United States · New Mexico · Albuquerque
Nob Hill, Albuquerque — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Nob Hill is a shopping strip in Albuquerque, a run of locally owned storefronts along Central Avenue east of the University of New Mexico.
About Nob Hill
Where to stay in Nob Hill
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Anyone staying in Nob Hill stays on or just off Central Avenue, because the commercial strip is narrow and the blocks either side of it are houses rather than hotels. The Lobo Theater stands on that strip. Immanuel Presbyterian Church and the locally owned shopfronts around it are all within a few minutes on foot.
Anyone here for the University of New Mexico can walk west to the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology and the University of New Mexico Art Museum instead.
About Nob Hill
What are the main landmarks in Nob Hill?
The Lobo Theater fronts Central Avenue. The residential blocks behind it hold four named houses: the Davis House, the Werner-Gilchrist House, the William J. Leverett House and the James N. Gladding House, all from the years the neighbourhood filled in. Immanuel Presbyterian Church stands on the same streets.
West of the shops the University of New Mexico holds three collections: the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, the Museum of Southwestern Biology and the University of New Mexico Art Museum. Isotopes Park lies beyond the residential edge.
What is the history of Nob Hill?
The name travelled from California. Nob Hill in San Francisco supplied it, and the label settled on blocks that went up along Central Avenue between about 1925 and 1950. The commercial frontage stayed on Central Avenue, and the strip has been called the heart of Albuquerque's Route 66 culture.
Most of the businesses along it are locally owned, and the shopping draws people from well beyond the neighbourhood.
Where is Nob Hill?
Nob Hill covers about two and a half square kilometres east of the University of New Mexico, with Central Avenue running straight through the middle of it.
Good for
More areas in Albuquerque
Updated September 2026