Motels

by Sourcebooks, Inc.

Book Overview

The 1950s and '60s were the halcyon days of the American Dream. Life was easier, safer and altogether more innocent. Nowhere was this more apparent than the freeway, that symbol of the growth of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1570715955
• ISBN13: 9781570715952
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Sourcebooks
• Length: 111 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.5" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Get Your Kicks on Route 66

The individually-designed, independently owned and managed American motel has to be one of the most unusual cultural icons of our society. Almost invariably tacky, a little seedy, and smelling of too much dust and Lysol, they were a welcome sight to the weary traveler from the 30s through the 60s after finishing an empty stretch of road late at night . . . especially if the vacancy sign was lit. This book combines photographs of motels with postcards their postcards and contrasting quotes to provide perspective. These quotes are usually "advertising slogans, popular sayings, puns and [comments by] . . . personalities." These words bring "to life an age when being economical with the truth came naturally . . . ." I grew up on Route 66 in California, and was startled to find many motels that I had seen as a youth pictured in this interesting gift book. The nostalgia was strong as I peered once again at the cone-shaped rooms of the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona. We also had one of those motels in Fontana, California. I used to try to talk my parents into taking me there to stay overnight for my birthday. The quote with the motel was one that used to grace the motel's sign: "When they suggested we stay at the Wigwam Motel, I had my reservations." I had a similar sense of deja vu when looking at an abandoned motel near Weed, California connected to a quote: "Never judge a summer resort by its postcards."By now, I was excited. That excitement continued as I examined the Hobo Inn in Elbe, Washington and its rail car rooms. I chortled when I saw the photograph of a moose looking at the sign for the Town Motel in Gardiner, Montana ("Northern exposure").Imagine how my mood shifted, though, when I opened the page to the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee to see the plaque and wreath in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was assassinated there. "I have a dream . . . ." I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach, almost like the morning when I heard that Dr. King had been killed. Other juxtapositions were also powerful. Dolly Parton shows up twice in the book on billboards. One is for a show at the Mirage in Las Vegas along with Kenny Rogers. This is paired with her quote: "You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap." You then go on to see details of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. The book contains several other versions of modern-day motel chic in expensive lodgings (including a photograph of an old-line motel framing the new Stratosphere Tower and Hotel in Las Vegas, and the Swan Hotel at Walt Disney World in Florida).Although the modern images were certainly a fair comparison of our continuing preference for the overdone, I would have enjoyed the book more if it had stuck with the nostalgia orientation of its initial images. For that reason, I graded the book down one star for the experienced independent motel user looking for nostalgia. If you are a motel owner, though, this is a five star book. After you fi