ABQPedia

(1897-1985) Mathematician and astronomer who came to New Mexico during WWII to work with the military in ballistics. Helped in researching the Japanese "fugo" balloon bombs directed against North America. Joined UNM in 1945 where he founded the Institute of Meteoritics, serving as its director until 1966. Served as head of UNM's Dept. of Mathematics and Astronomy, and as Director of the Division of Astronomy. Was involved with research into the "green fireball" phenomenon in the late 40s; LaPaz himself had witnessed the phenomena, and with his expertise in ballistics and meteoritics it is considered one of the best-researched UFO cases to date. Quoted in 1957 as feeling that the Russian launching of Sputnik "posed a danger to the free world". Co-author, with wife Jean LaPaz, of Space Nomads: Meteorites in Sky, Field, and Laboratory.

(1927-2021) Thomas Charles Lasorda. Manager of the Albuquerque Dukes baseball team in 1972, before moving on to coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Phrase used by cartoon character Bugs Bunny, first first appearing in a 1945 cartoon. Bugs, tunneling to get to Las Vegas, ends up in Germany and says: "I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque!" It became a character catchphrase and was used many times subsequently, and the phrase entered the culture as meaning any journey gone wrong.

AKA: Mariano Leyba, Merino Leyba, Marino Leiba, Mariano Leiva. See Sandia Mountain Desperado

Charles Lindbergh, as President of the Trans-Continental Air Transport Company, sought in 1929 to establish an air transport hub at Onava near Las Vegas. However, the facility was never built, perhaps due to concerns with the altitude of the site. Lindbergh also visited Albuquerque in 1930 with his wife Anne.

Western-themed amusement park in Tijeras Canyon, in operation 1961-1964. Envisioned to be an attraction rivaling Disneyland the attraction capitalized on the Red Ryder franchise, a cowboy hero who appeared in a comic strip beginning 1938 and growing to be the subject of movie serials with Little Beaver as his Native American sidekick. Albuquerquean Fred Harman, the cartoonist who created the characters, was a major investor. The site, in the mouth of Tijeras Canyon and along then-Route 66, featured a Native American village, an Old West town, and rides on a scale model train; actors provided movie-style scenes with bank robberies and shootouts featuring the movie characters. After the park closed it was used for several other purposes including being renamed Sage City and used for youth dances, but the site succumbed to vandalism and fires and was abandoned in the 1970s.

See Los Lunas Mystery Stone

See Los Lunas Mystery Stone

AKA: Los Lunas Mystery Rock, Los Lunas Decalogue Rock, New Mexico Mystery Stone, Ten Commandments Rock. Large flat stone on the side of Hidden Mountain near Los Lunas, bearing inscribed lines of symbols that appear to be Paleo-Hebrew, though all interpretations and translations of the text are controversial, as is the source of the symbols. One translation claims it is a version of the Ten Commandments, hence the nickname of the Stone: "Ten Commandments Rock". Other translations suggest a pre-Columbian contact. The surface of the stone has been so affected by visitors over the years, especially by cleaning and the use of chalk to bring the symbols into sharper relief, as to make scientific dating basically impossible. Some of the symbols have also been vandalized.

Recurring legend, based upon the idea that after the withdrawal of the Spanish during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt the Pueblo people filled in and otherwise obliterated traces of the mines they had been forced to work. The story is told with many variations. The basic story involves someone (often a sheepherder) happening upon or even falling into a concealed pit in a canyon in the Sandia Mountains. One or more Pueblo Indians soon show up, suggesting that the site was being monitored; they eventually send the finder away under threats of death if he reveals the location. The story sometimes includes the presence of church treasures, or processed gold the Spanish hid as they fled south. The Sandia mine is sometimes referred to as the "Montezuma", which can lead to the blending of the legend with the one that says Montezuma sent a vast hoard of Aztec golden artifacts north out of Mexico ahead of Spanish advances. Some sources claim that there are at least five lost mines to be found. One version of the story says that famous frontiersman "Uncle Dick" Wootton became involved in searching for the lost mines.

AKA: William R. Lovelace, Randy Lovelace. (1907-1965) Military flight surgeon who became influential in aerospace medicine, founding the Lovelace Medical Foundation in Albuquerque. In 1958 was appointed chairman of NASA's Life Sciences Committee, and was integral in devising the physiological tests performed upon the Project Mercury astronaut candidates. In 1964 appointed NASA's Director of Space Medicine.

(1870-1900) Son of Tranquilino Luna of Los Lunas. Served in the Spanish-American war as an officer with Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Killed while serving in the Phillipines.

(1847-1892) Native of Los Lunas. Elected Territorial Delegate in 1880 and again in 1882. Gave a speech at the commemoration of the arrival of the AT&SF Railroad into Albuquerque in 1880. Father of Maximiliano Luna.

Historic home in Los Lunas; the only surviving example of Victorian Colonial-Southern architecture constructed of adobe. Built as a gift to the influential Luna/Otero family by the Santa Fe Railway for access through their land holdings; Tranquilino Luna was a founding member of the New Mexico Town Company, a subsidiary of the AT&SF devoted to land development in the Albuquerque area. Now operates as a restaurant. Reputedly haunted.