The word motel originates from the Motel Inn of San Luis Obispo, first built in 1925 by Arthur Heinman. Entering dictionaries after World War II, the motel (motor hotel) referred initially to a single building of connected rooms whose doors face a parking lot and/or common area. Unlike their predecessors, auto camps and tourist courts, motels quickly adopted a homogenized appearance. Typically one would find an 'I' or 'L' or 'U' shaped structure that included rooms, an attached manager's office, and perhaps a small diner. Even so, postwar motels often featured eye-catching neon signs which employed pop culture themes that ranged from Western imagery of cowboys and indians to contemporary images of spaceships and atomic symbols.
Postwar motels differed from hotels in their emphasis on largely anonymous interactions between owners and occupants, their ___location along highways (as opposed to urban cores), and their orientation to the outside (in contrast to hotels whose doors typically face a hallway). With the 1950's introduction of Kemmons Wilson's Holiday Inn, the 'mom and pop' motels of that era went into decline. Eventually, the emergence of the interstate highway system, along with other factors, led to a blurring of the motel and the hotel. Today, family owned motels may still be found along old numbered highways, but their lifespans appear to be short.
External links:
- Motel Americana - a page devoted to history, narratives, and design of postwar motels