The closed Silver Moon Lodge along Central Avenue (aka Route 66) near downtown Albuquerque was razed Thursday to make way for a planned grocery store, retail space, and apartments, reported KOB-TV.
The motel, which dated to the 1950s, had been closed for several years. Longtime Route 66 roadie Mark Potter said back then, it was a Desert Skies Motor Hotel. Here’s a postcard when it later was the Desert Inn Motor Hotel.
The Duke City has seen another high-profile loss to the wrecking in recent months, including the Aztec Motel. Albuquerque has a unique situation in which at least two dozen vintage motels still stand along Central Avenue, and not nearly enough Route 66ers and other tourist traffic to keep them going.
So the owners are forced to use most of them as low-income housing or apartments, or convert them into something else entirely.
With Route 66 essentially being a cottage industry, Albuquerque for now seems to be focused a very few historic Mother Road motels, including De Anza and El Vado Motel.
(Hat tip: Mark Potter)
Sad but market economics not nostalgia / history drive business decisions. Each year we lose more sites. Great incentive to get out and see the remaining attractions. Another issue is theft. 66 is being picked apart by vultures that will take parts of buildings and signs as souvenirs. There used to be signs for the Jackrabbit Trading Post all along the highway telling you how many miles till you were there. The owner tells me that they no longer put them up because they are stolen as quickly as they install them. Neon signs have become valuable and collectable. While they are not stolen, they are going to private collections.
Still plenty to see, but if you snooze you lose.