The Ghostway (1984)

A main street that runs east-west through some of Albuquerque's oldest neighborhoods including Old Town, Downtown, the University District, and Nob Hill. Central Avenue functioned for many decades as the city's major thoroughfare, as well as its commercial and cultural heart, although in recent years it has declined with the construction of the I-40 freeway.

Central Avenue was built along a prehistoric route used by the area's indigenous communities to connect the Rio Grande in the west to Tijeras Canyon in the east for trade and spiritual purposes. With the arrival of the Spaniards in the late 1600s, the route was used to connect the Camino Real (the north-south axis along which Spain developed its colonies) with small Spanish villages in the eastern foothills, and when New Mexico became a U.S. territory in 1848, the east-west expansion brought about the development of a road that would connect the East Coast with the new western states. In 1937, with the redirection of Route 66, Central Avenue became part of this historic cross-country highway, bringing travelers and an emerging tourist industry to Albuquerque. In the 1960s, with the opening of Interstate 40, which replaced Route 66, Central Avenue began to see a significant and steady decline. These days, although some historical preservation and revival attempts are ongoing in the city, and the Downtown area as well as Nob Hill do boast new businesses and a thriving night life, many sections of Central Avenue reveal the effects of economic recessions.

Located in southeastern Nevada, the city of Las Vegas is a major American tourist destination famous for its flashy casinos, themed hotels, shopping, and large entertainment venues. Nomadic Anasazi and Paiute Native peoples roamed the area until the arrival of Spaniards in the early 1800s. In 1909, the American town was founded as a small railroad service station built on marshland surrounded with grassy meadows, which are the source of its name (in Spanish: "the meadows"). The water that was once abundant in the valley has now mostly dried up due to extensive pumping, the city is known for its hot desert climate and long spells of drought. Las Vegas grew significantly in the 1930s with the construction of the nearby Hoover Dam but it wasn't until after World War II that major entrepreneurs started investing in the city's developing gambling industry. "The Strip" is a long central stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard that underwent rapid growth in the 1960s and over the past few decades has become the main attraction of the city. The Strip boasts immense, architecturally extravagant hotels and casinos that form a postmodern pastiche of old and new styles, imitations of world-famous sites (such as Venice, Paris, New York, or the Egyptian pyramids), and gaudy restaurants and shopping centers.

A wealthy Los Angeles suburb, located in the San Fernando Valley, in the northwestern part of the city. Encino was home to the Grabielino Native peoples and was colonized by the Spanish in 1769 and given its name, which is Spanish for “oak tree.” During the 1840s, Vincent De La Ossa acquired ownership of much of the land in the area, establishing a large adobe ranch. Encino is now a major center of business and high-end shopping; many celebrities from the entertainment industry live in the area.

San Francisco is the main commercial and cultural center of Northern California. The city was founded in 1776 by Spanish colonizers and grew fairly slowly until the Gold Rush of 1849, which brought about rapid population and economic growth. In 1906, a major earthquake followed by severe fires destroyed nearly three-quarters of the city. The damage was quickly repaired and in the first half of the 20th century the city attracted immigrants from around the world, as well as World War One veterans. In the 1960s and 1970s the hippie, peace, and gay rights movements were centered in the city and to this day it is a highly diverse and liberal hub of alternative culture and progressive social activism. It is a major tourist destination known for its scenic views, restaurants, eclectic architecture, rich history, cultural institutions, and mild weather. Many major technology and start-up companies are located in San Francisco and issues of gentrification and housing insecurity are hotly debated.

A large culturally and racially diverse city located in southern California. Los Angeles is the second most populated city in the U.S., after New York City. The name Los Angeles means “the angels” in Spanish and is hence known as the “City of Angels.” Prior to the 20th century, Los Angeles was not the center of movie-making, leisure, or cultural capitalism that we think of today. The city began as a small village that, in order to distribute the water supply from the Los Angeles and Owens Rivers, consolidated a number of neighboring communities to create one large city. It is for this reason that there are a number of distinct city districts within Los Angeles including: Hollywood, San Pedro, Chinatown, Watts, Boyle Heights, Encino, and Little Tokyo. Before the mid-20th century, agriculture thrived within the city as there were many farms, orchards, and greenhouses. When the film industry moved from the East Coast to California, largely due to the availability of natural light and cheap property values, Los Angeles became a cultural and economic hub of the West Coast. Theater, music, and visual art have proliferated since the 1960s, creating an urban renaissance that corresponded with the physical growth of the city. Its warm climate, beaches, and mountains also make it a popular world-wide tourist destination. The city is also known for its major freeways, traffic, and car culture.

This sprawling city is home to many ethnicities, career options, and socioeconomic classes. There are also a number of Navajo peoples living in Los Angeles as a direct effect of the Indian Relocation Act of 1956. This act encouraged Native Americans to leave their reservations and settle down in large cities by offering vocational training, moving expenses, and some economic help when they first arrived in the cities. The act relocated approximately 750,000 Native Americans into major cities, such as L.A., where they often faced cultural isolation, poverty, discrimination, and other adverse effects.

A trademark name for a smooth, hard plastic top surface made of sheets of special paper laminated in synthetic resins. Formica was invented in 1912 in New Zealand and due to its durability, ease of cleaning, and heat-resistance, it quickly became a successful product that was in high demand all over the world, especially in the furniture industry.

A community located a mile west of the mouth of Canyon de Chelly on the Navajo reservation in northeastern Arizona. In Navajo, the place is known as Ch’ínílį or “Water Outlet." A site of great spiritual significance, Canyon de Chelly is considered the heart of the Navajo people and was the site of their final resistance against demands from the U.S. government to relocate during the 19th century. Eventually succumbing to the privations and difficulties of what today would be understood as guerrilla warfare, it was at Chinle that the Navajo people finally surrendered to Kit Carson in 1864. After the forced march to and detainment at Bosque Redondo in southeastern New Mexico, the Navajo were permitted to return to their homelands, including Canyon de Chelly. Because of the fertile agricultural fields and prime grazing lands in Chinle Valley, Chinle became the hub of a trading network, and a trading post was established there in the 1880s. Chinle remains a vital cultural and economic center for the Navajo, as well as a popular tourist spot for visitors.

In Navajo, Diné means "the People." Eminently adaptable, the Diné learn from their neighbors and have incorporated elements from Pueblo, Hispanic, and even Anglo cultures into their lifeways, developing a traditional way of life that is fluid and dynamic but also deeply affected by their respect for custom and tradition. This is intimately tied to their belief that the physical and spiritual worlds blend together and that everything on earth is alive and related. This is called hózhǫ́, the state in which all living things are ordered, in balance, and walking in beauty. The opposite of hózhǫ́ is hóchxǫ́ǫ́, which refers to disorder and chaos in one’s life.

In many traditional cultures, turquoise has been valued for its color, which evokes both the sky and water. Because of the significance of the sky, which facilitates the passage of the sun and the coming of rain, turquoise is often referred to as “the sky stone.” Turquoise is associated with life, health, fortune, and blessings. Turquoise can be found in medicine pouches, incorporated into Zuni fetishes, carved into beads, and set as larger stones in traditional Navajo and Pueblo silver work, although it wasn’t until the late 19th century that turquoise was associated with silver jewelry, when Atsidi Sani, a Navajo silversmith, began incorporating turquoise stones into the Spanish-style silversmithing he had learned as an apprentice. Silver and turquoise jewelry was popularized by the burgeoning tourist trade in the Southwest, and nearby Pueblo people, Hopi and Zuni, also began making turquoise jewelry.

In Navajo and Pueblo traditions, as well as many other Native American cultures, the underworld is thought of as the watery, dark realm of creation from which people emerged into the present world. The underworld represents the various levels of existence through which people journey before finally rising onto the surface of the Earth to exist in the world as we know it now. While the underworld is believed to be the place of human origin, it also represents the realm of spirits, gods, or the Holy People, and it is where the dead reside after passing away from this world..