seventh and central: lowriders
an intimate portrait of Albuquerque lowrider culture
“Paolinelli’s photographs are current, raw, and deeply human, and they honor a subculture that’s unique to our particular place and time. His reverence for his subjects conveys a remarkable trust and openness.”
– Suzanne Sbarge, Founder and Former
Executive Director of 516 Arts
“The images are intense, a brilliant mixture of color and black and white bringing each page alive while blending perfectly into a single, heartfelt story.”
Seventh and Central: Lowriders
Photographs by Nathaniel Tetsuro Paolinelli
Published by UNM Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Seventh and Central: Lowriders is a photobook centered on Albuquerque’s lowrider culture and the people who sustain it. Published by University of New Mexico Press, the book brings together more than 130 photographs in color and black and white, made over time with an emphasis on family, craftsmanship, style, and public life.
Set largely along Central Avenue, Albuquerque’s historic stretch of Route 66, the work looks at lowrider culture not as spectacle, but as a living tradition shaped by memory, pride, and community. The photographs move between the street and more intimate moments, showing the cars, rituals, friendships, fashions, and details that give this world its depth.
From chrome and custom paint to car clubs and quiet exchanges between generations, Seventh and Central: Lowriders offers a portrait of a culture that continues to shape the visual and social life of the city. It is a book about beauty and design, but also about belonging, representation, and the ways communities carry history forward in public.
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![A young girl with makeup resembling a skeleton in a purple and black dress standing in front of an upside-down vintage pink car decorated with purple lights at night.]()
photographed with honesty and deep reverence.
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![Cover of Seventh and Central: Lowriders by Nathaniel Tetsuro Paolinelli, published by UNM Press.]()
Albuquerque lowriders, from the inside.
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![Open magazine with a black and white photograph of two women in a vintage car on the left page and a poem titled 'La Princesa de la Calle Séptima y Avenida Central' on the right page.]()
Family, pride, and the Sunday cruise.
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![Open book with two pages visible. Left page shows a color photo of a city street with buildings, cars, and traffic signs. Text below the photo talks about photographs, with a quote from Suzanne Savage. Right page features a black and white photo with a blue, intricate, gothic-style graphic overlay, and text indicating it is a photography book by Nathaniel Tetsuro Paolinelli.]()
More than cars. A culture.
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![A vintage pink pickup truck parked in front of a lit church at night.]()
172 pages, 130+ photographs in color and black & white.
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![Open book displaying black and white photographs of tattooed men, one with a shaved head and tattoos on face and head, and the other wearing sunglasses and standing on a street.]()
Current, raw, and deeply human.
“a new multimedia book celebrates this culture”
-KUNM
