Cliff’s Rocks Our World

Confession: I still sometimes call it “Uncle Cliff’s,” which is what Albuquerque’s premiere amusement park was known as when I used to nag my parents to take me there. It made for a nice, rhythmic, nag-chant – “Un-cle-CLIFF’S!, Un-cle-CLIFF’S!, Un-cle-CLIFF’S!…” (Repeat until parent relents or explodes. Either way, guaranteed entertainment.) So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star Soon after the “Uncle” was dropped from its name, Cliff’s Amusement Park commissioned a new logo from the talented Michael Doret. […]

June 25, 2015 The Mayor One comment

Dion’s Pizza: A Tour of Greece, Italy and Sweden

Dion’s is an Alphaquerque institution. The signage features a smiling pizza chef rendered in a woodcut engraving that would make Dürer himself hungry for a slice with pepperoni and olives. These guys make a pretty good pizza, especially for a place that started out as a Greek restaurant. Seriously, you don’t know how close you came to reading about a place named after Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and merrymaking. International Flavor This logo is an international smorgasbord: a […]

June 25, 2015 The Mayor Leave a comment

The Many Faces of Blake’s Lotaburger

When I was a kid, it was just “Lotaburger,” no “Blake’s”. It was one of our neighborhood hangouts, across from the high school. There was no indoor dining area. You either sat in your car, on your car, or on the massive concrete tables in the shade under the metal canopy while you waited for your number to be called. “Number 52. 52, please!” Cracking the Code We were lucky. My best friend’s mom worked a split shift at our […]