Looking at these vintage postcards, you’d think road trips in the 1950s and 1960s were all about checking into a motel, lounging by the pool, and keeping a casual eye on your car parked nearby, glistening under the sun. Reality was probably a bit less idyllic, but regardless, that was the promise these images sold—bright colors, space-age architecture, and a sense that the journey itself could be as fun as the destination.
With that in mind, let’s revisit those idyllic dreams with this gallery of vintage motel postcards, starting with the Sahara Motel, in Daytona Beach, FL.
Desert Gem Motel, Gila Bend, AZ.
Alexandria Motel, Alexandria, NY.
El Capitan Lodge, Hawthorne, NV.
Perry’s Ocean Edge Beach Motel, Daytona, FL.
Provo Travelodge, UT.
Imperial 400 Motel, Saginaw, MI.
Modern Manor Motel, Sonora, CA.
Villa Capri Motel, Kaysville, UT.
Fontaine Motel Apts., Wilwood, NJ.
I wonder how many cars ended up in the Modern Manor Motel’s pool? There’s no barrier at all between the parking lot and pool, and it appears that the paved area between the pool and the building was actually a drive aisle to access the rear parking lot.
The building is still standing, and not surprisingly, the pool is paved over now.
Go to Likeks.com and look for the motel postcards area… you’ll find a treasure trove of motels.
The ’58 Plymouth Belvedere ragtop in the third photo was and still is incredibly rare. They made fewer than 10K.
And the early El Camino too.
Nice images, I always wanted to try a motel back then, we were die hard campers .
-Nate
While not exactly beautiful, those motels had a lot more character and local flavor than today’s Best Westerns. I prefer to stay in small, independent motels but they’ve become fairly generic looking. Every one is just a little rundown, and owned by someone named Patel, but that hasn’t hurt them any.
Some of these look posed (Fontaine); others looked like a photographer just snapped a random shot of whoever and whatever was there (El Capitan).
Motels like these were where we nearly always stayed when I was a teen and earlier; motels were respectable and didn’t yet have the rather negative reputation they seem to have now
I periodically charge my car in Gila Bend on our way West and East. The old motels, some of which we probably stayed in back in the sixties are still there, run down or closed. The classic Space Age Lodge, which was way too expensive for us despite my brother and I lobbying for an overnight stay endures and looks little different. Great postcards.
Wow.
Seeing that photo of the El Capitan in Hawthorne NV brings to mind the painful memory of driving from Eastern Wisconsin to Western Minnesota in our Rambler American for a week with the grandparents. I wish I had a photo of our Rambler loaded down with 2 adults, 4 kids and a roof rack full of luggage.
Naturally the Rambler had no AC and these trips always seemed to occur during the absolutely hottest week of July. The Rambler’s best characteristic – good fuel economy – was seen as a disadvantage by us kids. We looked forward to gas stops as a way to escape the car.
My dad treated these gas stops the way a race driver treated a pit stop. In and out as quickly as possible. Woe to the kid not back at the car when the pump clicked off. And God forbid you had to ask for a rest stop when the Rambler didn’t need gas. The Rambler was not blessed with an abundance of passing power. A stop when we didn’t need gas never failed to generate a rant about how dad would have to pass cars again that he’d already passed once.
Despite my own rant, passage of years has somehow managed to turn this into a rather fun family memory when we siblings recall those long ago family vacations. Besides, unlike whoever owned that Rambler in the Hawthorne picture, at least we were not crossing the desert in July.
These were pretty much what my family stayed in as we made our move cross country, from Catonsville MD to the San Fernando Valley, June 1966 in nine days.
Brings back memories of a simpler, better time.When it was family road trip time we always managed to find a motel with a pool, The first thing my brother and I did was hit the pool and after traveling for hours in our car it and felt sooooo good to hit the water. Then later on we would get dressed,find a nice diner or restaurant, and when we were done eating we would explore the area.Same thing next day.
Oh no, a Travel Lodge. Possibly the worse motel room I ever stayed in.
In Temple, TX there used to be a motor inn named Ponderosa Inn. Had natural gas tiki torches along the street and had a 8 door Checker car to take people next door to the medical center.
This was a neat collection – I figured I’d look up to see how many of these structures still survive. Quite a few are still standing:
– Sahara Motel, Daytona Beach, FL: Still a motel (pool gone)
– Desert Gem Motel, Gila Bend, AZ: Demolished. Site now a Circle K convenience store
– Alexandria Motel, Alexandria Bay, NY: Still a motel (pool gone)
– El Capitan Lodge, Hawthorne, NV: Still a motel (Travelodge). El Capital Gambling Hall still in business.
– Perry’s Ocean Edge Beach Motel, Daytona Beach, FL: Still a motel, under same name.
– Travelodge, Provo, UT: Demolished circa 2012. Site now part of Provo Temple grounds.
– Imperial “400” Motel, Saginaw, MI: Demolished circa 2016. Site now vacant.
– Modern Manor Motel, Sonora, CA: Still a motel or apartment (pool gone)
– Villa Capri Motel, Kaysville, UT: Demolished circa 2008. Now a housing subdivision.
– Fontaine Motel Apts., N. Wildwood, NJ: Demolished. Now condominiums.
I think that the Fonaine is still standing.
It looks like some of the rooms have been combined and then the building was turned into condos.
415 E 4th, North Wildwood NJ
https://maps.app.goo.gl/d5r7qcUUnHVr9wws8
Wildwood NJ is known for having a large number of surviving 1950’s – 1960’s era motels,
Some of them have been nicely restored with the neon signs intact.
I’m not positive, but I think that’s the former Telstar Motel, which was across 4th Ave. from the Fontaine. Here’s a postcard of the Telstar:
Nice memories of long family cross country road trips in the1950s-mid 60s. Our military family took these trips frequently, no rush, stopping to see the sites. Always had to have a pool so brother and self could swim before diner. By the mid-60s Dad retired on the East Coast so we had annual two week trips to Florida in March so Dad could see baseball teams practice. Brother was older and stayed home with the cat, I got excused from school and took a friend for company. Always had to have a pool even when we stayed beach front.
What was in “Saginaw MI”, that would get folks hunting a motel room?
Saginaw was and is a fairly large community with a decent-sized airport about 10 miles away and quite a few GM plants. It’s also about halfway up the lower peninsula, so people on their way “up north” may stop for the night.