Political Dynasties and Hot Coffee

Members of the King and Anaya families drink coffee and chew the fat at their usual table at El Comedor in Moriarty. Local insurance agent Bill Williams has his back to the camera and from left to right are Sam King, Sammy King, Jerry King and Mike Anaya, who recently handed over El Comedor to another family after 60 years in business. (PAT VASQUEZ-CUNNINGHAM/JOURNAL)

MORIARTY – Michaela Anaya leaned in and gave 90-year-old Sam King a squeeze as the coffee was being poured the other morning.

“You’re not going to know what to do without me,” King joked.

Sam’s brother Don, 83, grabbed a chair at the table, picked up his own coffee mug and said, “It’s coming to an end.”

Moriarty is rich in the tradition of the King and Anaya families, two dynasties that have dominated business and politics for decades. Among them, they have had two governors, a state treasurer, an attorney general, a land commissioner, an assistant state land commissioner, state legislators, university regents and years of service on the local school board.

They have also had El Comedor – the Anayas as proprietors of the restaurant for 60 years and the Kings as fixtures around a table in the back for just about every morning during all of those decades.

Sam and Don and their brother, the late Gov. Bruce King, began the family tradition back when El Comedor sat on a two-lane road jammed with Route 66 traffic and Interstate 40 was still years away.

Bruce, the smart one, always made sure he got the middle seat in the pickup, so he wouldn’t have to get out and open and close the gates as they drove in from the farm in Stanley.

The tradition at the restaurant endures to this day, every day at 8:30 a.m. sharp.

Lots of celebrities and politicians have passed through the doors of El Comedor, and their photos line the walls.

“They never did kick us out,” Sam said.

But that tradition is coming to an end, at least as far as the Anaya family brewing the coffee is concerned. Mike Anaya and his daughter, Michaela, are letting go of their stake in El Comedor and, beginning this week, are leasing the place to another local family, the Stuards.

A lot will remain the same, the Anayas told me. The decor of wagon wheels and hundreds of framed photos of politicians and celebrities lining the walls. New Mexican food. The booths. The tables. The big neon star outside that glows at night.

And the Kings. They told me they couldn’t imagine getting their mornings started anywhere other than El Comedor.

On the morning I sat in for a cup of coffee, Sam, Don, Sam’s son, Sammy, and Don’s son, Jerry, were kicking around the news of the day. Most mornings, Bruce’s son, Bill, also joins the pack, as well as Sammy’s son, Tyler.

They were talking about corn – the Kings have been in ranching and farming and propane for years – and about the inevitable passage of time, which lately has been made clear in the obituary pages.

“Our friends keep disappearing,” Don said. “I’m about to get too old.”

Sam Jr. said he’s learned more from the elders at the table than he ever could imagine and that he’s aware of how precious that hour is every morning.

El Comedor de Anayas is now under the management of the Stuard family, but the King family says it will still keep its 8:30 a.m. coffee date as family members have for 60 years.

“We’d better take the time to stop and visit,” he told me, “because they’re not going to be with us forever.”

They talked for a bit about the ways in which the Anaya and King families have intersected – on sports teams, as unofficial baby sitters of each other’s kids and, of course, over meals at El Comedor de Anaya’s.

“A lot of history,” Mike Anaya said.

“A lot of water under the bridge,” Don King said.

Anaya, who closed Mike’s Friendly Store next door a couple of years ago, said he’s looking forward to not being tied to the seven-day-a-week yoke of the restaurant business, although he’ll miss interacting with customers.

I asked the Kings whether they would miss seeing Mike when they gather to chat and solve the problems of the world. Jerry King laughed and said you could bet that Anaya will still be at El Comedor most mornings.

“The only difference,” Anaya said, “is I’m going to have to come in through the front door.”

UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Leslie at 823-3914 or llinthicum@abqjournal.com. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal