Tourist cabins, auto and motor courts

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

More of the above...

Rob

 

[Edward]

These fascinate me. I don't think we've ever had a true equivalent in the UK (bearing in mind you can drive Britain end to end, more or less, in under 24 hours.... and the limits of Northern Ireland in under three), but they have something of a presence in my mind, thanks to Hollywood. I suppose their decline is due to a mix of faster road traffic, and more affordable air travel in recent decades. I've always wanted to do a road trip through the US, stopping off in these sorts of motels as and where possible.... (preferably not ones where the owner has a large collection of taxidermy birds....).

 

[tonyb]

These fascinate me. I don't think we've ever had a true equivalent in the UK (bearing in mind you can drive Britain end to end, more or less, in under 24 hours.... and the limits of Northern Ireland in under three), but they have something of a presence in my mind, thanks to Hollywood. I suppose their decline is due to a mix of faster road traffic, and more affordable air travel in recent decades. I've always wanted to do a road trip through the US, stopping off in these sorts of motels as and where possible.... (preferably not ones where the owner has a large collection of taxidermy birds....).

As I've observed before, I count among my good fortunes that much of my time on Earth has been spent in the Western US during the age of the automobile.

I just love long car trips, and I've taken many. Late last month my dewy-eyed bride and I drove from greater Denver to greater Dallas, and back, by what my iPhone identified as the most direct and fastest route. I believe my iPhone was right, as the trip made on nothing but big divided interstate highways takes you well out of the way.

The route we traveled put us on two- and three-lane roads through much of the Texas Panhandle, with 75 mph speed limits that drop down dramatically through the numerous little towns, many of which have populations smaller than your Facebook friend count.

It was reminiscent of the family car trips in my early years, before the interstate system was built out, that had us driving slowly through the middle of towns, and often stopping at the sole traffic light in those towns, rather than skirting them at 70-plus mph, as is common now.

I was happy for that trip. I did the drive back in one big chunk. We left Irving, Texas at about 11 a.m. CDT and arrived in Aurora, Colorado just ahead of midnight MDT. Saw lots of interesting and varied countryside along the way.

 

[BlueTrain]

These fascinate me. I don't think we've ever had a true equivalent in the UK (bearing in mind you can drive Britain end to end, more or less, in under 24 hours.... and the limits of Northern Ireland in under three), but they have something of a presence in my mind, thanks to Hollywood. I suppose their decline is due to a mix of faster road traffic, and more affordable air travel in recent decades. I've always wanted to do a road trip through the US, stopping off in these sorts of motels as and where possible.... (preferably not ones where the owner has a large collection of taxidermy birds....).

Oh, I think you do have something very similar in the U.K. and on the continent. The Sea Breeze auto court is pretty much the same as the little holiday villages along the Atlantic coast. There are differences, of course, and the Sea Breeze may be unusual in being located (I guess) near the ocean. It may have been more of a vacation destination for the summer as opposed to a place to spend the night on a long trip. In any event, they certainly used to be a lot more common than they are now.

They disappeared for the most part, I believe, because the interstates bypassed them and travelers started wanting better accommodations (with a free breakfast) than the older places offered. There were taverns for travelers in colonial times, too, many of which are still around. They are spaced out fairly regularly along the old National Pike, now mostly U.S. 40, if memory serves. I don't know what the original places for travelers were in the early west, when you didn't want to sleep under your wagon.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Once that ocean front real estate became insanely valuable, it sounded the death knell for these small enterprises, sadly.

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[BlueTrain]

One such place was Treasure island Mobile Home Park in Laguna Beach, California. Given the value of beach front land in California, it's surprising that it lasted until 2003. The whole area is thoroughly developed now with very expensive house on top of one another. The whole place is on a cliff and beach access is limited, mostly because of the expensive property.

It appeared in the Lucille Ball-Dezi Arnaz movie "The Long, Long Trailer" in the early 1950s. The whole California coast was different then, it goes without saying. Right next to Laguna Beach is Crystal Cove State Park, which , if you look at it on Bing or something similar, you see a large piece of land with what look like "hard stands" for trailers. But it may have been tract housing. It looks abandoned now.

There were other trailer parks, as they used to be called, along the (undeveloped) coast.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

I just pulled it up on Google Earth, and can see those pads.

Rob

 

[BlueTrain]

I don't know anything about those pads. However, there are still sea-side trailer courts on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, though no more than three or four, if that many. It's an awfully hot and (usually) dry place in the summer and they don't look like inviting places to stay. There are also a few old-fashioned motels along the beach road, too, which no amount of nostalgia make them look good. Interesting in their way but they all looked cramped and hot. And those might be reasons they are fading away.

All of those reasons are the same reasons older restaurants that used to dot the highways disappeared, among other reasons. Family enterprises are very difficult to keep going generation after generation and they usually lack the resources to make their places stand out from the crowd. And for the motels, they are usually much smaller in both the number of units and size of the rooms themselves to hold onto the business they used to have, compared to the big chains. But some are still around, to be sure.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

I only stay in a chain motel when I absolutely have to...I'll stay as far as 10 miles from my intended destination, in a mom and pop, before I'll use a modern motel.

Rob

 

[tonyb]

I only stay in a chain motel when I absolutely have to...I'll stay as far as 10 miles from my intended destination, in a mom and pop, before I'll use a modern motel.

Rob

That website or app you mentioned earlier -- the one that lists mom-and-pop lodgings only -- would appear necessary to the survival of such places. That, or something much like it. In an age of smartphone apps for everything, you either get with that reality or get run over by it.

 

[Edward]

Oh, I think you do have something very similar in the U.K. and on the continent. The Sea Breeze auto court is pretty much the same as the little holiday villages along the Atlantic coast. There are differences, of course, and the Sea Breeze may be unusual in being located (I guess) near the ocean. It may have been more of a vacation destination for the summer as opposed to a place to spend the night on a long trip. In any event, they certainly used to be a lot more common than they are now.

They disappeared for the most part, I believe, because the interstates bypassed them and travelers started wanting better accommodations (with a free breakfast) than the older places offered. There were taverns for travelers in colonial times, too, many of which are still around. They are spaced out fairly regularly along the old National Pike, now mostly U.S. 40, if memory serves. I don't know what the original places for travelers were in the early west, when you didn't want to sleep under your wagon.

Maybe on the European Mainland, but here in the U while we have motorway service stations and the like, there's nothing quite like these. Little local B&Bs, but not separate cabins or any such..... and no accommodation at all on the motorway stations.

 

[BlueTrain]

I've traveled (by car) in both France, Belgium, Germany as well as the U.K. and I didn't mean to imply that there were caravan parks or tourist cottages along the motorways, autobahns and the like. Such places would be near the sea. We were in Normandy and the villages along the coast were so busy that we never got close to the water.

The places we stayed in the U.K. and France were varied and one place along the M6, I think it was, where we stayed was very much like similar places in the U.S. We stayed at my daughter's house in Germany and so I've never stayed in a hotel there. The most interesting place we stayed was a B&B in Giverny, France, almost as nice as the place we stayed in Carmel, California.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[2jakes]

"The Red Crown Tavern, a red-brick and tile structure, was constructed and owned by Emmett Breen, a Parkville banker and developer. The main building, which generally faced the west, housed a service station and a combination fountain and restaurant.
A screened porch, near the rear of the building, was only a few yards from a smaller
brick structure which comprised two motel units, separated by a two car garage.

"Emmett Breen,was the owner of the Red Crown at the time that the Barrow Gang had graced his establishment with their presence. E.J. Breen obtained several items from the cabins rented by Bonnie and Clyde and had passed down a couple of those items to Bridget ,that the Platte County sheriff's department let him keep. Among these items, were a hypodermic syringe, two syringe needles, a vial labeled "Atropine Sulphate”,
and a vial labeled "20 hypodermic tablets - morphine sulphate."

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Big shootout there...the gang almost didn't make it.

Rob

 

[2jakes]

Big shootout there...the gang almost didn't make it.

Rob

(Joplin,Mo.)

Bonnie and Clyde's next brush with the law arose from their generally
suspicious—and conspicuous—behavior, not because they had been identified.
The group ran loud, alcohol-fueled card games late into the night in the quiet neighborhood.

"We bought a case of beer a day", Blanche would later recall.
Clyde discharged a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) in the apartment
while cleaning it.

No neighbors went to the house, but one reported suspicions to the Joplin Police.Dept.

Most of the driving was made early or late in the day for obvious reasons
plus the lack of A/C driving in the summer sizzling heat.

Bonnie with a cigar in her mouth was done as a joke for the Kodak.
Although she was a chain-smoker (cigarettes).
Acording to companion W.D. Jones,
a member of the Barrow Gang.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

That little 'house' is still there, with a historical plaque out front.

Rob