Budville sold, is set to reopen soon October 2, 2006
Posted by Ron in Attractions, Businesses, Preservation.3 comments
Budville Trading Post, a historic Route 66 business in Cubero, N.M., was sold several months ago and is set to reopen in a matter of weeks.
Budville’s new owners are John “Andrew” Peterson and his fiancee, Monica Gutierrez, who bought it in May. The score will become a general store again, with artwork sold on consignment from local artists and craftspeople from two nearby American Indian tribes. Budville is set to reopen around Halloween, said Gutierrez, who I talked to by telephone.
Peterson is a Cubero native, and Gutierrez grew up in nearby Grants. Both worked in Phoenix and other cities, but were looking for something different and closer to their families. Gutierrez also was understandably enthralled by the rock formations and mountain scenery in the Cubero area.
“We both wanted to change our lives,” Gutierrez said.
Peterson heard about Budville being up for sale, and the couple decided to check out the property.
“I was a little skeptical at first,” Gutierrez said, “but the first time I walked in here, I was home. It’s a beautiful place, and I’m so excited to share with everyone.”
Even while Budville is operating, the couple seek to keep restoring the property.
“We want to preserve the property the way it was originally,” she said. “That includes fixing the neon sign.”
In short, Budville was founded in 1928 by H.N. “Bud” Rice as a service station and trading post. Bud was slain in 1967 during a holdup. His wife, Flossie, ran the place for another 12 years before it closed. It was open sporadically after that, but was mostly inactive.
You can read a bit about Budville’s history at the Legends of America site and the Road Wanderer’s site. For more a more detailed account, read Route 66 Magazine’s Winter 1999 and Fall 2005 issues.
Budville is off Interstate 40’s Exit 117, on State Route 124 (aka Route 66). Budville’s phone number is 505-552-6021. Its Web site will be budvilletrading.com, which is under construction. Its hours will be 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week, but the store will remain open later for Route 66ers if they provide advance notice.
(Photo of Budville courtesy of The Road Wanderer.)
Artist finds inspiration on Route 66 October 2, 2006
Posted by Ron in Art, Events.add a comment
Carolyn Berl-Donald was getting a little tired of creating her hyper-realist paintings. But then she received a $5,000 grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts.
So she took some of the money so that she could travel west, including on Route 66, and find inspiration, reports the News-Journal.
Route 66 led her toward a new way of seeing and painting. Along the road, she took in sunsets, stoped to photograph rusty cars and old school buses and visited New Age tourist spots such as the UFO Watchtower in Hooper, Colo., a so-called vortex where people leave offerings. “They’d leave hubcaps and photos and toothbrushes,” she says.
During the trip, she became less interested in the realist style that she had worked in for many years. When she returned to Delaware, her work took a sharp impressionist turn. Eventually, Berl-Donald says, “It all started making sense. “
Her “An American Road Trip Diary” will be on display through Oct. 27 at the Carvel State Office Building Mezzanine Art Gallery, 820 N. French St., Wilmington, Del. You can find out a bit more about her trip on her Web site.
