The 1950s were all about big cars, poodle skirts, diners, drive-ins, rock n’ roll, and the American dream. Even though this decade also involved Civil Rights struggles, an intensification of the Cold War, and the advent of McCarthyism, it remains a time that makes many feel nostalgic. Here are 10 images of New Mexico from that iconic decade.

1. Castleberry’s Café in Deming.
Flickr/Allen
2. A boy scout posing at the Philmont Scout Ranch, in 1954.
Flickr/Francis Marciano
3. A chuckwagon on the Longhorn Ranch, near Moriarty.
Flickr/ariz84
4. Luminarias glowing at night in Seton Village, near Santa Fe.
Wikimedia Commons/Unknown
5. Groth Groceries and Meat in Las Vegas.
Flickr/David Groth

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6. A server at Brown's Cafe in Albuquerque.
Wikimedia Commons/Unknown
6. Taos in the 1950s.
Flickr/Ty Nigh
7. A teepee burner near Taos. The timber industry used them to burn waste products.
Flickr/nick dewolf photo archive
8. Kirtland Air Force Base, in Albuquerque, during the 1950s.
Wikimedia Commons/USAF
9. Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, who invented the first atomic reactor, with his wife, in Los Alamos.
Wikimedia Commons/Unknown (Mondadori Publishers
10. The Lady Godiva Device, a nuclear reactor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1954.
Wikimedia Commons/Thomas P. McLaughlin et al.

So what do you think of New Mexico in the 1950s? Do you have any images from this decade? If so, please share them on the Only In New Mexico Facebook page. We’d love to see them.

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