Tucumcari Still Burning, Again, Some More

(Sixgun Siding)

(Route 66 News) Fire ravaged the long-closed Paradise Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico, for the second time in less than six months.

Tucumcari Fire Chief Doug Hogan said the blaze was reported at 3:25 p.m. Wednesday and wasn’t brought until control until about five hours later. Continued

Arson case slated in Tucumcari Motel Fire

The only thing left of Payless is the sign (Sixgun Siding)

(Quay County Sun) A mediation hearing is scheduled for Friday in Albuquerque federal district court in a civil case against Tucumcari city and police officials filed by owners of the Payless Inn, which was destroyed in an arson fire in 2014 started by former Tucumcari police officer Dustin Lopez while he was still on the police force.
Last Thursday, the Tucumcari City Commission approved $25,000 allocation for the deductible portion of the settlement of this case, indicating a settlement might be near.
In the case, Maggie Ventures, L.L.C. of Nevada, the motel’s owner, alleged the city and police department officials improperly hired Lopez despite his known problems with “alcoholism and other disorders.” Continued

Tucumcari Still Burning: Fire damages Paradise Motel

Before the fire (Sixgun Siding)

(Route 66 News) Fire heavily damaged the main office building and one room Friday afternoon at the long-closed Paradise Motel on the western edge of Tucumcari, New Mexico.
The fire didn’t damage the motel’s distinctive neon sign, its garage or much of the rest of the complex. But the blaze doesn’t portend well for the motel’s already-grim future. Continued

Tucumcari Motel sign emerges from the ashes

Before the fire (Sixgun Siding)

(Route 66 News) The last time most people saw the old Tucumcari Motel sign near downtown Tucumcari, New Mexico, the long-closed business was destroyed by a suspected arson fire about three years ago.
Because it stood about 20 feet from the building, the fire left the neon sign for the motel unscathed. Locals hauled away the sign a few days after that, and nothing more was heard about it. Continued

Paradise Motel and Cafe: Tucumcari, New Mexico

 

On a family vacation, all day in an un-airconditioned Chevy Bel Air wagon, "seeing America," places like this really were paradise.

Danford Dan's

Danford Dan's Music Store has been a Tucumcari landmark for years. Sadly, it burned, leaving us all a little poorer.

Tucumcari is Burning

 

According to the Quay County Sun, the Tucumcari Motel burned down last night. The motel wasn't constructed like most old motels or tourist courts, so I assume that it was originally a hotel or boarding house. It, quite likely, represented a transition from the railroad days to the automobile era, or perhaps from the Ozark Trail days to the Route 66/54 era.
A lot of things have been burning down in Tucumcari lately: the Tucumcari Animal Hospital, the Federal Building, the Hampton Inn, the Payless Inn & the Tucumcari Motel. 
Many of the tourists who visit Tucumcari aren't just interested in the vintage motels operating on Route 66, they also like the old buildings in town, including the abandoned ones. Especially the abandoned ones.
I remember a conversation I had with a photographer in a large east coast camera store. He was an architectural photographer by profession. "What kind of buildings do you like best?," I asked him. "I love the decrepit stuff," he said with a smile.
I can't say there's millions of people who travel the world looking to document "decrepit stuff," but there are tens of thousands, and many of them travel to Tucumcari to do so. If you don't believe me just do an image search on Google using the term "Tucumcari." What many see as an eyesore is actually part of the town's charm and thus part of its economic base as well.
Because of its unique history, many of the towns in our region (Tucumcari, Clovis, Portales, Santa Rosa to name a few), are like living architectural museums, almost frozen in time, but they won't be if we allow people to burn it all down, piece by piece.

The Tucumcari Motel