ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – For some it’s a childhood memory, “I grew up there. I remember that diner like I mean growing up, we walked by it, we ate at it, we did everything because it was part of our community,” said one member during a Route 66 Visitor Center Commission meeting.
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And for others, it’s about family legacy, “My aunt and uncle were promised those things, I just think that their vision was to see it somewhere in the city,” said a Hernandez family member.
The traveling Valentine Diner, known as the Little House Diner, has moved around the city from places like Downtown to Nob Hill. And now, the city will decide its future with this goal in mind, “To fulfill the original intent of the donation by the Hernandez family, which was to preserve it and celebrate its individual history,” said Shelle Sanchez, Director of Arts and Culture with CABQ.
The proposal is to move the diner from Nob Hill, where it’s being repurposed as a police substation, to the Route 66 Visitors Center, where it will be restored as a functioning diner. “To me, what has happened with the diner is a disgrace,” said one member of the commission about the adjustment made to its original design.
“Their vision was for it to be in a prominent place, and I don’t feel like out here is in a prominent place,” said one Hernandez family member.
Members of the Hernandez family questioned the newly formed Route 66 Visitor Center Commission about whether people would actually go to the location on the outskirts of town. “We kind of want it to be used the way they wanted it to be used, and I don’t get that impression from, you know, putting it out here,” said one Hernandez family member.
A Larry Barker investigation revealed that the city spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to furnish the building without proper oversight.
Three years after its ribbon-cutting, the building still isn’t open to the public.
The city said this could change by the end of the summer, as they are in the process of hiring staff for the center. They believe that with a sign park coming this fall, the center will pick up traction. “We actually are very optimistic about the number of people that will come here,” said Sanchez.
Nob Hill’s Neighborhood Association said they will be disappointed if the diner is relocated, saying, “The little diner is dear to our hearts. It’s been there 28 years.”
Members with Nob Hill Main Street expressed support for the project, saying, “If there’s a place where this Valentine diner can be properly showcased, then that should be what happens.”
“I do believe this is the right location for it. And I do think you will see that,” said Sanchez to members of the public at the meeting.
