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.

Aztec Motel—Wildwood Crest, New Jersey

Jimmy J. Pack Jr. Volume 13 #1 (Spring 2015)

The Aztec was opened in 1960 by Maria J. Martinis. Originally, the façade of the motel hardly reflected any of the ideas, themes, or designs of the Aztec people. But[…]

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Flamingo Hotel—Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Marc & Carol Zigli Volume 12 #4 (Winter 2014)

In 2004 Art and Shelley Williams took the Flamingo Motel under their wing. “You could say it was clean but worn,” says Art. “It had a good reputation, and that’s[…]

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Grand Canyon Caverns Suite—Peach Springs, Arizona

Karras Strasburg Volume 12 #3 (Autumn 2014)

True, you’ll feel like Fred Flintstone when you first open your eyes in the Grand Canyon Caverns Cave Suite—and  find your seventy-foot ceiling roofed with rock some sixty-five million years[…]

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Palms Retro Motel—Atlantic Beach, Florida

Lynn Miller Volume 12 #2 (Summer 2014)

In a large, painted wall mural, a bright classic wagon with wood panels—affectionately called a “woody”— carries surfboards beneath towering palm trees. The room’s décor, including a retro radio, completes[…]

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Rabbit Ears Motel—Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Foster Braun Volume 12 #1 (Spring 2014)

Maybe Alice’s White Rabbit did take a sabbatical after the adventures of the book. And if he did, we imagine he might have scampered straight toward the Rabbit Ears Motel[…]

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