Sometimes when I browse through vintage postcards, I get the impression folks in the ’60s only traveled to stay at motels and spend all day at their pools while overseeing their cars. I somehow suspect reality differed from those idealized images… But such are the fantasies of advertising.
In any case, the images offer glimpses into the trends of the day; lots of colors, some googie architecture, and pools. And well, they all portray the idea of an escape from home. Even at the lodging place, a fun-filled time was to be had. It was no longer an obligatory and dull stopover. Right?
Talking about fun times, the lede image is at El Dorado Motel, in Palo Alto, CA.
Tahoe Tropicana, Lake Tahoe, CA.
Congress Inn, Lancaster, PA.
Motel Desert Sun, Phoenix, AZ.
Kingman Travelodge, Kingman, AZ.
Crescent Court, Orlando, FL.
Motel Arizona, Harbor City, CA.
Santa Cruz Travelodge, Santa Cruz, CA.
Nice collection of cars in these pictures. It looks like the first picture, the El Dorado motel, would have opted for a 1964 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, rather than a 1964 Cadillac De Ville convertible in their picture. But it seems my mind went somewhere else when I looked at these pictures. Rules and regulations have certainly changed, because only two of these pools are fenced in. My mind goes to the kids that can accidentally fall into pools or cars that could easily drive into them. It shows how much other things have changed in my life, not only the cars.
In 1967, Keith Moon, the legendary drummer of The Who, drove a Lincoln Continental into the pool at the Flint, Michigan Holiday Inn, on the night of his 21st birthday.
The El Dorado Motel had safety in mind when they put up a barrier so that you couldn’t jump from the 2nd story balcony into the pool. Party poopers!
Good eye! I was more fixated on the likelihood of some errant driver accidentally fat-footing their car into the pool while backing out of a parking space.
I wonder if that didn’t work well enough, because currently that motel building (it was renamed Stanford Motor Inn in about 1970) actually has the second story removed from above the pool.
Here’s a then-and-now comparison::
Good find! I rather like the new version with all the leafy vegetation around the pool.
Our home town had a large pool like these featured where it was shallow all the way around like a bowl. The diving board was in the middle of the pool. Kinda cool but gone by the 70s or 80s.
Exactly my kind of post! These are the kinds of motels I remember staying in *twenty years later* in the ’80s when they had some wear on them. Such nostalgia here. Summer is almost here… I feel like I need another road trip. Thanks for this.
Motel Arizona is now the Harbor Inn. That part of town has a lot of low-end motels. Once I-405 bypassed US 101-Alt (Pacific Coast Highway, now CA-1) tourists no longer overnight-ed in this area.
“Welcome to the Motel Arizona / Such a lovely place / Such a lovely face…”
Couldn’t help myself.
The Santa Cruz Travelodge is now a budget, but surprisingly highly rated, motel along the main route from the highway to beach. The area is slowly getting updated but still has a few dive bars and dispensaries. The pool is filled in, and the room doors aren’t as colorful. No Falcons or ‘56 Chryslers in the parking lot either.
A while back I stumbled upon a list on curbed.com of the 10 best mid-century motels in California (according to the author of a book on the history of the motel). Two of the entries were in Santa Cruz — The Islander, and the Dream Inn.
There seems to be a trend lately of renovating old motels into boutique hotels. The Foothills Motel up in Auburn, CA maintains its 1950s appearance on the outside, but was renovated relatively recently and looks like it’s getting rave reviews online.
The Islander is directly across the street from the former Travelodge. As I mentioned, the area is getting upgraded slowly, but I wouldn’t leave anything of value in my car overnight. The Dream Inn is more of a hotel, several stories, valet parking, right on the ocean. As a local I’ve never stayed there but have had dinner and been to the bar a few times. It’s pretty upscale. Last time I was actually on the property I saw this on display outside. Five years ago 😀
Wonder what the Lancaster locals thought about the California Beach Life as they clipclopped past the beach in their buggies.
Ah “dutch wonderland”, The “Lincoln highway”. How far to “Bird in Hand”?
My 7th grade snickered and rode the historic train from Intercourse to Paradise, one of which should have had the Congress Inn. Some of those Penn. Dutch must have had a sense of humor.
lolol Awesome.
In the Congress Inn photo, is it just me or is (almost) everyone staring at the babe in the chaise lounge? 😉
I would be staring too!!
For the mid 1960’s she was a hot babe in a risque suit .
In and around Lompoc, Ca. home of Vandenburg (SP ?) Air Force Base are several older motels that were fancy and remain nice & kitschy, one still has the old pilot’s lounge from the Vietnam era boarded up with all the unit patches & etc. still there and untouched decades later….
-Nate
“Whole slew” of cars in “Kingman AZ”. Almost no people; too hot to be outside?
What? No African Americans or Latinos allowed?
Few could have afforded them–or vacation travel. These were not then the cheap motels they look like now.
Wrong. Nobody would have put Blacks or Latinos in these staged pictures for all-too obvious reasons. And in many parts of the country, they would have been turned away if they tried to stay there. There were plenty of middle class Blacks and Latinos then.
Fewer middle income per capita than now. The Hispanic (all races) population of the US was only 3.2% in 1960, 4.4% in ’70, 18.7% in 2020 Census.
Not disagreeing with the stats; that’s obvious. Disagreeing as to why there’s no Blacks or Latinos in the pictures. It’s all too obvious.
Far left edge of “Congress Inn” , “Lancaster PA”; black, early, mid “50’s” car. Likely the oldest ride I see in that pic.
Motel kitsch.
Wink was the perfect soda, to accompany any summertime motel stay.
I think I am going to start playing “Where’s Waldo”, looking for 59 Fords in these shots.
I love the elderly Imperial in the final postcard!
Somebody asking about no blacks?
I believe that was what the infamous green book was for
I’ve actually stayed at the Tahoe Tropicana, I believe it is right across the street from the South Shore Harrah’s – the street was the CA/NV border. The place still looked like the postcard when we were there probably about (at least?) two decades ago now, South Lake Tahoe was a bit of a time warp back then…
The Tahoe Tropicana looks familiar to me too, except I recall it a bit further out. Not way out, but not Stateline. Stayed there a couple of times, can’t recall the name though. No pool however. Might be wrong, but it does look familiar.
We did a bit of traveling when I was kid, mid to late 50s and early 60s, staying in a lot of motels, my Dad was fond of Best Westerns. Pools were pretty much standard, but I don’t recall going in them much.
Ah, pararadise! Bought my current car at now-gone paradise motors, an 03 mustang convert. There for $2500 six years ago. The top worked for 1 year. Still a bargain as it runs good ((knock on wood))
The motel my family stayed at in Machias Maine in 1969 (to dry out from a ridiculously wet camping trip at nearby Cobscook Bay) did not have a pool. (That far north in Maine, a pool is not particularly necessary!) But it did have a bay window that overlooked the drive in movie next door, complete with in-room speaker.
If I felt it could make the trip, I’d love to take my ’64 omet and stay at the Thunderbird Inn in Savannah, restored to reflect what it was like when built in 1964. We have one in my town as well, but it’s been converted to an extended stay/apartments, and didn’t retain the original style.