SHARMIN DHARAS, MD

By Monika Dziamka, co-editor of The Roadrunner e-newsletter.

What does Route 66 signify for you?

Family. Community. I grew up here. The first motel my parents and I ever lived in was a motor lodge in the International District on Central Avenue between Indiana Street and Florida Street. When I was a young child, my parents would always drive on Route 66, and that’s how they would put me to sleep. And let’s be real: that is Albuquerque culture, the cruising culture. So as they would drive up and down, they’d pass Nob Hill and see the Travelodge, and my mom loved the building. She thought it was so interesting, and her dream was to one day own it. So here I am at 8 years old, and I find out we’re moving, thinking we’re going to be moving into a house where I’ll be near a park and have neighbors and, you know, a front yard and a backyard. Nope! It was on to another motel. In retrospect, it was a blessing. I had a unique experience growing up on Route 66, literally. Every May, when my birthday would come around, we would open up the pool with my private party and have all my cousins and everybody come hang out with us.

Memories from the University Lodge years. Photo courtesy of Sharmin Dharas.

What is one of your favorite spots along Route 66 in Albuquerque?

I’ll tell you about a spot that I miss. We would go on these drives, and on the west end of Central just before Old Town there was this Dairy Queen. I would always look forward to driving that direction, because I knew exactly when that Dairy Queen would come up. I would ask my mom and dad if we could get ice cream. My parents would always get a chocolate vanilla swirl twist or a tropical blizzard, and I would always get the chocolate dip in a cup. 

Describe a memory you have of Route 66.

This was my neighborhood, you know. Literally, my grandma was across the street living at another motel [the Prince Motel, no longer there]. We would go there to have dinner or whatever, or play cards. My cousins were across the street. My front yard was family, and my backyard was the motel pool. Summertimes were really, really awesome. It would get really hot outside, so we’d go across the street to 7/11 and get a banana Slurpee. July 11th was a really cool day because that’s when we would also have tons of people in the pool, because you’d get free Slurpees on 7/11!
Tell us about Hotel Zazz and your connection to it. Are there any special moments, behind-the-scenes details, experiences, memories, or anything else you can share with us related to Hotel Zazz? 
I never thought it would be what it is today. We feature over 43 local artists on the property. We have a speakeasy and a spa. We also host local musicians during our Copacetic Cooldowns, our summer concert series. And we also collaborate with the film industry. I just learned recently that we're the only motel in the country that is a motor lodge on Route 66 that has a spa, speakeasy and “dive-in” movies — which are family-friendly and really fun — so really it’s the full experience. You wouldn’t think that a property like this could have all that. It’s just amazing to see what it was and how it was built in the 1950s. And we have the same, original phone number from the day that it was built!

Zema Vinyl Lounge inside Hotel Zazz. Photo courtesy of NMTD.

Something else unique about us is that during construction, we found out that my family had so many cassettes. So, in order for us to keep our mission of being sustainable, we wanted to somehow use them and integrate them into the property. Some cassettes were already broken, or the tape was torn. We did all this awesome flooring, and then we were able to source more cassettes from all over the world. We literally had people dropping off boxes of cassettes that they’ve had from San Diego or their family in Atlanta, or we’ve had people ship them from Canada and Africa. It’s been insane. And so we have this collection of cassettes where you can now rent a boombox and listen to these cassettes in your room. In our speakeasy, we also have tons of donated vinyls you can listen to.

What’s a birthday wish you have for Route 66?

My wish is to bring more love and attention and passion to Route 66 with Millennials, Generation Z and Gen Alpha so that it keeps on going. With Hotel Zazz, it shows you the nostalgia — a little bit of old, a little bit of new and a lot of fun. I’d love to see new generations in America love Route 66 and have that passion for it.

The pool at Hotel Zazz. Photo courtesy of Hotel Zazz on Facebook.