Vince Gilligan originally intended for Breaking Bad to be set in Riverside, California, a fact I learned while taking the Breaking Bad RV tour on a chilly day in Albuquerque. If Riverside had stayed the location, I likely would have been tooling around the 12th largest city in California instead of the largest one in New Mexico. Based on my visit, I’m, glad the state offered large enough tax credits to lure the production; another fact I learned during the tour. I was not only reminded of the greatness of one of the top ten TV shows of all time (note to self: an excellent idea for an article!), but I was able to see Albuquerque in a way that I surely would have missed otherwise.
Run by character actors who appeared on Breaking Bad or it’s also excellent sequel Better Call Saul, the tour happens in a vintage 1986 Fleetwood Bounder, just like the one Walt and Jesse use to cook meth in the desert at the start of their criminal enterprise. Seating about twelve, it’s basically a rolling museum devoted to the show. Pulling out of the historic Old Town section of the city, the guides lead everyone in a Jesse Pinkman-esque “Yo Bitch” yell (once we pass by the church since the Priest is not a fan of that practice!). From there, clips of the show play on a DVD player in between tour stops and trivia questions.
Seating on the left; replica meth kitchen on the right.
The only survivor of a mid-air collision over Albuquerque.
The tour hits about 20 locations all over the city with stops off the RV at four of them. The country club area contains Chuck McGill’s house (Jimmy/Saul’s brother from Better Call Saul) and Jesse Pinkman’s original home. The less affluent part of town has the Crossroads Hotel where root beer loving prostitute Wendy plied her trade and Tuco’s office, which is really a coffee shop. The “don’t want to be caught there after dark areas” were covered by the corner of 2nd and Hazeldine, where dealer Combo is shot dead by a kid on a bike, and the abandoned Albuquerque rail yards, where the desolate atmosphere and broken windows are a filmmaker’s dream. A quick pit stop in the University district allows a drive by of a great piece of Breaking Bad street art.
The Crossroads hotel. Not sure if the PT Cruiser belongs to Wendy.
Breaking Bad street art near the University. This needs to be on a t-shirt!
The stops where we disembarked from the RV were at places key to the show. Twisters is a local fast food joint that doubles as Los Pollos Hermanos with some signage changes. Breakfast burritos are provided! Gus would approve of the excellent customer service. A quick stop happens at the home used as the White residence. The tour operators are on friendly terms with the owner, who agree to let RV tourgoers out there briefly. Be warned the house looks much different than from the show as the owners have put up a gate to keep out the crazies who want to go inside to meet Walt and installed a metal roof to better keep off pizzas thrown by enthusiastic visitors. (All true stories according to the tour guides who told me that an average of 200 cars a day drive by the home during peak tourist season.) The A1 Car Wash is actually a Mr. Car Wash, but it has a small gift shop where you can buy your Breaking Bad knickknacks (a Better Call Saul coffee mug for me). Gus’ laundry is an interesting stop as it’s actually a working industrial laundry and not in the middle of the desert as the show implies. Some of the people working there have appeared as extras.
The obligatory shot in front of the Los Pollos Hermanos logo.
The tour group in front of the White residence.
The tour is more than just a drive-by of locations. The guides offer some fascinating insight into the show, such as when we stopped at Reynold’s Auto Service, which is where Jesse raced to steal back the RV in season two. In a memorable scene, he fell into a porta potty after climbing a fence. The tour operator told us that Jesse was originally supposed to be chased by guard dogs, but the production could not afford the tens of thousands of dollars that would cost. Vince Gilligan noticed a storage lot for porta potties across the street from the auto yard and quickly improvised a change that was much more original than what was written.
The guides also had a real affection for the tour, stopping to chat with the people who worked at the locations we visited. Their enthusiasm for the town was infectious as well. Since it wasn’t a stop, I later sought out the nail salon where Jimmy McGill runs his law practice on Better Call Saul. What other show(s) or tour could inspire someone to visit a strip mall!
The trivia was also a fun way to pass the time while driving around. The prizes were mainly bags of (fake) Blue. With a little help from Google, I was the big winner. The tour overall was a great way to spend three plus hours in Albuquerque if you are a fan of the Breaking Bad universe, even at the cost of $75. My rating reflects my trivia winnings by giving the Breaking Bad RV Tour my highest possible score of five bags of Blue!
