I guess we are all like individual drops of rain 

falling into one grand river after all.

“What’s always most important to me as a curator,” says Gallegos, “is to share artwork that expresses the New Mexican experience. When we look back at the news about this time in history, we will see images of New York and New Orleans and Wuhan—we won’t find images of New Mexico. So what we want to capture is this moment for us.”

Coronavirus, and the necessary physical isolation we’re all enduring to defeat it, has not extinguished our sense of place, which is, of course, the bedrock of placemaking.

Healing Ourselves: Ancestral Traditions

La Hilacha: Words and Memories

May 8, 2020

With the doors closed, cultural anchors turn to podcasts

Downtown Albuquerque News

New audio programming from Albuquerque Museum, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, the Fusion Forum, and The Ruppe

ALSO: The 'City on the Edge' podcast host explains how a wild party in Robinson Park prolonged the 1918 pandemic.

It all started at a staff meeting for the history and literary arts department at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, conducted (of course) over Zoom. Stranded at home like so many others but still looking to share culture and history with the world, the department's director, Valerie Martinez, had a simple message for the crew: "all ideas are on the table."

For an institution more accustomed to putting on live events, organizing tours, and maintaining a vast archive of Hispanic culture, the resulting idea of producing a podcast was something of a curveball. Nobody knew how to do it exactly. But then again, this is not a normal year.

They decided to go for it.

"This is the age we're in," Martinez said. "How hard can it be?"

The NHCC team is not alone. Nearly two months have passed since our museums, theaters, and other common cultural spaces closed to visitors. But while managing crowds and putting on events has been taken off their to-do lists for the time being, at least four greater-Downtown cultural anchors have turned their attention to creating audio programming for our stay-at-home era. 

The results are as diverse as the institutions themselves. The Fusion Theater's podcast focuses on interviews. The NHCC's "La Hilacha: Words and Memories" is a New Mexico-themed variety show featuring everything from poetry to short radio plays to a children's storytime. And the Albuquerque Museum's "Picture This" is a kind of historical slideshow that dives into the stories behind photos from the museum's extensive archives. 

"Picture This" was actually in the works before the pandemic came along, but AM digital archivist Jillian Hartke, the series host, said it was originally planned as a quarterly feature. 

"It just became more urgent than I thought," Hartke said.

Instead of four episodes per year, five have been released since March 20, and at least two other departments at AM are looking into doing their own podcasts.

"I hope that even after the pandemic is over we can use this format as a way of reaching audiences that we haven't reached before," Hardke said. 

Martinez, who hopes the NHCC effort will also last beyond the coronavirus era, would agree with that sentiment: "We want people to tune in because we are experiencing something collectively that is very difficult," she said. "We want people to come to the episodes right now for some sort of solace."

Here's a roundup, complete with links, of what's on offer at a podcasting app near you:

Albuquerque Museum: Picture This
Topics on this podcast/YouTube series include the first balloon flight in Albuquerque, the key role the Lovelace clinic played in NASA's Mercury program, and the time the King of Belgium visited the Isleta Pueblo.

National Hispanic Cultural Center: La Hilacha
The podcast - the name of which translates as "loose thread" - has published three episodes so far, including an extensive program featuring a who's who of the Albuquerque poetry scene.

Fusion Theater: The Fusion Forum
"The Fusion Forum" has released eight episodes so far. Typically, it features conversations with actors, directors, and writers connected with the theater, but it also dives into larger issues with the arts.

The Ruppe: Portraits in Color

"Portraits in Color" launched early last year and has dealt with everything from politics to music to social issues, but when the pandemic hit, a hastily-organized partnership with ABQ Artwalk and The Ruppe led to a series of interviews with artists and creatives. The goals, says host Frank Mirabal, include spotlighting the work of people whose usual methods of making a living have disappeared or changed dramatically and figuring out how they might adapt to the new reality.

"It's really about how we can be creative with the platforms we have to give artists exposure at this time," Mirabal said. "We're trying to build community support for the artists."

The podcast conversations range from the practical (how social media might be used to promote an artist's work) to the philosophical implications of doing art in social isolation.

Mirabal, himself a musician, has his own take on that: "There's beauty in both," he said. Still, "There's nothing like the energy that you get from a live performance."

'City on the Edge' podcast details Albuquerque during the 1918 pandemic

The news that Germany had signed an armistice ending World War I was greeted with such jubilation in Albuquerque (then not much more than Downtown, Old Town, and the UNM area) that crowds convened on Robinson Park in the middle of the night for a nearly 24-hour celebration. People showed up in pajamas. Red, white, and blue were everywhere. A pastor offered celebratory prayers, and someone burned a German military figure in effigy. There was a parade, and over at 2nd and Central, a bonfire. Not exactly the Downtown Growers' Market, but the Journal reported that a good time was had by all.

The only trouble: It happened in the middle of the 1918 flu pandemic, and those revelers were supposed to be in quarantine. 

"Everybody was ignoring it that day and apparently that brought the cases back up again," said Ty Bannerman, the host of the "City on the Edge" podcast, which recently took a deep dive into Albuquerque life during the last big pandemic. 

The earliest mention of the flu had come two months before, in mid-September, when the Journal reported that the virus was believed to have arrived in the United States. The early reports downplayed the significance of the bug.

"They're kind of saying it's not that serious but it's not pleasant," Bannerman said. 

The first case showed up in Albuquerque a few weeks later on October 5, and a Journal editorial three days later admonished citizens to avoid crowds, and wash their noses and throats (but no mention of hands). 

The quarantine, prolonged by the armistice party, lasted until December 1. 

"Every day in the paper there's stories about people dying, how many cases there are, how people are coping with the quarantine," Bannerman said. "It kind of follows the same sort of trajectory as we're following now."

Albuquerque Art Walk offers curbside art installation

KRQE News 13

May 1, 2020

Downtown Albuquerque Summer Art Walk is of course not kicking off Friday as planned, but the program is still offering a way to check out some local art.

A new photography installation called Social Distance has been set up on the outside of the Ruppe, formerly B-Ruppe drugstore on 4th Street in Barelas. It features images showing how social distancing in the age of COVID-19 has affected New Mexico.

People can drive or walk by to check out the installation throughout the month of May. You can check out the virtual gallery on ABQArtWalk’s Facebook page. Art Walk organizers say they’re working on how to proceed with the summer program once businesses start to reopen.

Redevelopment That Preserves Cultural Heritage

Shelterforce

By Johanna Gilligan

January 6, 2020

Six months ago, I wrote a Shelterforce article about my work as the director of community development with Homewise on one of the oldest drugstores in New Mexico, B. Ruppe, which has a long and fascinating history. At that time we had recently lost our tenant and were considering a non-traditional approach to redeveloping and leasing the building. Since then, we’ve been working to open the space up for a period of free community use, inadvertently discovering a dynamic way to make commercial redevelopment a strategy to strengthen social cohesion and help preserve the changing neighborhood’s identity.

Cultural Preservation, a Critical Component of Sustainable Development

Over the last 50 years we’ve gotten much better at recognizing the importance of preserving historic buildings, but don’t think as much about preserving the intangible heritage of communities—things like oral traditions, performing arts, and neighborhood rituals. Similarly, we acknowledge that a sustainable future must include green design, but we don’t talk about how honoring the history and cultural relevance of certain places is also key to sustaining communities. It’s time for developers and preservationists to do more than preserve buildings; we must also work to maintain the cultural identity of the places we are redeveloping.

Sustainable development, by one definition, is development that meets the needs of present generations without compromising the abilities of future generations to meet their own needs.

“A broader concept of sustainable development includes not only environmental, but also economic, social, and cultural aspects. It is generally recognized that the 21st century will be a century of globalization. Notwithstanding the benefits of economic globalization, it causes the substantive threat of cultural globalization. Therefore, it is fundamental for every community to identify and maintain its own characteristic features that reflect diversity and identity of the place.”

New Mexico is an economically poor state but is rich in “identity of place.” The cultural homogenization associated with gentrification has come late to Albuquerque, the state’s largest city, but its impending arrival is palpable. Orange sharing-scooters are appearing, and microbreweries have sprouted up downtown. Barelas, a village formed in the 1600s at the place where travelers on the Camino Real crossed the Rio Grande, is now a small neighborhood absorbed into the center of Albuquerque’s sprawling 197-square-mile footprint. Located adjacent to the shuttered railyards—a redevelopment project of the current mayor—Barelas is right in the middle of a changing landscape.

In many ways, this is good news. For decades, Barelas’ population declined as residents moved away due to a depressed economy and safety concerns. A 2015 University of New Mexico study determined that over 25 percent of its buildings were vacant. Those vacancy rates exacerbated already low home values and inhibited the success of local businesses. (As described in a Lincoln Land Institute report, long-term vacancy contributes not only to economic decline, it negatively affects quality of life and residents’ sense of well-being.) On Fourth Street, the neighborhood’s once-thriving business corridor, many local businesses—like the B. Ruppe Drugstore—closed up shop. Ruppe first opened in 1883, and by the time it closed in 2011, it had been transformed from a typical pharmacy into a yerberia (or medicinal herbal store) by co-owner Maclovia Zamora.

Zamora’s portrait, painted in 2014 by artist Nanibah Chacon, adorns the north side of the Ruppe building and is a tribute to her contributions. The mural itself symbolizes the cultural significance of the business. Homewise, the CDFI and nonprofit developer that I work for, purchased the building in 2017 to ensure that this cultural asset’s long and interesting history was not erased by insensitive redevelopment. We didn’t know exactly how we would approach redeveloping it, though.

Ruppe Drugstore: A Case Study in Cultural Preservation

The first time I walked into the building was the summer of 2018, and even though it had formally closed seven years prior it looked as though it was still operational. Herbs were hung to dry on the wall in the back room, tinctures that Zamora had made to treat various ailments lined the shelves behind the pharmacy counter, and there were a plethora of oils, candles, and Catholic religious objects throughout. As I dug into the building’s contents, the cultural and historical significance of what had been left behind was clear. Nearly 40 years of correspondence, hand-written recipes for medicinal herbal tinctures, and index cards of prayers and meditations—the records of Maclovia Zamora’s evolution into a medicinal herbalist and healer—were at risk of being thrown out.

By the time it closed, Ruppe had become an informal yet significant cultural institution within the fields of curanderismo and herbalism. Zamora had established relationships with healers in northern New Mexico and in Mexico, and she would often host a curandera from Mexico City to provide treatments and education to clients. The tenuous connection between traditional and indigenous medicine is stronger in New Mexico than many other parts of the country, but the transfer of knowledge remains largely informal and is incumbent upon the next generation learning from elders like Maclovia. The wealth of information held within Ruppe’s walls at the time of her passing represented an important part of the renewal of this knowledge.

What to do with this treasure trove of knowledge and history? It was hard to find precedents to our approach to redevelopment. The field of development does not look back much, except in historic preservation circles which often fetishize the aesthetic of old places rather than work to maintain cultural identity in redevelopment. I knew that Zamora had worked very hard to share the knowledge she gained about medicinal herbs and other healing practices. In academic language, this lifetime of accumulated information is called knowledge capital, and is understood to be a critical resource for the well-being of future generations, who depend on what we leave behind. 

One of the many assets in Barelas is the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC), an institution dedicated to the preservation, promotion, and advancement of Hispanic culture, arts, and humanities. As the deadline approached to clear out the building, I reached out to Valerie Martinez, a very talented, thoughtful staff member at the NHCC. I brought Valerie to the building to see what remained. We determined that the NHCC could establish a digital archive of Zamora’s life and work from the many photos, letters, recipes, and other items left inside, thus protecting and preserving the knowledge capital for future generations.

Preserving Cultural Traditions that Foster Social Cohesion

Using cultural preservation as a sustainable development strategy can increase social cohesion in the midst of changing neighborhoods and communities. When I first began working at Homewise, I met with community leaders throughout the neighborhood, and sometimes received an icy initial reception. People were understandably wary to trust a developer and were fearful that the change coming to Ruppe would erase their history. Cristina Rogers, Barelas Mainstreet director and Barelas resident, described it this way: “Lots of development and redevelopment has happened in Barelas that hasn’t benefited the neighborhood. When Homewise first moved into the area and started buying buildings to renovate, people were asking, ‘Is this going to be the Homewise neighborhood?’ There was definitely a fear of a large organization moving in combined with people not understanding what a community development finance institution [CDFI] is and how that’s different from a regular bank.”

After a few failed attempts at finding a permanent tenant for the B. Ruppe building, we instead decided to do a simple renovation and open the space up for a period of free community use. We felt this would be an important signal to neighborhood residents that they were still welcome in this new version of the old Ruppe and that, while the building was changing, its legacy as an informal community institution was not.

The response to our community space activation period has been overwhelming. In the first month of community use, we hosted events 27 out of 31 days. Events included Ballet Folklorico classes taught by a local resident and dancer, a pop-up art opening called ALTAR that featured Día de los Muertos altars made by local artists, yoga classes, a poetry night dedicated to increasing mental health through self-expression, a weekly teen arts project led by an arts-based community engagement organizational called Artful Life, a live podcast recording, a jewelry-making workshop, a conference session for creative entrepreneurs, a writing workshop, and a community photo exhibit of family photos sourced from the neighborhood.

Culture Is Never Static

Culture is never static. The etymology of the word is the Latin cultura, meaning to grow, to cultivate. To be able to “maintain the characteristic features that reflect diversity and identity of a place,” development must not only preserve cultural history but also support culture-bearers, artists, and everyday residents to carry on their traditions.

“If Ruppe, such a beloved place in the community, had sat empty or become a random business with no connection to the past, I think it really would have depressed people,” says Cristina Rogers. “They would have felt like, ‘It’s over. We will get gentrified.’ Instead it’s a community space. People are thinking about using it, thinking about different ways to use it—an important first step to help people become more entrepreneurial. Here is a space for you to use, how will you use it?”

Capital Sources to Support Developers Who Care About Cultural Preservation

This is the exact question we are eager to see answers to. How are people using the space, and could this use evolve into a long-term tenancy? One of the advantages of this period of free use is the exposure the building is getting to a broad range of people, some of whom have reached out to ask about a potential lease. Our previous plan involved a single tenant taking occupancy of the entire building, but now we are considering the idea of a year of smaller leases that would preserve the large main space for use of tenants and the public, although this could only be done with some kind of subsidy.

Leasing a commercial space to smaller, local operators rather than an established chain is an inherently riskier, slower, and potentially less lucrative, route. And yet, we know that local businesses bring so much more character to a neighborhood and allow small-scale entrepreneurs a way to make a living. If we value these things, we must create capital sources that can support this slower, more inclusive way of redeveloping commercial buildings that fosters small-scale economic development. The historic tax credit is a great way to defray redevelopment costs of some older buildings, but is not always a feasible route. What if municipalities provided an easy-to-access subsidy for the redevelopment of empty commercial spaces for the future use of local businesses? What if local and national foundations created funding sources that could cover the operational costs for a year while developers made some or all of their newly renovated buildings available for community use? Impact investors that will take below-market rate returns are an excellent long-term strategy for making a less profitable lease option work. This, in combination with small amounts of funding that could subsidize some of the renovation costs and initial period of community use, could be a dynamic combination that kick starts local businesses returning to neighborhoods with high vacancy rates.

At Homewise, we’ve been cross-subsidizing the community use at the Ruppe because we believe the social cohesion being fostered is worth it. But to do this at scale, small developers need not only the creativity and vision to make it happen, they need modest financial support.

Local nonprofit hopes to revitalize historic Albuquerque drug store

KRQE News 13

October 11, 2019

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A pharmacy that has been around for decades is getting new life.

The B Ruppe Drug Store in the Barelas Neighborhood first opened in the early 1900s. It was most recently a medicinal and herbal store until it closed in 2011.

Homewise has since bought the space and transformed it. For now, they are letting people rent it out, but they are hoping to lease it to a business. They are looking for a tenant who will stay true to the building’s roots.

“So our hope is that this will eventually become a space that, like its history, provides healthcare, improves the health of the surrounding neighborhood,” Johnna Gilligan, Director of Community Development, said.

The grand reopening is next Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. For now, they expect it to host everything from dance classes to art exhibits.

Regenerating a Place of Cultural Pride and Healing in Albuquerque’s Barelas Neighborhood

Shelterforce

By Johanna Gilligan

May 23, 2019

New Mexico is a state with a history much longer than its official statehood, and this long history shapes the challenges and opportunities to support equitable redevelopment strategies today. The neighborhood of Barelas was formally established as a settlement in 1662, making it arguably the oldest neighborhood in Albuquerque. It is located along the Rio Grande at a spot where travelers on the Camino Real, a 1,600-mile-long trade route between modern-day Mexico City and northern New Mexico, would ford the river. Today Barelas is a neighborhood adjacent to Albuquerque’s downtown, a very central location amidst the city’s sprawling 197-square-mile footprint.

Barelas—The Neighborhood’s Past

In 1880 the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway reached Albuquerque, a milestone that would dramatically shape the future of Barelas. The area immediately adjacent to the railyard quickly developed, expanding the neighborhood’s size and transforming it from a quiet agricultural village into a thriving blue collar community of 1,200 residents.

At its peak, the railyard was the largest employer in Albuquerque, and with these jobs came new economic activity along Barelas’ main thoroughfare, Fourth Street. Fourth Street—designated part of Route 66 in 1926—became an iconic commercial corridor, home to many bilingual businesses that served the needs of the surrounding community. Businesses like the Arrow Market (a local grocer), the Red Ball Café (known for its famous Wimpy hamburgers), and Ives Flower Shop all sprouted up. Throughout the 1950s, it was a bustling commercial corridor, home to dozens of businesses open day and evening. Many residents still think back to this time with great pride and nostalgia, an understandable feeling given the changes that have occurred since then.

Like many other cities and towns around the U.S., Barelas began to suffer economic setbacks beginning in the 1960s, initiated by the railroad shops slowly shutting down their operations. The shops closed completely in 1970, eliminating 1,500 jobs and shocking the neighborhood’s economy and the livelihoods of its residents. Shortly thereafter, the City of Albuquerque embarked upon an urban renewal project that cut off vehicle traffic on Fourth Street north of Barelas in order to create Civic Plaza downtown, a large public area originally conceived as an amenity for office workers. Traffic was rerouted to I-25, pulling commercial activity out of the neighborhood. Since then, the community has struggled to reclaim its economic vitality.

One of the iconic businesses on Fourth was the B. Ruppe Drugstore, originally established in Albuquerque’s Old Town in 1883 by Charles Bernard Ruppe, a German immigrant to Albuquerque who was also chief of the volunteer fire department. The drugstore burned down in 1892 and Mr. Ruppe moved the location to Fourth Street.

Healing power: Barelas pharmacy born again

Albuquerque Journal

By: Maggie Shepard

February 12, 2018

Plastic shoe boxes and bags filled with mint, chamomile and many other plants still line the old wooden shelves at the historic B. Ruppe Drugs pharmacy building in Barelas.

Books and notes scribbled by pharmacy co-owner and community icon Maclovia Sanchez de Zamora still stock the back medicine racks.

Some of what remains of her and her husband’s collection of Catholic devotional statues, art and rosaries still bring color and reverence to the store space, which has been out of full service for years as Zamora phased out her herbal healing practice in her older age.

After helping keep alive one of the state’s longest continuously running pharmacies and serving as a community and cultural anchor, Zamora passed away at age 86 in December.

Now the building that hosted her life’s work and that is marked with a large mural of her is part of the revitalization effort for the neighborhood.

It has been purchased by a local nonprofit agency and is set to become, possibly, a cafe/store/community gathering and education center where Zamora’s legacy of herbalism and traditional healing can continue.

“We are going to refresh the property but keep what was historically here. So neighbors are coming and giving their input about that they want,” said Lucas Pedraza, program manager for the Barelas Mainstreet project with the Barelas Community Coalition. “The whole concept is: How do we bring the creative economy to Barelas?”

Barelas, from the railroad to the river and from about Coal to Bridge SW, is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city with Spanish records dating to the 1600s. It once hosted a thriving railroad community, the buildings for which are coming back to life with the last years’ Rail Yards Markets’ success.

Pedraza and the coalition are hoping the pharmacy building will augment, if not anchor, the revitalization of the entire Barelas area Fourth Street corridor in the same way Zamora served as community healer.

“We got to meet Maclovia before she passed away, and it was a win-win situation,” said Elena Gonzales, director of Albuquerque operations for Homewise, the nonprofit that purchased the building. “The Barelas Community Coalition is coming up with these fantastic ideas to really keep some of the traditional healing, but also make it fit and add things that neighbors in the community want and need.”

Exactly what that will be isn’t clear as the BCC is still in the process of a series of community meetings and planning sessions. Plus, some major renovations, like the roof and HVAC system, must be tackled first.

Homewise, which helps people become homeowners, plans to pay for the building rehab, renovation and possibly the commercial kitchen.

The BCC will in turn, as it works, lease to own the building. It also plans to use several grants it has received to get the project off the ground.