Route 66

The National Park Service writes that, “in New Mexico, Route 66 dips, curves, and winds across arid rangeland, mesas, railroad towns, tribal communities, and National Monuments.” New Mexico True writes that Route 66 was first built in 1926 in order to, “connect rapidly urbanizing cities with rural communities across more than half the country.” Originally following the route of the Old Santa Fe Trail, it was rerouted in 1937. The U.S. Department of Transportation writes that, “in the 1950s, Route 66 became the main highway for vacationers heading to Los Angeles. The traffic along Route 66 also resulted in the opening of many mom-and-pop establishments, such as restaurants, motels, and gas stations.” With the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, I-40 was constructed and Route 66 fell out of use, being officially removed from the US highway system in 1985. New Mexico True writes that, “currently, there are 265 miles of the old route still travelable, which gives the motorist a look at some of the original boomtowns made by the traffic from Route 66: Tucumcari, Santa Rosa, Albuquerque, Grants, and Gallup, among others. The traveler can count on the essential hallmarks of Route 66: motels, diners, souvenir stands, and an abundance of neon.” I’ve written about historic motels and active diners on other posts, but here are some of the other old Route 66 sites in New Mexico:

East of Albuquerque

Glenrio: in New Mexico: Route 66 on Tour, Don J. Usner writes that, “the State Line Bar, the Little Juarez Diner, and the First in Texas/Last in Texas Motel and Cafe drew a lively clientele from passersby on the highway. Now all that remains are the empty whitewashed buildings.” The Texas Longhorn Motel was advertised as the “last stop in Texas.” When I-40 opened in 1973, Glenrio became a ghost town. From Glenrio to San Jon you can drive along a 14.6 mile segment of old Route 66.

San Jon: the town dates back to 1902, when the railroad came through. On the SE corner of 7th, the SE corner of 6th St, and NW corner of 5th St, there are old Route 66-era gas stations. There is the San Jon Motel, opened in 1946. In San Jon you can eat at the restaurant Taste of India. From San Jon to Tucumcari you can drive along a 23.9-mile segment of old Route 66, along which you can see the ruins of the Historic Cedar Hill Grocery Store.

Tucumcari: founded in 1901 as a railroad town, there are lots of abandoned buildings and modern historic sites around town, including the Odeon Theater (built in 1936), Tee Pee Curios (opened in 1944 and still in operation), the ruins of the Ranch House Cafe (1952)

Palomas to Cuervo: another stretch of the original Route 66, you can go through an original underpass and see the ruins of the Richardson Store, built in 1908, at Montoya. You can also see two other ghost towns–Newkirk and Cuervo, which has a well-maintained stone church from 1915.

Santa Rosa: in his work New Mexico: Route 66 on Tour, Don J. Usner writes that, “at Santa Rosa… the cowboy culture the Ilano collides with the farming culture of the Pecos River Valley, a clash vividly fictionalized in Rudolfo Ananya’s Bless Me, Ultima.” In Santa Rosa you can see the Santa Rosa de Lima Chapel, the Route 66 Auto Museum, the Blue Hole, the La Loma Motel (opened in 1949) and the Tower Motel (opened in 1950). The sign for the Sahara Lounge, opened in the 1950s, is currently in Albuquerque and is set to be part of Glorieta Station.

Clines Corners: established in 1934, it became an important rest stop for Route 66 travelers

Longhorn Ranch Saloon: no longer standing, it was once a notable stop on Route 66. A sign for its motel still stands (photos taken 2024)

Moriarty: in this small town there is the last Whiting Bros in operation. There was once “Blackie’s Cafe,” you can see an old postcard below.

Edgewood: according to this website, “built in the mid-1940s, it served travelers along Route 66 as a curio shop, gas station, cafe, rest stop and also served the local community as a post office and municipal court during its lifetime of use”

Albuquerque

“Route 66 and Albuquerque have had a long standing romance. Running through the heart of the city along Central Avenue, this historic highway leads travelers through some of the city’s most beloved neighborhoods and is still a jumping off point for transportation.” I’ve posted about Route 66 motels and diners in Albuquerque, here are some other sites:

International District Library: formerly the Caravan Club, opened in the 1960s. “Through the 1970s, it was the city’s largest country western club, with a 50 feet by 20 feet dance floor.” It closed in 2016 and was demolished in 2017 to make way for the library, which pays tribute to the old Route 66 site through its sign,

Bank of the West Tower: completed in 1963

Hiland Theatre: opened in 1950, here are some more historic theatres in New Mexico

Master Cleaners: opened in the 1940s, it closed in 2018

Lobo Theater: opened in 1938

Triangle Police Station: “This police station is housed in a Valentine diner. It operated as the Little House Diner in Albuquerque from 1942-1992. After it closed, it was donated to the city. In 1997, the diner was moved here and converted into a police station.”

Quick Track: now a gas station on University & Central, this spot used to house “Oklahoma Joe’s,” a bar that opened in 1935

1601 Central: according to this blog post, the Methodist Deaconess Sanatorium was built in 1912. It became Galles Motors on Central, which is now the UNM Center for Advanced Research Computing.

Alvarado Transportation Center: built in the 2000s in a style to pay homage to the Alvarado Hotel, which was an old Harvey Hotel built in 1902 and torn down in 1970

Woolworths: seen in many postcards of downtown Albuquerque, this building “had been a hotel in the 1930s; it was replaced in the 1940s by Woolworth’s”

Yrisarri Building: “a classic brick building with a bracketed cornice and arched windows was built in 1909, it housed the first store operated by Maisel with his Maisel’s Trading Post”

400s block of West Central: The McCanna-Hubbell Building, see on the right below, was built in 1915. From 1917 until the mid 1960s, it was the headquarters of the Albuquerque Gas & Electric Company. According to Albuquerque Then and Now by Mo Palmer, J.C. Penney opened a store in 1916 in the two-story Melini Building, seen all the way to the left below. The Kress Building, in the center of the two, was then built in 1925 as a department store chain. Route 66 was established the following year, then running along north-south along 4th street. Later, in 1937, it was rerouted to run east-west along Central (as seen below).

KiMo Theatre: the KiMo Theatre opened in 1927, fusing art deco with Native American architectural styles

Maisel’s Indian Jewelry and Crafts: opened in 1939, it permanently closed in 2019 and now sits empty

Man’s Hat Shop: according to this article, the Man’s Hat Shop has been an Albuquerque downtown staple for more than 75 years. You can see it in the old postcard below, which dates to the 1970s.

Site of the demolished Franciscan Hotel: now a parking lot, this used to be the site of the Franciscan Hotel, which opened in 1923 and was torn down in 1972, just two years after the demolition of the Alvarado Hotel, where the transportation center now is.

El Rey Theater: built in 1941. There used to be a Masonic Temple across the street, which was torn down

Skinner Building: constructed in 1931

West of Albuquerque

Rio Puerco Bridge: built in 1933 and in use until 1997

Budville Trading Post, opened in 1928. Across the street is the Dixie Quick Stop, established in 1936

Acoma Curio Shop: the building was constructed in 1916. Then in 1937 a Lebanese immigrant to New Mexico established a mercantile business there. Driving towards the Acoma Curio Shop you can see some other interesting old buildings

Ruins of Whiting Brothers gas station, a chain of gas stations established in 1926 and in operation until the 80s

Grants: founded in the 1880s, the city of Grants enjoyed a boom with uranium mining after it was discovered in 1950. You can learn more about this history at the Mining Museum. Today in Grants you can see Charlie’s Radiator Service (opened in 1943), the West Theatre (opened in 1959), the sign for the old Zia Motel, an old abandoned Hollywood diner that was opened in 1955, the Lux Theatre (opened in 1937), and the Uranium Cafe (no longer open although the sign remains–I took the more recent image in fall of ’23, the older one was taken in the 1970s by John Margolies.). There are also several operating Route 66-era diners and motels in Grants.

On the way to Gallup, you can see the ruins of Bowlin’s Old Crater Trading Post, built in 1954 and closed in 1973.

Gallup: founded in 1881 as a railroad town, the song is mentioned in the famous song “Get Your Kicks on Route 66.” Thirty minutes west of Gallup you can see the Chief Yellowstone trading post, opened by Harry “Indian” Miller as the Cave of the Seven Devils in 1931.

North of Albuquerque (Pre 1937 Route)

Route 66 was first established in 1926. The initial route ran from Santa Rosa through Romeroville, Pecos, Glorieta, and onwards to Santa Fe. It then went south through Bernalillo (along the current 313) to Albuquerque. Today, driving along 4th street and then Isleta in Albuquerque is the old “Santa Fe Loop” version of Route 66. From Albuquerque it went south to Los Lunas before turning westwards. Parts of this section are also the older El Camino Real, the oldest continuously used European roadway in North America. In 1937, Route 66 was rerouted to a straight line going from east to west. Here are some of the historic sites that Route 66 travelers may have visited along the 1926 route:

Sacred Heart Church in Dilia: built in 1900

San Miguel del Vado Church: built in 1805

Route 66 Bridge in San Jose: now no longer in use, it dates to the 1920s

Pecos National Park: “the park encompasses thousands of acres of landscape infused with historical elements from prehistoric archaeological ruins to 19th-century ranches, to a battlefield of the American Civil War. Its largest single feature is Pecos Pueblo, a Native American community abandoned in historic times”

Pigeon’s Ranch: located here, built by Alexander Valle, a Frenchman who spoke “pigeon” English. His ranch was used as a field hospital during the Civil War. Beginning in 1924, it became a tourist attraction.

La Bajada: according to this website, “the village of La Bajada… was established [in the early 18th century] as a rest stop along the Spanish Camino Real that linked Santa Fe with Mexico City.” Its church was built in 1837. La Bajada means “the descent” as it is located at the base of a 600 foot escarpment. “The Spaniards used an ancient native foot trail for their highway and widened it… it was a steep uphill or downhill road for the carts moving along the royal highway. Later it would be used as a U.S. territorial wagon road (1860s), and become the NM-1 highway and the National Old Trails highway (1909). There is a steep zig-zag road with dozens of hairpin bends that climbs from the lower mesa (La Majada Mesa) to the upper one (La Bajada Mesa). This wintding road became part of US 66 and US 85 when they were aligned through here in 1926.”

Santo Domingo Trading Post: established in 1881, it was visited by JFK in 1962

The Big Cut: according to the New Mexico Route 66 Association, “south of La Bajada… was the ‘Big Cut.’ Located near the present-day San Felipe Pueblo, this was an engineering marvel when it was completed in 1909 as part of New Mexico’s Route 1. Route 66 passed through the notch from 1926 to 1931. It consisted of a 75-foot long, 60-foot deep cut in Gravel Hill in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains made by hard working construction workers with dynamite, picks and shovels. The 18-foot wide roadway was no longer used when Route 66 was realigned in 1931. Remnants of the cut can still be seen from southbound I-25 at Exit 252 in back of the casinos on the east side of the interstate.”

El Santuario de San Lorenzo, Bernalillo: built in 1857

El Camino Motor Hotel & Dining Room: built in 1946 and ’50

Shalit House: built in 1936 in the English Cottage Revival style. More recently, it was the location of Mr. Powdrell’s BBQ, until the restaurant closed in the summer of 2024.

Madonna of the Trail: “The National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution established a committee in 1911 to promote the highway that became the National Old Trails, and later, in 1926, Route 66. The NSDAR commissioned 12 identical statues (one for each state crossed by the N.O.T.), as a symbol of the courage of the pioneer women who stood by their families and helped tame the West.”

Cathedral of St John: first established in 1882, John Gaw Meem designed the current one in the 1950s

B Ruppe Drugs: it was the longest continuously operating drugstore in Albuquerque. In 1883, Bernard Ruppe opened a shop in Old Town, moved to 2nd street and finally Barelas. A man named Tom Sanchez earned his pharmacy degree from UNM in 1949 and took over the business in 1965. His sister-in-law, Maclovia Zamora, began working there in 1981. In ’85 she converted it to a yerberia. She passed away in 2017. It is now, “a space dedicated to the history of the B Ruppe, the legacy of curandera, Maclovia Zamora and the art of curanderismo.” Across the street is a lovely church.

Arrow Super Market: now Box Road Antiques, “this building dates to the post-WWII period with a concrete block construction with stucco plaster, white glazed tiles on the upper part of the facade and a rounded corner”

Dairy Queen: I’m not sure when this Dairy Queen in the South Valley dates to, but it has a nostalgic sign

Hubble House: a home that dates back to the 1860s. At the time of Route 66, it was still a president residence, but has since been turned into a museum.

Travelodge Sign: just before getting northbound onto I-25, you can see this old billboard for a Travelodge, featuring its mascot–Sleepy Bear.

Luna Mansion: “back in 1881 as a gift from the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad to the Luna-Otero family in exchange for them having granted the right of way for the railroad tracks”