Longtime operator of Monterey Motel in Albuquerque dies

Norman Bugg, who operated the Monterey Motel along Route 66 in Albuquerque for 25 years, died Sunday of heart failure. He was 89.

The Albuquerque Journal, which reported Bugg’s death Monday, said he refurbished and remodeled an aging motel into Triple Diamond-rated lodging.

Miroslaw and Boguslawa Elencwajg later acquired the motel and renamed it Monterey Non-Smokers Motel. The couple kept up its high quality standards.

According to “The Route 66 Encyclopedia,” the motel opened as the David Court in 1946. It was renamed Monterey Court by 1954.

The motel last year was sold to Sundance Village Limited Partnership, the same group from Portland, Oregon, that owns the newly refurbished El Vado Motel down the street. The group reverted the motel to its Monterey Motel name.

Bugg, however, was not best-known for his Route 66 role, but for having one of the most spectacularly decorated Albuquerque homes during the Christmas season.

The Journal reported:

For 31 years the home’s extravagant outdoor Christmas exhibit lit up his street in the Northeast Heights, with more than 300,000 colorful lights illuminating static and animatronic displays of Santa Claus and his elves, Nativity scenes, orcas, Eskimos, cowboys, Raggedy Ann and Andy, Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, polar bears, penguins, the Peanuts comic strip gang and more.
“We had to put in an entire new residential electrical system for it, and had professionally installed underground wiring and receptacles so there wouldn’t be extension cords and wires all over the yard,” said Matt Bugg. The family’s electrical bill during the holiday months was sometimes as high as $1,000 a month, he said.
Visitors also had the opportunity to donate money to feed the homeless through Noon Day Ministries (now The Rock at Noon Day), sometimes raising more than $10,000 during the season.

A lawsuit forced Bugg to take down the decorations in 2002, but he donated them to the Belen Harvey House Museum in nearby Belen, New Mexico. It became one of the museum’s biggest attractions. Its website even has a countdown clock to tell prospective visitors when the decor will be on display.

This video shows the Bugg lights at the museum:

Bugg also served in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

The funeral will be at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 20 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 5709 Haines NE, Albuquerque. A graveside military service will be held at Sunset Memorial Park immediately after the church service.

(Image of the Monterey Motel sign in Albuquerque by Thomas Hawk via Flickr)

2 thoughts on “Longtime operator of Monterey Motel in Albuquerque dies

  1. My husband’s parents lived across the street from the “Bugg House” and my mother-in-law would stand at the end of the house facing the Buggs, with the lights off, watching the crowds through the window. She loved watching the people and especially the children. After we moved back to Albuquerque after Hubby retired from the Navy, we were welcomed into the Bugg House every year on Christmas Eve, as part of their family, to partake of their feast. One year, I played Mrs. Santa to an Albuquerque policeman’s portrayal of Santa, and my granddaughter saw her first Santa at the Bugg House when she was but three months old. I have many pleasant memories of Norm and Joyce, their love of Christmas, their love of all people, and Norm’s sense of humor and the camaraderie that he and my husband shared through their Navy memories.

    Rest in peace, Norman Bugg. You were loved, and you will be sorely missed.

  2. I neglected to mention is my comment above that Norm was a pallbearer at the funerals of both of my parents-in-law. They were very close with Norm and both of them loved him dearly.

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