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Updated: June 04 2013
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Motel Safari receives 2013 Trip Advisor Traveler's Choice Award for Top 25 Bargain Hotels in the United States! We would like to extend a big Thank You to each and everyone of our guests and fans from around the world...
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See the list here...
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Not so long ago, a group of intrepid travelers set off to deliver two 1970's sports cars via one of America's most iconic roads - Route 66. Our fearless posse faced many hardships along the way.
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A huge thanks to the Motel Safari for their amazing contribution to The Motels of Route 66 Project. Richard & Gail Talley of the Motel Safari gave the project a check when we were shooting in Tucumcari in June.
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Read more here...
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He's been there for 50 years, but he's just not walking yet. Clyde the Camel has been a feature on the Motel Safari sign in Tucumcari since 1962, added just three years after the motel opened. Since some of the camels that had been used by pre-Civil War military surveyors in the area had been set free when their mission ended, a camel seemed an appropriate image.
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#7. Tucumcari, N.M.: Home to neon-laced motels like the Motel Safari, Tucumcari also features curio shops and diners dating back to the road's glory days from the 1930s to the 1950s and its famous "Tucumcari Tonight!" roadside signs, which promoted the town as a favorite overnight stopping point. Tucumcari is one of the highway's best-preserved towns.
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See the other 9...
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"This road is globally iconic," Talley says. "You can listen to people who have lived the route's heyday, who will spin stories for hours about feeding hobos during the Great Depression. And all on one road, or nearby, you can see the Grand Canyon or the Petrified Forest and end up on the Santa Monica Pier in California."
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Read the article...
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We woke up in Tucumcari, which is truly a town steeped in Route 66. We were at the marvelous Motel Safari, which at first glance looks like any U-shaped motor court from the early post-war period. The old Ford Galaxie was the first hint it was different, the warm welcome from the owner was the second.
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To say that they restored it wouldn't be totally accurate. It's actually more like a good resto-mod, in that the modern amenities are there but they aren't immediately apparent. The rooms are clean and simple in 1950s style and they have cozy beds.
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Tucumcari is on old Route 66, so they have a lot of these type of 'old school' motels. Some of them looked run-down, others were completely closed, but others were being brought back to their Route 66 livelihood. Motel Safari is definitely one motel roaring back to it's Route 66 glory days!
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Read the blog here...
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and found our time capsule for the night, the Motel Safari. I parted the thin veil that separates the past from the present when entering the lobby and in an instant memories from a childhood spent cruising U.S. 66 filled my mind and stayed with me throughout the evening.
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Seen in: Boomer Magazine "Get your kicks on America's fabulous old road"
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Flickering neon along Tucumcari's six miles of 66 makes it look like a mini Las Vegas at night. Motel Safari was memorable: The 1959 motel's rooms have been refurbished with luxurious pillow-top mattresses and flat-screen televisions. More than two dozen murals dot the town, including the Safari's "Tucumcari Tonight!" tour bus. Many curio shops, motels and restaurants that thrived in the 1940s-50s remain.
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Vol. 4, No. 5, Page 75
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When you see the hotel sign with a camel on it, you've arrived. After a long day of driving, the Sealy Posturepedic mattresses offer welcome respite. Pricier modern hotels around the country should hang their pillow-tops in shame for charging 3 to 5 times to do what the Motel Safari does -- and only half as well.
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author John Heitmann writes: "It had to be a car-friendly place, since a 1964 Galaxie is parked near the office. I must say this place did not disappoint. - and perhaps the world's most comfortable bed!"
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Showcased on new site: Route 66 World.com "Motel Safari"
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I am showcasing the Motel Safari in Tucumcari, New Mexico for two reasons:
1) It is a historic motel that has just about stayed close to character as you will find (plus internet and a flat screen TV!!)
2) These folks saw the importance in preserving the motel, as well as many other stops along the route, for thousands of travelers and future generations.
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See more here...
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Here's a nice little video shot from one of our guests from overseas, now posted on youtube.com! Thanks Wolfgang and Marion, we appreciate you sharing with everyone and we hope to see you both again soon. Note: the sign had just been damaged from 70 mph wind gusts in a storm at the time, and has since been repaired. Their footage of some of our town's wall murals at the end, are fabulous!
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See the whole video here...
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The latest over at: Brandland USA "Motel Safari"
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Restored American motels keep popping up, a witness to the American need to preserve some of the more interesting parts of the American roadside, especially on Route 66.
Here, is the Safari Motel in Tucumcari. Tell the kids it's the sort of roadside attraction from Pixar's Cars. The hotel is apparently owned by Richard Talley, president of Smalltown America, a company he set up to buy and run motels along Route 66.
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Click here for more...
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Talley is president of Smalltown America, whose goal is to buy, renovate and reopen some of the motels along the route. His first project was the Motel Safari in Tucumari, NM, a 23-room structure built in the 1950s.
"There are still a lot of families and highway traffic that come through town, that love the old hotels but don't want to be on a 50-year-old mattress with the springs popping through it," he says.
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Click here, see the article...
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I've often longed for the days that preceded me, when lodges with names like the Hiway Host and the Come On Inn could be counted on to provide a clean shower and a pleasant night's rest without the peeling ceilings and questionable sounds coming from the room next door.
Well, someone's finally turning back the clock. Smalltown America Inns, Lodges and Motels has launched an effort to buy up classic roadside motor courts and restore them to their former glory, with a few modern amenities thrown in.
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Read more here...
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Built in 1959, the Motel Safari was recently renovated by an entrepreneur, who started Smalltown America last year with the goal of preserving historic motels on Route 66. "Eventually we'd like to renovate one Route 66 motel from every state," Talley says. The Motel Safari, which reopened on Feb. 18, was updated with brand-new amenities while maintaining a retro feel, he says. Additionally, the renovation went green by incorporating low burning water heaters, reducing water use, and utilizing low voltage electrics.
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Check it out...
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Do you remember driving Route 66? Wish you did? While some of the Mom and Pop motels are still in operation, many are not. Wish you could have stayed in some of the amazing motels along the way?
Actually, you can, the Motel Safari was recently purchased by a company called, yep, you guessed it, Smalltown America. And, the company aims to restore vintage Route 66 motels.
Read more...
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