Route 66 Tucumcari, NM
Roadtripusa.com: If you’re looking for great displays of neon signs, mom-and-pop motels in the middle of nowhere, or kitschy Americana, do as the song says and “get your kicks on Route 66.”
Subject of one of the most successful advertising campaigns in Route 66’s long history of roadside hype, Tucumcari (pop. 4,881) looks and sounds like a much bigger place than it is. Also known as “the town that’s two blocks wide and two miles long” (though Tucumcari Boulevard, which follows the route blazed by old Route 66 through town, stretches for closer to 7 mi (11.3 km) between interstate exits), Tucumcari does have a little of everything, including a great range of neon signs, but it can be hard to explain the attraction of the town that hundreds of signs along the highways once trumpeted as “Tucumcari Tonite—2,000 Motel Rooms.”
Wikipedia: Old U.S. Route 66 runs through the heart of Tucumcari via Route 66 Boulevard, which was previously known as Tucumcari Boulevard from 1970 to 2003 and as Gaynell Avenue before that time. Numerous businesses, including gasoline service stations, restaurants, and motels, were constructed to accommodate tourists as they traveled through on the Mother Road. A large number of the vintage motels and restaurants built in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s are still in business despite intense competition from newer chain motels and restaurants in the vicinity of Interstate 40, which passes through the city's outskirts on the south.
Tucumcari is the home of over 50 murals. Most were painted by artists Doug and Sharon Quarles and serve as a tourist attraction.
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Route 66 Tucumcari, NM
Roadtripusa.com: If you’re looking for great displays of neon signs, mom-and-pop motels in the middle of nowhere, or kitschy Americana, do as the song says and “get your kicks on Route 66.”
Subject of one of the most successful advertising campaigns in Route 66’s long history of roadside hype, Tucumcari (pop. 4,881) looks and sounds like a much bigger place than it is. Also known as “the town that’s two blocks wide and two miles long” (though Tucumcari Boulevard, which follows the route blazed by old Route 66 through town, stretches for closer to 7 mi (11.3 km) between interstate exits), Tucumcari does have a little of everything, including a great range of neon signs, but it can be hard to explain the attraction of the town that hundreds of signs along the highways once trumpeted as “Tucumcari Tonite—2,000 Motel Rooms.”
Wikipedia: Old U.S. Route 66 runs through the heart of Tucumcari via Route 66 Boulevard, which was previously known as Tucumcari Boulevard from 1970 to 2003 and as Gaynell Avenue before that time. Numerous businesses, including gasoline service stations, restaurants, and motels, were constructed to accommodate tourists as they traveled through on the Mother Road. A large number of the vintage motels and restaurants built in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s are still in business despite intense competition from newer chain motels and restaurants in the vicinity of Interstate 40, which passes through the city's outskirts on the south.
Tucumcari is the home of over 50 murals. Most were painted by artists Doug and Sharon Quarles and serve as a tourist attraction.
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