The Mountain Lodge motel sign east of Albuquerque was taken down Thursday, but it will resurface later as part of the planned Route 66 Visitor Center on the city’s west edge.
The New Mexico Route 66 Association posted the news, including photos, about the sign Friday on Facebook:
The Associated Press on Friday had more details on the sign’s fate:
The Mountain Lodge Motel sign has been removed and placed into storage until the new venue is ready. City officials called it a piece of history, saying its preservation will help provide a greater understanding of Route 66 for future generations.
The sign was donated by Owen St. Germain, who was close to having it demolished after he bought the property to build a home.
“I have been amazed at the interest the sign has been to locals as well as tourists who would stop by daily to take pictures,” he said. […]
Lucas Luna from Build It Right, the Belen-based company that transported the sign, said people were stopping at the site and sharing stories about those who used to stay at the lodge. He said others referred to the sign as “an old friend” they would pass every day on their drive to work or daily bike ride.
Construction on the $12 million Route 66 Visitors Center on Nine Mile Hill west of Albuquerque is scheduled to begin in the coming months.
Locals and the New Mexico association learned of the sign being in jeopardy in January.
Fire destroyed the Mountain Lodge motel in 2014. It was in the unincorporated village of Carnuel, which isn’t subject to the city of Albuquerque’s landmarks ordinance that might protect such signs.
Based on old postcard images I’ve seen of the motel, it dated to the 1940s.
(Image of the Mountain Lodge neon sign in January by Roland Penttila)
It’s a little surprising that the New Mexico Route 66 Association seem to be so in the dark about this to go by the comment cited in your piece that it made last week. The owner posted on Facebook some five weeks ago that ‘City Councilor Klarissa Pena has been kind enough to take the Mountain Lodge sign and put it on display with many other Route 66 signs in a new Route 66 museum getting ready to be built on the West side adjacent to Central Ave.’.