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Albuquerque has served as the backdrop for plenty of movies and television shows over the years, but there isn’t a single one that’s associated with New Mexico’s biggest city more than Breaking Bad. The home where Walter White lived with his family ended up turning into a popular tourist destination, and it’s hard to blame the woman who owns the residence for trying to sell it when you take a look at what she has to deal with on a daily basis.
It’s been more than two decades since New Mexico rolled out a tax credit designed to lure the entertainment industry to the state and stimulate its economy in the process, and it resulted in a significant uptick in the number of projects that were filmed there.
Movies on that list include No Country for Old Men, Sicario, and multiple installments of the Transformers franchise. There have also been dozens of television shows shot there, and none of them stand out more than Breaking Bad (and, to a slightly lesser degree, the spinoff Better Call Saul), which was primarily set and filmed in Albuquerque.
You probably won’t be shocked to learn there’s a company that offers Breaking Bad fans the chance to embark on a three-hour tour that will take them to close to 20 places that were featured in the show, including the Twisters restaurnt that housed the fictional Los Pollos Hermanos, the car wash that was used to launder the money from Walter White’s meth empire, and the house the man known as “Heisenberg” called home.
That dwelling is owned by Joanne Quintana, who was raised in the residence her parents purchased in 1972. The family received a one-time location fee after they were approached by the Breaking Bad production team before the pilot was filmed, and it’s safe to say they were not prepared for the amount of attention it would end up getting after the show became a cultural sensation.
In 2015, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan had to ask fans to stop throwing pizzas on the roof of the house while recreating a moment from the third season, but that’s far from the only issue Quintana has to deal with.
An Instagram creator known as “Santi” recently got the chance to spend the day with Quintana, who let him post up in the front yard while documenting the legions of fans who made the pilgrimage to the house while attempting to avoid being sprayed by the hose she deploys against people who get too close.
Earlier this year, Quintana listed the house for sale for $4 million (despite its estimated market value of around $350,000), saying she was fed up with the amount of attention it gets and saying she hopes someone will be willing to pay a premium in order to convert it into a museum or AirBnB that will be able to accomodate the Breaking Bad fans she clearly has no interest in attempting to tolerate anymore.