Tucumcari, New Mexico

At 815 East Route 66 Boulevard in Tucumcari, New Mexico, the Blue Swallow Motel's neon swallow has been pulling travelers off old Highway 66 for generations. Carpenter W.A. Huggins bought the lots in March 1939 and the motel, first called the Blue Swallow Court, opened with ten rooms around 1940. In 1958 Floyd Redman gave it to his fiancee Lillian as an engagement present, and she ran it for roughly four decades. It's one of the longest continuously operating motels on New Mexico's Route 66 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. A May 2023 hailstorm wrecked nearly ninety percent of the famous sign, prompting the largest restoration in the motel's history. The neon, naturally, glows again.