Sun & Sand Motel & Restaurant

2050 Historic Route 66, Santa Rosa, NM 88435
Phone: 575-472-5268/Restaurant: 575-472-3092

East < GO > West

The Sun & Sand Motel and Restaurant was built in the mid-to-late 1950s with 40 guest rooms spread out over several buildings plus a smaller building for the office and owners or managers living quarters. There is also a restaurant on the site. The motel had been closed for several years around 2014-17 and became sadly run down, a common experience for a closed vintage motel. But there was hope, new owners hoped to reopen it in 2017/18.

the sign was restored as part of the 2003 New Mexico Route 66 Neon Sign Restoration Project. The color of the background of "Motel" was changed back to the original blue background. Those blue sign blocks for an arrow pointing to the motel.

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Vintage Advertising Highlights

Late 50s Postcard
Santa Rosa's Most Modern Tourist Court
AAA
Sun 'n Sand Motel
On Highways 66-54-84
East End of Town
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
Phone GRover 2-xxxx
Refrigerated air
Electric heat
TV & telephones in every room
Near good restaurants & service station
John J. Curry, Owner

Note: It seems to have been common in Santa Rosa to list a location as Hwy. 66-54-84 rather than an actual address. Also note that there is no motel phone number listed, that seems odd for a motel in the late 1950s
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Photo(s): 2012