A stretch of old Route 66 lined with one and two storey stucco storefronts, neon signs and motor court motels, where Breaking Bad shot inside a real jewelry store.
What Nob Hill looks like
Central Avenue runs straight and wide through Nob Hill, the former Route 66 lined with one and two storey stucco storefronts and angled parking at the curb. Decorative arches span the avenue at Girard Boulevard and again near Washington Street. Added in 1993, their neon lettering is styled after Route 66 era signs. Narrower residential streets, platted between 1916 and 1945, sit behind the commercial block on both sides.
The , a curved white stucco block at Central and Carlisle, has tan brick coping and brown tile stripes over shops opening onto a parking lot behind the street. Two blocks west, the former building has curved garage bays under a stepped tower and is now the restaurant M'tucci's Bar Roma.
The sits on Central's north side. It is stuccoed clay tile made to look like adobe, with a three storey corner tower. It now holds a restaurant and bar. sits a block off Central on Carlisle Boulevard, a stucco building completed in the early 1950s with a white bell tower and a colonnaded porch, closer to the quiet residential streets than the strip's storefronts.
Neon still marks the strip after dark. The 's marquee and the 's blue letters face Central Avenue a few blocks apart, with smaller shop signs lighting the storefronts between them.
Shot in Nob Hill
Breaking Bad shot the episode "A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal" inside Gertrude Zachary Jewelry, a working store on Central Avenue. The store has since closed.
Breaking Bad, "A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal" (season 1, episode 7)
Gertrude Zachary Jewelry
Marie shoplifts a diamond tiara from the store, and Skyler is accused of the theft when she tries to return it. The store's owner holds her in a back room until she fakes labor pains to get released.
What Nob Hill can double for
Tucumcari in Tucumcari, New Mexico
Tucumcari's own stretch of Route 66 keeps the same high desert light and motor court motel signs as Central Avenue, at a smaller town scale. The narrower two lane street and fewer standing storefronts limit how wide a shot can go before showing a smaller town than Albuquerque. Try searching Route 66 motor court now.
Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, Florida
Biscayne Boulevard's motor court motels curve in the same Streamline Moderne shapes as Central Avenue, with similar low profile neon signs out front. Both strips date from the same two postwar decades. Palm trees and tropical landscaping give away the climate in a wide shot, so frame tighter on the motel signs and stucco. Try searching motor court neon signs now.
The Wildwoods' pastel motor court motels share Nob Hill's low profile rooflines and roadside signage, built in the same postwar decades along a similarly wide strip. Ocean light and boardwalk crowds a block away give away the beach town in a wide shot. Try searching pastel motor court motels now.
