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National Guard Armory
Albuquerque was founded in 1706 and is the largest city in the State of New Mexico. In 1904 the First Infantry Regiment of the New Mexico National Guard was headquartered there. Company G had recently relocated to a "new" armory, essentially shared facilities in the Elks' Opera House which included a drill room, storeroom and toilets on the first floor, in addition to a well-equipped gymnasium, with lockers and showers.1
As indicated in the annual report to the Dept. on Interior by the Governor that year, the rivalry with Company E and the expense of this armory which was in excess of the allowance granted by the territorial legislature necessitated an armory building there devoted primarily to military purposes. In the same report it was noted that a site for such armory had been selected and by 1908 the new Armory was built on the corner of 5th Street and Silver Avenue Southwest.1
Described as a rather stark building, from a performance point of view, the interior was not much to look at and featured red brick on all four walls. There was a stage and a balcony that ran along the left side. It could accommodate seating for about 2.500. In addition to its increased use for military purposes likely commencing in 1916 with the pursuit of Pancho Villa along the Mexican Border when the entire National Guard of the US was mobilized, through World Wars I and II, being the only large hall in town it also served civic functions hosting conventions, dances, agricultural shows, boxing and wrestling, musical events, political rallies and other public events. In October of 1919, it was the site of the first State Convention of the American Legion.
William S. (Bill) Previtti, who often emceed at the Armory during the 1950s said, "if it happened in Albuquerque, it was happening at the Armory. Any artist who was any artist who came through town would play there. It was like a who's who of country stars," he said. Robert P. (Bobby) Matteucci was a high school student at Albuquerque High School during the '50s and remembers seeing Hank Williams, Hank Snow and others there, including Elvis.2
1956 was the year the city celebrated the 250th anniversary of its founding with visits from the Duke and Duchess of Albuquerque. That year, on April 12th, Elvis, Scotty, Bill and DJ made their first and only appearance there with two shows at the Armory and it was remembered locally as a particularly controversial event, prompting animated family discussions over whether the “kids” would be allowed to attend.3
As Lee Cotten observed, the local misconception is that they opened for Faron Young but in actuality all ads showed Elvis as the headliner.4 By that time they had made seven appearances on national television, with the last being their first on the Milton Berle Show in San Diego the week prior and only days earlier Elvis had signed a contract with Paramount Pictures. They were on their last tour with acts that could be considered contemporaries which included Faron Young, Jimmy and Johnny, Gordon Terry and Wanda Jackson.
Bill Previtti introduced Elvis onstage and he recalled that the Armory that night was a melting pot of Anglo, black and Hispanic youths, he said. "I couldn't believe it. You never saw these people together, but here they were."2 After the show, coming down the stairs, Nancy and Sandra went off in one direction while Carla and Alice in another. Carla remembers passing Elvis in the auditorium and making eye contact. He said Hi, and she said Hi back. They and many others went out back to the alley after the show hoping to see him again coming out and Nancy somehow wound up on the other side of the roped off section. Alice, unfortunately, was accidentally hit in the throat by one of the policemen's batons attempting to maintain order. Their efforts were rewarded though because Nancy got kissed and Carla got "really" kissed. One girl's parents called the newspaper about the kiss, who in turn contacted Carla for the story which ran the next day as follows:
Elvis, by at least one account, spent that night at the Bottger Mansion in Albuquerque and the next day they performed in Amarillo. When the nuns at St. Vincent heard about it they called Carla's mother and asked her how she could let a strange man kiss her daughter like that. She replied that the only reason she should be mad was that she herself wasn't grabbed and kissed. As a result, Carla was evicted from the school before completing the eighth grade and was required to meet with the Superintendent later that year to proceed to the next grade in Valley High later that year. Several other girls, including Nancy, would be dismissed from St. Vincent as well. Other performers like Little Richard and Fats Domino would play the Armory and also turn it into the city's melting pot. Previtti described it as "the country club mixed with the barrio because it was the only game in town. It was like we only had one well in town and this was where we came to get our water." A year later though, in April of 1957, the 6,000 seat Civic Auditorium opened and the Armory's days became numbered.2
On January 30, 1958, the Armory was sold by the state on a sealed bid for $115,000 to the Mountain States Mutual Casualty co. who within a year spent an additional $275,000 in remodeling to convert it to a modern office building. Renovations stripped the building of its arched doorway and brick towers. The parapets were removed and brick facade was covered with stucco and the spacious dance floor turned into offices. It was occupied principally by insurance firms headed by U.S. Senator Clinton P. Anderson. The Mountain States Telephone company also leased space in the building.5
The Civic Auditorium was itself not without problems. The acoustics were never said to be good and rioting there in the mid '60s led to the banning of rock concerts by the city. Popejoy Hall, Tingley Coliseum and University Arena became more popular for shows and the Auditorium was demolished in the late 1980s.6 In 2000, PNM Resources, an energy holding company based in Albuquerque purchased the the former Armory building at 5th and Silver from the Casualty company who demolished it and built a parking garage. Though the original character of the building was lost in the remodeling many of the old timers with fond memories of the "old Armory" like Bob Matteucci and Bill Previtti were sorry to see it go.2
Today Bill Previtti is the owner of Westland communications in Albuquerque and Bob Matteucci, who served as Chairman of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, is on the governing board of Central New Mexico Community College. St. Vincent Academy closed in 1969 after 85 years, a victim of decreasing enrollment.7 Nancy would get to see Elvis again only weeks after the Armory appearance, at the New Frontier Hotel when she accompanied her parents to a golf tournament in Las Vegas. Carla never saw him again but would reconnect with Nancy years later after their story about that night and her pictures from Las Vegas were published in an article in the Albuquerque Tribune. The girls all got together about a year ago as sort of a reunion and they still referred to Carla as "the trouble maker".
Page added November 8, 2011 Special thanks to Carla J. Hale, Bill Previtti and Bob Matteucci for their assistance with this page. All ads and articles are courtesy of the Albuquerque Public Library.
1 according to 1904
Report of the Governor of New Mexico to the Secretary of the Interior
by New Mexico Governor, United States Dept. of the
Interior
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Presley's WONDERFUL--
