Luna Lodge

What is Luna Lodge?

Three buildings wrap a central parking lot in a narrow U, holding 28 rooms between them. On the west side, the front of the building rises to two stories, with the office at street level and the manager's quarters upstairs. Everything else is a single story. The eastern building once had a small cafe at its front.

The layout is a textbook motor court: rooms face inward toward the cars, and the office stands at the front where arriving guests could find it. The style is southwestern vernacular, with a few Streamline Moderne touches. The best one is the rounded front office.

History of Luna Lodge

The Luna Lodge opened in 1949 near the eastern edge of the city, roughly 6 miles from the center, one of the first motels westbound Route 66 travellers would reach. In time the motel closed and slid into disrepair. In 1998 it earned listings on the National Register and on New Mexico's state register of cultural properties. In 2013 it was restored and turned into low-income housing, which gave the old buildings a welcome new purpose.

Visiting Luna Lodge: tips

People live here now, so view the property from the sidewalk and respect residents' privacy. The rounded office is the detail to photograph, and a few minutes is enough. The La Puerta Lodge is about 0.3 miles away, the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History about 0.9 miles, and the La Mesa Motel site about 1.1 miles.