Similarly, feelings of joy or sadness, calm or agitation may rise in response to elements and combinations of elements in the built and natural environments. Gold Avenue was the financial district, with the elegant Alvarado Hotel at its eastern terminus forming a beautiful vista. As the downtown expanded in the first half of this century, Central Avenue and Fourth Street buzzed with activity. Pedestrians, bicycles, automobiles, buses, wagons, and trolleys shared the street for a time. In downtown, old gems like the Alvarado and Franciscan Hotels and several Victorian office buildings were lost to the wrecking ball in 1960s.
Cities are dynamic and they do change.
But change can be responsive to and accommodate the city's unique history into its future. Cities like Boston and Philadelphia have continued to effectively incorporate old historic buildings and neighborhoods into their modern-day cities. In Albuquerque, many beautiful historic buildings were replaced with parking lots or structures built without regard to local history, culture, visual setting, or people. Old Town and the Albuquerque of the railroad era were relatively compact. After World War II, however, population tripled, household purchasing power increased, and automobiles helped individuals gain personal freedom in choosing where to live, work, shop, and play.