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.

The Mermaid Lodge & Motel—Ainsworth Hot Springs, British Columbia

Foster Braun Volume 11 #4 (Winter 2013)

From its hillside vantage deep in the Canadian Rockies, the Mermaid overlooks a landscape rich in rugged beauty and history. Long before the lure of gold drew prospectors from the[…]

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Marcotte’s Family Motel—Elizabeth, Illinois

Manya Kaczkowski Volume 11 #3 (Autumn 2013)

A discreet knock on the door lets you know that a cheery little tray waits outside emblazoned with a colorful chicken. It’s filled with a bright red coffeepot, cinnamon muffins,[…]

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Thunderbird Lodge—Riverside, California

Erika Nelson Volume 11 #2 (Summer 2013)

According to American Indian lore, the Thunderbird gathers the clouds under its wings as it soars through the sky, producing thunder with each massive flap. It stirs the wind, and[…]

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Jolly Roger Motel—Wildwood Crest, New Jersey

Jimmy J. Pack Jr. Volume 11 #1 (Spring 2013)

At Wildwood, New Jersey, the start of summer is signaled with the raising of the Jolly Roger—not the ol’ skull and crossbones, but the fiberglass pirate who stands watch atop[…]

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Roosevelt Inn—Hyde Park, New York

Foster Braun Volume 10 #4 (Winter 2012)

Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park, NewYork, on January 30,1882. He was buried there, at his family estate, on April 15, 1945. So it’s fitting that—in 1951—Hyde Park also became[…]

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