Memory Motel Department

Memory Motel made its debut as a regular American Road department in the Volume I, Number 2, issue of the magazine. The first featured classic overnight stop was the Lazy S Arrow Motel of Whitewater, Colorado—a US Highway 50 gem built in the shape of an old western fort that stands along the Centennial State’s stretch of “America’s Loneliest Road.”

Memory Motel has since visited fifty-five motels—from the Bear Paw Court of Chinook, Montana, to the Indianhead Motel of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin; the Auld Holland Inn of Oak Harbor, Washington; and the Jolly Roger Motel of Wildwood Crest, New Jersey. Most of the classic sleepers that have been featured over the years remain in business, filling the nights with bright lights—and vacations with the best in mom-and-pop hospitality.

Pink Motel in Cherokee, North Carolina

jillian gurney

Think Tink! When the Pink Motel was named, Tinker Bell was appearing on television every Sunday, featured in the opening credits of Walt Disney’s Disneyland show. Some of her magic[…]

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A Western Rose Motel—Cody, Wyoming

BY MARK A. VERNARELLI Volume 15 #3 (Autumn 2017)

Some men surprise their girlfriends with glittery rings or elaborate marriage proposals. Mark Kearney surprised his by buying her a motel.  Six years in, Brenda and Mark are now quite[…]

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Crystal Beach Motor Inn—Wildwood Crest, New Jersey

BY MARK A. VERNARELLI Volume 15 #1 (Spring 2017)

Sue Sykes casts her memory back to the 1980s—a time when amusement piers at Wildwood, New Jersey, rocked her childhood with rides, and every step along the boardwalk was instilled[…]

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Alpine Trail Ridge Inn—Estes Park, Colorado

Robert Klara Volume 14 #4 (Winter 2016)

There wasn’t much in the way of pit stops in 1948, but one notable exception was Mr. and Mrs. Fred Hoerner’s place, the Sundeck Restaurant, a log-cabin eatery perched on[…]

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Lake Powell Motel—Page, Arizona

by Lynn Miller. Volume 14 #3 (Autumn 2016)

Lake Powell is named after the man who may have been the Southwest’s greatest nature writer. He was Major John Wesley Powell, famed geologist, explorer, and one-armed Civil War veteran,[…]

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