You’re in Tucumcari, New Mexico. You may have been driving for hours, days, or even weeks along Historic Route 66 when a neon blue swallow appears out of the dusky evening glow and dry heat of the Southwest like a mirage. As you drive closer to the swallow, a pink stucco building pulled straight from a classic Hollywood movie begins to take shape. You’re at Blue Swallow Motel, a National Register for Historic Places-listed motor lodge that’s been perfectly preserved to match the iconic vintage travel of yesteryear.

The lot where Blue Swallow Motel now stands was first purchased by Carpenter W.A. Huggins on March 29, 1939. Huggins named the motel Blue Swallow Court, so called because (like many accommodations during the explosion of cross-country auto travel) its main feature was a motor court, where guests would park their vehicles after a long day’s drive. The motor court also included 10 rooms and a cafe when it was first built, though it later expanded to 12 units with garage units located in between.

Lillian Redman was the first owner of Blue Swallow who was truly dedicated to its longevity. Redman first traveled west in 1915 to work as a Harvey Girl, one of many young women commissioned by entrepreneur Fred Harvey to work in the West as waitresses around the turn of the 20th century. Her time as a Harvey Girl ended when her soon-to-be husband, Floyd Redman, bought the motel as an engagement present for Lillian in 1958.

The couple installed the iconic neon sign and changed Blue Swallow’s name from “Court” to “Motel,” a term growing in popularity at the time. When guests didn’t have the cash to stay the night, the Redmans accepted personal belongings and even provided rooms for free.

After Floyd died in 1973, Lillian safely guided the motel through some of its most challenging years. Though many travelers began bypassing Route 66 for a faster, more efficient mode of travel on Interstate 40, Redman took up the mantel of Blue Swallow. She once said, “I end up traveling the highway in my heart with whoever stops here for the night,” and her dedication to the motel and the route was long remembered by lovers of The Mother Road after her death in 1999.

Shortly before her death, Redman sold the motel to Dale and Hilda Bakke, who decided to restore it to its original 1940s charm. Dale was a licensed electrician employed by the Colorado prison system for nine years before he decided to move to New Mexico upon hearing about an old motel for sale. With Dale’s experience and a competitive grant from U.S. West, the couple modernized the motel’s electrical systems and repaired the original neon. They also installed the 1939 Bakelite Bell rotary dial phones, vacuum-tube radios, and 1950s light fixtures, showerheads, and toilets in each room. They even maintained some of the garage units’ original wood overhead doors, which remain at the motel today.

Current owners Kevin and Nancy Mueller, plus their son Cameron and daughter-in-law Jessica, ensured that the motel was well cared for when they purchased it in 2011. While the family first bought Blue Swallow Motel to make a living after Kevin and Nancy had retired, it turned into a passion project.

“You see what time has done to a lot of different places, and Blue Swallow has survived,” Cameron Mueller says. “We’re doing everything we can to make sure that the kids of tomorrow will be able to enjoy it, and that the people who went on the trip in the ‘50s can still [experience] it and see the businesses thriving.”

The Muellers kept the motel’s Southwest Vernacular style in tip-top shape. They made sure its pink stucco walls, decorated with shell designs and stepped parapets, continued to bring guests into the past. They also put sentimental touches for older Route 66 travelers, such as Lillian Redman’s “Blue Swallow Benediction,” on display in each of the 12 rooms. The rooms do have some modern updates, like flat screen televisions and Wi-Fi, but their vintage light fixtures, bedding, and reading nooks make them feel much more authentic to the motel’s 1950s heyday.