Tucumcari Route 66

About Four Miles Of The Original Route 66 Alignment Through Tucumcari, Carrying One Of The Densest Surviving Concentrations Of 1930s To 1960s Motel And Cafe Neon Anywhere On The Route · Tucumcari, New Mexico

Tucumcari made its living from Route 66 for forty years, advertised itself for two hundred miles in each direction with the slogan Tucumcari Tonite, and then the interstate went in a mile south and the traffic stopped. What survived is about four miles of the old alignment carrying one of the densest runs of surviving neon anywhere on Route 66: the Blue Swallow with its garages and its 1939 sign, the Roadrunner Lodge, the Palomino, the Buckaroo, the Tepee Curios sign, the Motel Safari and a long tail of dead and half-dead signs between them. Several have been restored by owners who bought the buildings specifically to do it. It is a working street rather than a preserved one, which means some of it is derelict, and it is the reason photographers come off the interstate at dusk. Several of the motels are working motels at modest prices, bought by owners who wanted the signs, and staying in one is the difference between seeing this street and doing it. The old alignment continues east toward San Jon and Glenrio, emptier and stranger still.

1901 East Route 66 Boulevard, Tucumcari, Tucumcari, New Mexico, 88401, United States

The street is a public highway, open at all hours and free, and the point of it is after dark - the signs come on at dusk and most stay lit until late. The motels are working motels and are staffed through the evening. Cafes and the trading posts along the strip keep daytime and early evening hours and several close on Sundays. The Route 66 and Mesalands dinosaur museums keep limited weekday hours and close in parts of winter.

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