For today’s vintage postcards post, road signs will take center stage. Long before national hotel chains standardized the roadside experience, motels competed for attention with eye-grabbing architecture as much as with amenities. Towering neon signs, dramatic rooflines, and colorful facades were designed to catch the eye of passing motorists –buildings turned into advertisements in their own right. This gallery celebrates that era through this short collection of vintage postcards, showcasing everything from classic Googie designs to other memorable examples of mid-century roadside architecture.
Our opening image is from the Trade Winds Motor Hotel in Clinton, OK.
Olympic Motel, Eureka, CA.
Motel 6th Ave., Portland, OR.
Hacienda Motel, Yuma, AZ.
Desert Sky Hotel, Phoenix, AZ.
Donner Inn Motel, Reno, NV.
Safari Motel, Milwaukee, WI.
Woods Inn, Holdbrook, AZ.
Bell Motel, Bellingham, WA.
Sands Motel, Van Horn, TX.
Motel Town House, Belle Ville, IL.
Imperial “400” Motel, Tucson, AZ.
Glen Canyon Motel, Page, AZ.
The Cliff Motor Lodge, Rawlings, WY.
Admiral Motel, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
A beautiful selection of locales Rich–thank you for the visual trip into the past! The whole time I’m looking at these postcards, I had the theme song from “Route #66” (Nelson Riddle orchestra) going through my head. I envisioned driving perhaps a `59 Bonneville cvt. thru AZ. to stay at the Glen Canyon motel!
LOL–oh well, back to reality! At the office and that phone rings again. Have a great 4th everyone!!
Written by Bobby Troup, later Dr, Joe Early in Energency.
A trip to Wildwood NewJersey will provide you with the greatest collection of mid century doo wop motels anywhere.
Van Horn, Texas was where Ben Hogan had that terrible crash with a Greyhound bus in 1949.
The Bell motel did manage to last until about 2019 when it and the motel next door were removed for a large apt building. Even the base and poles for the sign made it to the end, even if the top portion had been replaced.
https://www.google.com/maps/@48.737253,-122.4698309,3a,75y,53.64h,82.6t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sIdkveDttR3E5Q7c5wfznzQ!2e0!5s20190701T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D7.398853170884493%26panoid%3DIdkveDttR3E5Q7c5wfznzQ%26yaw%3D53.63607186231351!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDYyOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
Nice ;
I used to travel a lot and always enjoyed staying at these older styled motels, as long as they were well maintained they all remained busy .
-Nate
Most of the names make some sort of sense but I wonder what kind of safari they are referring to in Wisconsin.
A big, beautiful , optioned out Pontiac Bonneville Safari station waon maybe? Great road trip car!
Desert Sky, is that a Cortina on the left? Not clear enough to tell.
Looks like a 100E Anglia
Okay, thanks.
Prefect? Think I see extra doors.
Reno 2026. A bunch of old motels in downtown Reno and along old US 40 with most of them closed now. Those open do borderline business with borderline male monthly renters so to speak. Downtown Reno is a shadow of it’s former self given the three big casino hotels out in the perimeter of the city borders. Great place for pictures on a Saturday morning as you have the whole place to yourself pretty much.
What are those two Mercedes doing at the Motel 6th Ave.? You’d think their owners could afford to stay someplace a little fancier.
Maybe someone (marketing) thought that having a few upper end cars in the parking lot would help increase sales.
I love these. I had recently fallen down a rabbit hole of researching the former Imperial 400 motel chain. We had one in Flint – the building is still being used as lodging.
Just one request for Holiday Inn – please bring back the Great Sign, even if it’s partially made of LED-backlit plastic and faux-neon!
The best chronicle of a Great Sign in action may be this scene from The Blues Brothers, in which the sign gets a nice 20 second gaze. The film was made just two years before all of the classic signs were ripped out.
The “Armada Room”? From the movie novelization paperback book written by ‘Miami’ Mitch Glazer, one could get the impression that ‘Armada Rooms’ were part and parcel of…the Ramada Inn chain.
Think that Dan Ackyroyd’s original script called for picking up every member of the BB band separately. Glazer’s book details how Jake and Elwood got each one back–one was an onsite manager of a Chicago -area public housing project, and another was a security guard at a new suburban development (the band used a new house as a rehearsal site, but damaged it enough over three days, the only “solution” was to tear it down afterwards…)
Having never, in my 64 years, heard the term ‘Googie’ design, it sure would have been helpful if the author had provided some explanation of the term.
It’s a relatively common term for mid-century architecture inspired by “the Space Age, atomic energy, and influenced by car culture.” In the case of signs, neon is the norm, and it uses bold eye-grabbing geometric shapes easily seen from the road. I talk a little more about it in a previous vintage postcard post: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/vintage-postcards-neat-modernist-signs-and-cool-vintage-rides/
There was a book published about 25 years ago or so, on Googie architecture. Started in the ’50s in southern California. Most Googie buildings were diners, especially early Denny’s restaurants. Some were drive-ins, others were gas stations, and there were a small number of car dealerships.
If you like these, nose around James Lileks’s blog for his motel postcards section. You’ll find lots to see, organized by state.
BEHOLD!
The Munger Moss neon MASTERPIECE!
Lebanon Missouri
Looks like a converted Holiday Inn sign.
I wrote the Approved Accommodations AAA book for years in Colorado and Utah. Loved the classic signs. A favorite among many is in Steamboat Springs Motel, named after the famount mountain pass.
Don’t forget Cozy Cone Motel in Radiator Springs (in the “Cars” universe)!
Even better at night! And this year also marks 2 decades of the “Cars” franchise–Ka-Chow! 🙂
Great signs, I worked at my uncles motel in 1964. It looked just the same. Mt Tom Motel in Bishop Ca. I had to take the large panels off the sign and vacumn off the spider webs from the inside surfaces so the illumination would look good
Great signs, I worked at my uncles motel in 1964. It looked just the same. Mt Tom Motel in Bishop Ca. I had to take the large panels off the sign and vacumn off the spider webs from the inside surfaces.
How did you leave this out???
I wonder what the Heated TV was all about at the Admiral.