Blue Swallow Motel facts for kids
| Blue Swallow Motel | |
Quick facts for kids  |
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| Hotel facts and statistics | |
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| Location | Tucumcari, New Mexico |
| Address | |
| No. of rooms | 14 |
The Blue Swallow Motel is a famous old motel located in Tucumcari, New Mexico, in the United States. It's a special place because it's part of the historic U.S. Route 66. This motel has 12 rooms and is shaped like an "L". It's even listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which means it's an important historical site.
The motel originally had pink walls with shell designs. It also had a unique roof style. There was an office for the manager and garages for travelers to park their cars right next to their rooms.
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History of the Blue Swallow Motel
The Blue Swallow Motel was built in 1939 by a carpenter named W.A. Huggins. By 1941, it was open and even had a small café. Ted and Marjorie Jones were the first people to run the motel for a long time, starting in 1944.
Long-Term Owners
The motel is one of the oldest continuously running motels on the New Mexico part of Route 66. In 1958, Floyd Redman bought the motel as a gift for his wife, Lillian. They renamed it the Blue Swallow Motel.
Changes and Challenges
After 1958, the motel got some cool updates. They added bright neon signs that said "TV" and "100% Refrigerated Air." The motel stayed open during the busy years after World War II. Back then, many people traveled on old US Highways like Route 66. Billboards for miles would advertise "Tucumcari Tonight!" and "2000 motel rooms."
However, things changed in the 1960s. A new highway, Interstate 40, was built. This new highway took away most of the traffic from Route 66. Many businesses on Route 66 struggled.
When Route 66 was closed to the majority of traffic and the other highway came in, I felt just like I had lost an old friend. But some of us stuck it out and are still here on Route 66.
—Lillian Redman
Lillian Redman had lived in Tucumcari since 1923. She ran the Blue Swallow Motel for 40 years. She continued to run it by herself after her husband, Floyd, passed away in 1973. Lillian finally sold the motel in 1998. She moved to a nearby house and often visited the motel and its new owners. She passed away in 1999 at 89 years old.
Restoring the Blue Swallow
After Lillian Redman sold the motel in 1998, new owners Dale and Hilda Bakke worked hard to restore it. They fixed the old neon lights from the 1960s. They also added a vintage rotary phone system in the rooms. They replaced old hardwood floors with carpet and put in color TVs instead of black and white ones. Each room now has old-style lighting and furniture from that time period.
New Owners and Fame
Bill and Terri Kinder bought the Blue Swallow in 2006. Then, Kevin and Nancy Mueller purchased it in 2011. Robert and Dawn Federico became the owners in 2020.
Smithsonian Magazine once called the Blue Swallow Motel "the last, best and friendliest of the old-time motels." It's still open and doing well today. This is partly thanks to groups like the Route 66 associations. These groups work to keep the old highway's history alive.
The animation studio Pixar even visited the Blue Swallow Motel. They were doing research for their 2006 movie Cars. In the movie, the Cozy Cone Motel has neon lights that show the Blue Swallow's famous "100% Refrigerated Air" slogan.
