3. Route 66 Motel, Barstow, California
Driving from Washington State, my husband and I arrived in Barstow a day early, so we arranged to spend two nights at the Route 66 Motel (the one with the vintage vehicles in the courtyard, not the one with a similar name down the road). We also arrived early in the day before the maid had finished cleaning the rooms. Ved, the proprietor, did check us in, asking, “You did say you wanted a king bed?” At the time I thought it strange the way he asked for confirmation for a king-sized bed (I was wondering if the price was that much higher), but after Bill Tomlison’s query (at the Mother Road Museum), I realized Ved was probably making sure we didn’t want a historic round bed for which the motel was famous.
When we returned, Mridu Shandil, Ved’s wife, was managing the motel. I requested that our room be changed, “For the Route 66 experience,” I explained. Since we hadn’t occupied the room yet, Mridu agreed to the switch. My husband likes to tell the story that his feet hung over the side of the round bed. But that’s because he likes to hug the edge of the bed. And there is a bit of hyperbole.
I was really excited to experience the Route 66 Motel. Its origins go back to 1922. I’m not sure how different the original structure might have been, but in its current state the motel is really an auto or motor court despite “Motel” in its name. While conducting research on roadside architecture before this trip, I learned that there is an evolutionary sequence of sorts to roadside lodging, which I find fascinating. While hotels were a pre-auto, urban development, usually built near the tracks in the railroad era, types of roadside lodging, I had discovered, evolved specifically to meet the needs of the increasing number of motoring travelers. In more or less evolutionary order, these types of roadside lodging include the auto camp, cabin court, motor court, and motel (or motor hotel). In the motor court (or auto court), unlike in the cabin court, sleeping units share a roof and garages are found between at least some of the sleeping units. The motor court usually forms either an L- or U- shape with the lodging facing the courtyard. The Route 66 Motel is U-shaped:
The Route 66 Motel in Barstow is the first motor court in which I stayed. Entering its courtyard, I was treated to a scene from the past: A variety of classic cars parked around the courtyard and in the motor court’s hallmark open garages between guest rooms:
A Route 66 shield stenciled in white on the black asphalt and an old Dodge truck parked in front of the office:
Road and petro signs and various antiques haphazardly stored in the garages:
Vintage metal travel trunks stacked on a rusty railroad luggage cart:
A water wheel, water tank tower, and windmill. Logs stacked on an old log trailer:
Neon signs, including one of a cactus, howling coyote, and full moon on the roof above the office:
Ved and Mridu have essentially created a miniature open-air museum, experienced also by other sojourners who are not staying at the motel (as I had witnessed myself). Back at the Route 66 Motel I eagerly grabbed my camera and proceeded to document as many aspects of the property as possible, both in daylight and at the magic hour in the evening to capture the motel’s fabulous neon. Then the time came to use that round bed….
(to be continued….) SUBSCRIBE to my Blog at the very bottom of the page!
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