An Albuquerque man is rescuing and restoring vintage neon signs from Route 66, preserving New Mexico’s history and the stories behind them
Flashing light bulbs, vibrant signs, and moving neon are part of Carlos Garcia’s collection, which preserves the spirit of Route 66 and a piece of New Mexico history.
“I think it’s just part of our history, and I feel like, as New Mexicans, we all have an obligation to preserve part of our history, and everyone does it in their own way,” Garcia said.
Garcia and his brother Ed have been collecting for years, inspired by their mother.
“Our mom came to UNM in 1955 to study anthropology with Professor Hibben, and she just fell in love with neon,” Garcia said.
What began with oil cans and small gas pump signs has turned into a passion—and an obsession.
“It became an illness, and there’s—it just seems like it’s a never-ending collection,” Garcia said.
But collecting the signs is only part of the work.
“Buying a sign is the easy part, but moving a sign, restoring them, redoing the electronics, the glass, insuring them, making sure they’re safe is really the costly part of it,” Garcia said.
Many of the signs in Garcia’s collection were rescued from places familiar to New Mexicans.
“The Kurt’s Camera Corral, you know, right in the heart of Nob Hill—everyone from Albuquerque would recognize that sign,” Garcia said.
He also mentioned the Jack’s Liquor Store sign.
“This was Route 66 by UNM on Central and University, so this sign was new in 1958. People from that era, from UNM, everyone had their first beer at Jack’s,” Garcia said.
Each sign has unique details that make it special.
“So we call these chaser lights. When the lights flash on and off and they are in a sequence, they look like they’re following each other,” Garcia said.
He also highlighted the craftsmanship of the Wagon Wheel sign.
“The Wagon Wheel is actual animation, and that’s just pretty hard to do because if you look at the spokes of the wheel, it’s so hard to bend the glass in those shapes, and there are only a few people that can do that,” Garcia said.
For Garcia, the collection is about more than just the neon.
“Getting to know people and their family story and the history of their business and being able to preserve a little bit of that history is by far the most important part of doing this,” Garcia said.
What started with a few small signs has grown into a collection of stories, each one worth preserving. Garcia said he hopes to open his space to the public once it’s complete.
