New t-shirt available at Vintage Roadside - The Squirrel Lodge!

Previously only available at the National Trust for Historic Preservation Annual Conference in Nashville, we're pleased to offer the Squirrel Lodge as our first new website offering of 2010!

We're currently accepting pre-orders and will be shipping all Squirrel Lodge shirts on Tuesday, January 26th.

To place your order and to read more history about Squirrel Lodge please visit our Squirrel Lodge page here.

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

A peek at our vintage motel collection

As winter approaches and we all start looking forward to next Spring (and warm road trips) we thought it would be fun to share a few pieces from the Vintage Roadside ephemera collection. The pieces below are a few of our favorites from our tourist court, motor court, and motel collection. The next time you head out on the road we'd like to encourage you to keep an eye out for mom and pop lodging. They might not have wi-fi or a fitness center but they sure provide some great memories along the way!

The Roberta Motor Court was once located on US 341 in Roberta, Georgia. The court is a nice example of lodging that also provided an onsite restaurant for guests. Love the sign with the landscaped garden bed around it!


This copy of the 1956 New England Motor Court and Cabin Guide was provided by the Ko-Z Motor Court & Diner of Clarendon, Vermont. The guide lists numerous lodging choices for those on the road between New York and Quebec. These vintage motor court guides generally listed "member" businesses and many times included black and white photos of the establishments.


We love the pink bedspreads along with the matching pink car shown in this vintage postcard for the Park Motel of Morris, Illinois. The motel offered many of the amenities guests had come to expect - air conditioning, sound conditioning, wall to wall carpet, color TV in each room, direct dial phones, and a combination tub and shower.


The vintage postcard for Felix's Motel is a bit earlier than the Park Motel above in that they are still advertising "steam heat", a cooling system of "fans", radios in each room, and good ol' "cross ventilation" which meant you could open a window on each side of the room to cool down:-)


The Combahee Motor Court appears to have been quite a midcentury gem. They billed themselves as a "Modernistic Motor Court" and from the looks of the architecture they certainly were! The location of the Combahee was Garden Corners, South Carolina.


We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

A dash of history behind our Hacienda Motel t-shirt

We thought we'd wrap up the week by sharing some of the history behind our Hacienda Motel and Dining Room t-shirt (which was located in Norfolk, Virginia). All text and images can also be found at Vintage Roadside located here.

“The last word in comfort and convenience" - the motto of the Hacienda Motel and Dining Room in Norfolk, Virginia entices us to this day.

The Hacienda was ideally situated just 15 minutes from downtown Norfolk and 15 minutes from Virginia Beach on Military Highway, more famously known as Ocean Highway. Running from New York City to Jacksonville, Florida, Ocean Highway was conceptualized in the 1930s as a beautiful, leisurely drive for tourists exploring the beaches along the east coast of the US. From its inception, Ocean Highway has remained the most popular route for tourists traveling south from New York City seeking fun in the sun.

Built in the style of the great motor courts of the Southwest, the Hacienda was a classic example of tourist court architecture popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Serving a dual purpose, the Hacienda's dramatic two storey Mission style facade drew the attention of passing motorists and shielded its cottages from highway traffic. Arriving guests entered the spacious inner court by one of two striking arched entries in the grand façade.

Along with a wonderful location, W. H. Walker, owner of the Hacienda, offered his guests the finest amenities:

• A choice of 1, 2, or 3 room cottages
• Simmons all-metal furniture
• Beautyrest mattresses with box springs
• FM Radio
• Radiant heat and cross ventilation
• Air conditioning
• Private tile baths
• Pure circulating ice water

The once rural site of the Hacienda Motel is now occupied by The Gallery at Military Circle.

If you'd like to see more, including two wonderful images please visit our Hacienda Motel page located here.

We're always looking for more history to present with each of the businesses we feature so please let us know if you have any memories, stories, souvenirs or photos of these wonderful places.