Nob Hill, Albuquerque

Nob Hill
Neighborhood of Albuquerque
Street fair in Nob Hill, 2010
Coordinates: 35°4′47″N 106°36′16″W / 35.07972°N 106.60444°W / 35.07972; -106.60444Coordinates: 35°4′47″N 106°36′16″W / 35.07972°N 106.60444°W / 35.07972; -106.60444
Government
• City Council	Rey Garduño
• State House	Gail Chasey (D) Sheryl Williams Stapleton (D)
• State Senate	Cisco McSorley (D)
• U.S. House	Michelle Lujan Grisham (D)
Area
• Total	0.96 sq mi (2.5 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	4,767
• Density	4,952.7/sq mi (1,912.2/km2)
ZIP Code	87106, 87108, 87110
Area code(s)	505

Nob Hill is a neighborhood in Albuquerque, New Mexico, consisting of a commercial district along Central Avenue (former U.S. Route 66) and surrounding residential areas. Located just east of the University of New Mexico, the neighborhood was developed between about 1925 and 1950 and has since become a popular tourist and shopping destination. Known for its eclectic mix of mostly locally owned businesses, Nob Hill has been described as "the heart of Albuquerque's Route 66 culture and also its hippest, funkiest retail and entertainment district". The neighborhood is named after Nob Hill in San Francisco.

According to the Nob Hill Neighborhood Association, the boundaries of Nob Hill are Lomas Boulevard to the north, Washington Street to the east, Garfield Avenue and Zuni Road to the south, and Girard Boulevard to the west. The principal thoroughfares in Nob Hill are Central Avenue and Carlisle Boulevard, which divide the neighborhood roughly into quadrants, and the one-way arterials Lead Avenue and Coal Avenue. The eastern half of the neighborhood is sometimes referred to as "Upper Nob Hill" to distinguish it from the more commercially developed area west of Carlisle.

The Nob Hill neighborhood comprises six individual subdivisions. Clockwise from northwest, these are Monte Vista, College View, Broadmoor, Mesa Grande, Granada Heights, and the eastern half of University Heights. The Monte Vista and College View subdivisions are jointly listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Monte Vista and College View Historic District.

The area now referred to as Nob Hill was developed beginning in the mid-1920s as Albuquerque began to expand eastward along Central Avenue. The first part of the neighborhood to be laid out was the area south of Central and west of Carlisle, which was platted in 1906 as part of the University Heights Addition and developed beginning in the late 1920s. The developer was D.K.B. Sellers, a prominent local businessman who also served a term as mayor. In 1916 Sellers built a water tank on top of a large hill in eastern University Heights to provide a reliable water supply for the subdivision's residents. Seeking to promote his development, Sellers named the landform Nob Hill after a fashionable area of San Francisco. A well-known photograph from 1937 shows Sellers posing with a large "Nob Hill" sign in an empty expanse of desert near what is now Silver and Tulane SE.