Duke City Bridge Club: a short history

Back in 1932 C. H. Fulwiler (Albuquerque’s best player and New Mexico’s first Life Master) obtained a duplicate bridge franchise for Albuquerque from the Pacific Bridge League.  Through WWII two or three games a week were held in Martinez Town on North Broadway.  In 1944 the “Albuquerque Bridge Club” moved to the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel (today the Hotel Andaluz on 2nd Street.)  In 1954 Jimmy Lynn, a retired Brother of the Good Shepherds, moved to Albuquerque.  He was Life Master #192 and was a professional player and teacher who started a very well attended club at UNM’s Newman Center.   Over the years this club evolved into the Casa de Amigos Club which played at the Knights of Columbus hall on 14th street.   When our current center was purchased, the club rented the space for games every Wednesday afternoon.  It donated all its net income to the programs of Casa Angelica, over $300,000 by last year but sadly ceased operation in 2016. 

In 1956 the ACBL and the Western Conference Bridge League merged and Unit 374 was formed.  The unit was allowed a special status club which met on Sundays at the Cole Hotel in downtown.  The Sunday game (as well as tournaments) moved to the Western Skies Hotel near Tramway and Central and played there for about 10 years.  These games are now at our current center.  In 1957 a group of novice ladies started the Rio Grande Club which was invitational and limited to non experts.  This club was absorbed by DCBC and still plays every Wednesday evening.

In the late 1950’s the Albuquerque Bridge Club moved to a location near Carlisle and Constitution.  One day in the early 60’s the local president of the NAACP Alvin Arnold came to play bridge and smoke and drink a little bourbon. Games were not as genteel in those days!  A large group, some 380 disgruntled players, decided to open an invitational club which would separate the seditious members and African Americans from those who believed in segregation and/or decorum.  This club known as the Heights Bridge Club rented a building in the Southeast Heights and prospered for many years.  However the ACBL’s masterpoint policy severely penalized closed clubs and this led to many of the Heights players returning to the Albuquerque Club.  Although many old friends and partners never forgave nor spoke to one another, the Heights closed and re-merged with the Albuquerque Club to form Duke City Bridge Club which operated on San Mateo near Menaul in a shopping center next to a porno theater.

In 1972 DCBC bought an old chicken restaurant at Zuni and Washington for $55,000.  The building, remembered fondly as “the Chicken House” was 3000 square feet and could accommodate nearly 40 tables on two floors.  They ran 9 games a week and card fees were $1.30. This was a completely new thing in the ACBL, a non proprietary club owned by the players and run by an elected board. To be a voting member of the club you had to play 12 times in a year. Not large enough to hold local sectionals, and with playing space a little crowded, in 1989 the club purchased our current building at 8616 Northeastern for $225,000.  The building has over 6000 square feet of space and often accommodates three sections of bridge in an afternoon, as well as our sectionals.  In 2005 the club moved across the street into an empty Stein Mart store for several months while a member financed $250,000 remodel took place.  Today we have one of the finest bridge facilities in the country, and the club’s yearly table count ranks among the top 25. The club is now debt free.  We would love to have you visit us, there is at least one game a day every day of the year except Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.