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I grew up in a town of 2,000 people. I live downtown - it definitely has a nice small-town feel to it. Not much traffic, REALLY quiet, lots of trees, you can walk to a lot of stuff, and you're well-distanced from all the sprawl. BUT, you can get to all the box stores easily if you need them.
Northanna, maybe you can define what a "small town feel" means to you. In small towns where I've lived (< 3000 people) it meant different things, a feeling of community, of running into people you know wherever you go, walking to the library, church, and shopping.
Albuquerque in a sense is made up of many distinct neighborhoods, some of which can resemble small towns. I would try to find a neighborhood with an active neighborhood association. They often go begging for volunteers to serve on their boards and it is a great way to get connected to your new community and meet people. Start a crime watch group on your block if there isn't one already. I've been lucky in that I live on a block where we have had block parties and I know almost everyone on my street. Sadly, I've known people who've lived in neighborhoods for years and have never even met their next door neighbors. I can't imagine what that must feel like.
Check out the Nob Hill area and some of the neighborhoods around there. If you have a dog you will meet a lot of people when you go for walks. I live off of Ridgecrest in SE ABQ (some call it "Fringecrest") and it feels a little like a small town to me. We're close to the shopping and entertainment in Nob Hill, have nice parks scattered around. It's a great area for walking and jogging. The Albuquerque Concert Band gives a concert in Ridgecrest Park most summers, people bring folding chairs, dogs, kids, and food and it makes for a very small town Americana feel. On Christmas Eve we have one of the most extensive luminaria displays in the city.
Humm, I would say the NE heights, very spread out, but if your near eubank or paseo, You'll get the busy feel, try between Eubank and Ventura (try getting closer to ventura) or The foothills, but you'll be able to see the whole city (which is beautiful) but not a small city feel.
Corrales. There are small town parades & other celebrations, a community growers market, and locally-owned businesses and restaurants (no chain stores that I'm aware of). The village aggressively strives to maintain a rural lifestyle, yet it's only minutes away from the shopping hub of the west side of Albuquerque.
As others have said, Corrales and Placitas would be two good choices. They are both relatively expensive, but if you can overlook that then more a question of the specific ambience you prefer.
Corrales is most central to ABQ, with the best access, just across the Rio Grande. But in feel much of ABQ might as well not exist when you are there. It is a place of narrow lanes, trees, and comfortable homes. As it is fairly flat, in a sense hidden, you may forget your are within a greater metro area until re-entering it on the periphery. One caveat, check the status of the Intel plant above town in regard to Corrales water quality.
Placitas is a lovely place of often expansive views to the north, west and south. Most particularly southeast, of the Sandia mountains which dominate the skyline. It is definitely a different view and angle than that enjoyed in ABQ. Just across I-25 to the east from Bernalillo, but seemingly a world away, Placitas is geographically separated from every other town in the area, even Old Placitas a bit further east. The feel is markedly different from Corrales, as all is more open in a dry land dotted with many juniper. The attractive adobe-style homes are well separated, with all lots probably of several acres each. My impression in Corrales was of winding roads, and they certainly do in Placitas, with the land more hilly. There is a small general store and shopping center which would also be the focus of local social activity. It is a fairly easy drive of about 10 miles into ABQ on I-25, but sharing it with a certain amount of traffic, also gravel trucks which come from a quarry off that exit, near the interstate, thence into ABQ along with you. Okay, but not as convenient as Corrales.
In being as dissimilar, the choice of either of these places would probably depend more on what you like best than access to ABQ. Something more remote, and certainly small enough, would be the town of Conchiti Lake. It strikes me as more a retirement community of sorts, and mellow enough. Activities would center about the reservoir of Conchiti Lake, and also a golf course. There might be some good hiking in the mountains just to the west. It is located closer to Santa Fe than ABQ, not far north of I-25. The quickest route from ABQ would be NM 22 off I-25, or NM 16 if Santa Fe. One visit would probably decide whether you had any interest or not.
There are micro-neighborhoods within ABQ which have their own distinct ambience, such as the Nob Hill district. Whatever separation they have from the greater ABQ metro area will be more a matter of your perception and feeling.
Towns such as Cedar Crest, on the east side of the Sandia mountains, will be small enough, remote as well. The drive into ABQ will not be as simple an affair as from either Corrales or Placitas, particularly in winter. Think snow. Definitely more of a mountain feel, also climatically different and cooler. Perhaps just your thing, but ABQ, if supposedly close, will have more the feeling of the city beyond.
Seriously, there are many small cities in NM that seem to fit your criteria bettter than the only real metropolitian area in the state. I suggest looking at Socorro, Silver City, Alamogordo (marginaly too big), Farmington area etc. I suggest spending some time looking around befor you plant yourselves too firmly.
I grew up in a town of 2,000 people. I live downtown - it definitely has a nice small-town feel to it. Not much traffic, REALLY quiet, lots of trees, you can walk to a lot of stuff, and you're well-distanced from all the sprawl. BUT, you can get to all the box stores easily if you need them.
I totally agree with this. I also live downtown, and it really feels like a small town.
I totally agree with this. I also live downtown, and it really feels like a small town.
what small towns have a few 15-20 story mid rises, lofts,a row of bars, a strip club,a ten screen movie theatre, parking garages, and lots of homeless?
I seriously doubt that someone coming from Clovis,NM (like the OP) will find a small town feel in downtown ABQ.
Downtown ABQ has a small ctiy feel.
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Corrales, etc.
