LOVE LETTER to Santa Fe

Source: Albuquerque Journal, N.自存倉M.Dec. 29--Most of Santa Fe's colorful and interesting history has been well documented.But there's a gap that a group of locals are trying to highlight with an ongoing research project into the city's post-World War II era.The project will delve into personal anecdotes, archived accounts and snippets of information from Santa Feans through the website santafestories.com.Launched in cooperation with thesantafevip.com, the project seeks to identify 1,000 spots around the city, then provide Internet content about each of those sites that can be accessed live on location via a smart-phone or tablet."I was told recently by somebody that this is like a love letter to Santa Fe," said project director and founder Vince Kadlubek. "That's how they saw it and I really like that term."It all started when he stumbled upon the 8,000-member Facebook group page, "You know you're old-school Santa Fe when.""I started going through it and I realized there's a lot of content there," Kadlubek said. "There's a lot of stories. And a lot of resources. Images. It's all on Facebook. It's a single scroll of information and I thought, this all can be organized in a more dynamic way that can be organized and presented more professionally, and in a way that captures people's imagination and connects them to the past," Kadlubek said. "It was that group that really inspired the project."Although the project is in the fundraising phase to build the start-up infrastructure like the website and video, Kadlubek is confident that the project will be a success. It is not designed as a money-making venture."This is a passion project that defi- nitely needs funding to get off the ground," he said. "But once the app launches, it's free of charge. Anybody can download it. And anybody can participate in the project. There's no fee, no charge to see the content."I'm really adamant about that," he added. "It's not mine or anybody else's history to sell. In my mind, it's a collective history that should be shared."In addition to applying for a Sante Fe Arts Commission grant, Kadlubek is hopeful foundations and businesses, in addition to the general public, will step in with donations and sponsorships."We think it can have a high potential of driving traffic to businesses," Kadlubek said. "We're asking businesses to see the value in that sponsorship. Also to see the value in preserving this history and presenting it in the unique way that we're presenting it."Kadlubek, along with producer Vince Romero of santafevip.com and director of content Bill Rodgers, are the primary trio behind the project, but it's really something in which the entire 迷你倉ity can take ownership."It's a unique history," Kadlubek said of the city's post-World War II era. "Those who lived through it are incredibly passionate about it."The time span is important, he said, because it traces Santa Fe's history from its time as a sleepy little town to a renowned tourism mecca."There's a real deep connection to how it used to be and I think that's because of the contrast to what we've become," Kadlubek said. "And that's not to say what we've become is bad. It's just to say that what we've become is way different. So there ends up being a real strong nostalgia."And, with more and more newcomers showing up on the city's doorstep, it's important that the city's history does not become lost or overlooked, he said."For me, I want to connect my generation and new people who move to town," Kadlubek said. "A lot of people moved here and think that this was created, that this is some kind of Disneyland or something. That there's not an actual, true, passionate history here. So I'm trying to build that bridge."About 50 people have already submitted their stories, which have been posted on the website. Later, as the technology becomes available, the hot spots will be physically located with a code so that people at that spot can access the information.But while the project is hoping for as much input from the general populace as possible, "we know we're going to be talking to individual people in their living rooms," Kadlubek said. "We also know we can go to the library and look up past articles from newspapers."Submissions can come in many forms, he said. "Stories can be really unique or really small stories, like where did you go on your first date or where did you meet your current husband. Or tell us about a party spot that is filled with homes now. They can be small, little stories or real elaborate stories. They can even have mythology to them. People can feel free to stretch the truth."For example, he got a submission about the old Santa Fe High School, now City Hall."Inside Santa Fe High, there were lockers and, supposedly, one of the lockers had a secret passage that kids would climb in and out of in order to ditch," Kadlubek said. "They would ditch through the walls of the school itself. You would see kids look over their shoulder, then climb into a locker and disappear for the rest of the day. I think that's just such a cool image."For more information, go to santafestories.com and to donate, go to tinyurl.com/ sfstories.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) Visit the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) at .abqjournal.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage