The Frontier Restaurant may have changed its hours, but that hasn't stopped people from finding a place to eat in the early morning hours.
The Frontier was open 24 hours a day since 1991. But in January, its owners decided to close their doors from 1 to 5 a.m. every day.
Many of the Frontier's former late-night customers have started going to Denny's, the Pita Pit and the Village Inn.
Michael Benavides, manager of a 24-hour Denny's at 2608 Central Ave. N.E., said the nightlife has brought an increase in revenue along with rowdy customers.
"We have inherited Frontier's problems. All the troublemakers are coming here now," he said. "The day the Frontier closed, we got real busy. We stay busy until about five in the morning."
Benavides said there was a shooting in the Denny's parking lot last week, but it did not affect the customers inside.
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"We really don't know what happened out there," he said. "It was sort of in the alley area. The cops came, and when my manager went out there to see what was going on, they just told him to go back inside."
The Pita Pit, at 2106 Central Ave. S.E., is open until 3 a.m.
Odilia Nino, the restaurant's manager, said the night crew hasn't had many problems with late-night customers.
"My night crew, once in a while, has trouble with people who have been drinking," she said.
Nino said the store doesn't have security. When customers act inappropriately, employees will ask them to leave, she said.
"If they don't walk out, then we try to not kick them out in a mean way," she said. "But if they were to refuse to leave, we would call the cops."
She said it hasn't come to that yet.
The Village Inn, at 5505 Central Ave. N.E., is open 24 hours on weekends.
Chris Young, the restaurant's night manager, said sales are up by 10 percent since the Frontier closed, but his restaurant's customers haven't changed.
"You can tell that they've been partying," he said. "People from 21 to people in their 60s will come in late at night from dancing and drinking and all that good stuff."
Benavides said Denny's gets swamped after bars close at 2 a.m.
"It does get a little hectic," he said. "This place fills up in a matter of 10 minutes - 10 to 15 minutes after 2 a.m., this place is full. But I've put on extra staff and extra cooks. They've been able to handle it pretty well."
Young said an Albuquerque Police officer stays on duty at the Village Inn from midnight to 4 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Benavides said Denny's has had to hire a security guard to deal with the increase in customers.
"So far, it seems to be working out," he said. "We are planning on getting a new security system, so we'll have some cameras out in the parking lot. Right now, all we have is the cameras inside the restaurant, and we'd like to put some outside just to deter people from getting rowdy out in the parking lot also."
Benavides said he doesn't mind the growing popularity of Denny's. But he's worried things might change when the weather gets warmer, he said.
"My main concern is once springtime comes and the college kids start coming in here a little bit more at night - the jocks and stuff. They may not get along too well with these people coming from Downtown," he said. "We might have problems then."
-Maggie Ybarra contributed to this report.
