AS WE GATHER at Fuller Lodge for the History of the Secret City tour in downtown Los Alamos, guide Jim Shipley asks, “So, who’s seen Oppenheimer?” Most of the group of 10—which ranges from a teen to an octogenarian—raise a hand. We then follow Jim and his wife, Carolyn—who both lived and worked in Los Alamos for 30 years before leaving, retiring, and then moving back a few years ago—into the historic building, which is prominently featured in the film.
The largest building left from a prestigious 1920s-era ranch school, Fuller Lodge and the surrounding land were purchased by the U.S. government in 1942 to develop the atomic bomb. The ponderosa pine structure, designed by John Gaw Meem, became a meal hall and common space for scientists during the war. After World War II, the lodge shifted to a hotel, as secrecy around the atomic project lifted. Now, it’s a gallery and gift shop. But the dining hall still looks the same. In Christopher Nolan’s 2023 biopic, Jim tells us, the scene of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s speech after the Trinity test was filmed right where we’re standing.
The Oppenheimer House, next to the Hans Bethe House, is under renovation and closed, but visitors can view it from outside.
As tour guides, the Shipleys offer more than movie trivia. “When Carolyn and I came up here to interview for a job in the laboratory between Christmas and New Year of 1965,” Jim says, pointing to the mezzanine behind him, “we stayed in a corner room right there.” After decades in Los Alamos, they’ve gathered anecdotes that give life and insight to familiar names that come up along the tour. “This history is so valuable, so important,” Jim says. “It needs to be kept accessible for folks.”
We walk outside and stand beside the life-size bronze sculptures of Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves on the Los Alamos History Museum’s campus. The Shipleys tell us how the two men selected this place for its secluded location, distance from coastal threats, and the existing infrastructure from the ranch school. Now that Oppenheimer has become a blockbuster, Carolyn says, visitors frequently comment on Groves’s sculpture: “He doesn’t look anything like Matt Damon!”
Los Alamos scientists lived along Bathtub Row.
While Los Alamos was always a popular destination for history buffs, Oppenheimer—the highest-grossing WWII film ever—has sparked renewed interest in America’s atomic history, as well as New Mexico’s film industry. “We had about 20,000 visitors a year,” says Los Alamos Historical Society executive director Todd Nickols. “After Nolan’s film came out, it jumped.” This year, Nickols expects 60,000 guests. “They want to know where Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt stood,” he says.
As our group walks down Bathtub Row, where many prominent Los Alamos scientists lived, we stop at the Romero Cabin. Built on a nearby mesa in 1913 by homesteaders Refugio and Victor Romero, the cabin was relocated downtown in 1984 and eventually restored in 2010. Filled with artifacts from the homesteading days, like a tortilla press and a metal woodburning stove (“Can you imagine hauling that stove up the mountain?” asks Carolyn), the cabin showcases a history that predates the Manhattan Project. Past the cabin, ancient foundations of tuff (welded volcanic ash) mark an Ancestral Pueblo dwelling. Dating to about AD 1225, the multiroom site was built by Tewa-speaking people for cooking, sleeping, and storage.
DID YOU KNOW?
Although J. Robert Oppenheimer’s house is closed to visitors, you can walk right up to it. “There’s nobody living in it,” says History of the Secret City guide Jim Shipley. “So you’re perfectly welcome to walk up close, peer in the windows, and take pictures.”
The last leg of the 90-minute tour weaves past the Memorial Rose Garden, which honors the residents who died during the Manhattan Project and Los Alamos’s early days. It ends on the front steps of the Hans Bethe House, which holds the Harold Agnew Cold War Gallery. The log and stone cottage sits beside the home where Oppenheimer lived, which remains under renovation and not yet open to the public.
A few members from our group stick around to thank the Shipleys, who express how important it is to teach others about this history. “I just try to present what occurred in an unbiased light,” Jim says. “It’s up to folks that come here to decide what they think about what all it means.”
Read more: Take a trek back in time with these historical tours.
