Topic: Trip down memory lane--old motel postcards

[LadyVirginia]

From the website by James Lileks, the host of the center right Richocet podcasts.  Pictures of old motel postcards.


It seems like another lifetime when my family stayed at places like this when I was a kid. To pull into the parking lot and see a pool made the whole long car ride worth it.

If available he includes a picture of the way the place looks today.

[trapeze]

It was another lifetime. Places like this simply don't exist anymore. Remember the coin operated vibrating beds?

[LadyVirginia]

It was another lifetime. Places like this simply don't exist anymore.

There are a few but none you'd want to stay in.

Remember the coin operated vibrating beds?

Oh, my gosh, yes!

Only mom was too frugal to let us 4 kids have a quarter.

[Pandora]

When I was in my 30's my parents began vacationing in Wildwood, NJ at just such a place; they always got the "efficiency"-type rooms so Mom could make breakfast.  I joined them many times, so much so that being at the beach there became my favorite type of summer vacation. 

Two blocks from the beach; stay up late, get up late,  hit the beach for a couple hours, come back to the pool in time for a late lunch, hang around the pool the rest of the afternoon, take a nap, go out for dinner and music or the boardwalk.  Good, good times.

[Alphabet Soup]

That was a fun trip.

It reminded me of when my family lived in the south and we would take motor trips for vacations. One year it was the Smokey mountains, another year it was Florida, another time it was Stone Mountain Georgia. We stayed at a fair number of motels along the way and we kids became experts at spotting the ones with the proper amenities - like pools and playgrounds. Of course we could find amusements one way or the other, but generally got into less trouble if there was a pool around.

[LadyVirginia]

 We had a pop-up camper but for those times we didn't use it or couldn't find a campground we pulled into one of those little by the wayside motels.  I remember when we got "fancy" and stayed at a Holiday Inn!  We had family in Illinois and family in South Carolina and every year we went to see one or the other--a few times went to both.  We kids thought that was the best of all!  When we weren't visiting family mom had us at a beach somewhere on the eastern seaboard or in the smokey mts. 

"Of course we could find amusements one way or the other..."

We did too. We had fun...never bored. And we loved visiting historical sites--guess that's why I love history so much now.


Mom mentioned the other day she still has all the slides my dad took...now I'm thinking I should look at them and see if I can salvage any of them...

[Pandora]

Do that, LV.  Some day, if not already, your kids will appreciate being able to see them.

[rickl]

Lileks' site is one of the best places on the internet.  I don't spend nearly enough time there.

At night, the television creeps across the room and stares at you while you sleep.

He also owes me several monitors.

[RickZ]

I took a gander at the Virginia motels.  The first one had this caption:

From the yee-haw country décor of the dining room to the horrid mismatch of the rooms, the Intown was a bit of a mix. The exterior had a certain severe charm, though. It was, of course, “Ultra Modern,” and had a restaurant and a bar, so it was good for a night in Lurie.

Lurie?  Never heard of Lurie, Virginia, and I've been pretty much across the entire state and into some real hidden corners.  Maybe he meant Luray, of the caverns fame.

I loved all the pools with a diving board.  A diving board!  Try to find any hotel/motel with a pool AND a diving board today.  A diving board, or better several of them at different heights, would entertain me for hours.  "You mean we gotta leave?  But I wanna stay!"

[Alphabet Soup]

The spider TV had me laughing out loud.

When we moved to Huntsville it was part of a grand migration of Boeing families who were headed there to take part in the Saturn Rocket build-up at the Marshall Flight Center. Hundreds of us descended upon the sleepy little town. As part of an advance team my dad booked as much of the Heart of Dixie Motel as he could for temporary housing. We spent the spring and most of the summer there before closing on our house.

I remember meeting people from all over the globe who were assembling to work on the project. A German family, a Dutch couple who were lured out of retirement, and families from all over the country. We were all displaced - the natives as well as the guests. And for one glorious summer we all pitched in and created a community of sorts.

No one had anything - all our personal stuff was in storage or en-route - so we made do with what we had on hand. That meant lots of pot-luck suppers and BBQ's. The motel itself was a ratty little thing but instead of trashing it further we went to work cleaning it up. I was a bit too young to be trusted with a paintbrush without a chaperon, but I remember painting and sweeping and picking up trash and helping some of the old folks who were semi-permanent residents. I also remember how the motel management declined to scrub and fix the pool. Faced with an entire summer of nuttin to do, a few enterprising tenants went into action. We had a pool-cleaning party with the more savvy guys attending to the filtration mechanism and the rest of us scrubbing the slime. The dividends were huge when we got to swim (and swim and swim!).

The kids had some real challenges because, like the rest, we only had a few personal items for our amusement. Unlike our folks who had plans and agendas, we were merely along for the ride. No toybox full of diversions, we had to find ways to entertain ourselves. Some cast-off chunks of wood decorated with crayons and markers became matchbox cars and houses and an abandoned sand-pile became a lilliputian city. I'll never forget climbing the Mimosa trees and chasing fireflies after dark.

Small wonder that I recall my young years in the south so fondly.

[IronDioPriest]

When I was a kid we had close family from Minnesota that moved to Georgia, and to Colorado. So twice a year, we'd pack up the family truckster (Yellow Jeep Wagoneer with faux-wood-panel siding, actually) and drive cross-country to visit the relatives. Little motels were a main feature of these treks. We'd usually stay two nights. Pools were always a treat. And for whatever reason, one of the main things I remember from our trips to Georgia were the Stuckey's and the Shoney's restaurants along the way.

I have a very early memory (almost an image of a moment rather than a memory) of sitting on the bed in one of these little hotels after having been allowed to put a coin in to make it vibrate, and unpacking a wind-up robot my folks bought me at K-Mart for the trip, and thinking how cool it looked. I remember the K-Mart part because when it broke, my dad commented on how their stuff was all cheap, and that impression stuck with me to this day.

[LadyVirginia]

...
When we moved to Huntsville it was part of a grand migration of Boeing families who were headed there to take part in the Saturn Rocket build-up at the Marshall Flight Center. Hundreds of us descended upon the sleepy little town. As part of an advance team my dad booked as much of the Heart of Dixie Motel as he could for temporary housing. We spent the spring and most of the summer there before closing on our house.


...
The kids had some real challenges because, like the rest, we only had a few personal items for our amusement. Unlike our folks who had plans and agendas, we were merely along for the ride. No toybox full of diversions, we had to find ways to entertain ourselves. Some cast-off chunks of wood decorated with crayons and markers became matchbox cars and houses and an abandoned sand-pile became a lilliputian city. I'll never forget climbing the Mimosa trees and chasing fireflies after dark.

Small wonder that I recall my young years in the south so fondly.

What a lovely story--thanks for sharing.

[LadyVirginia]

And for whatever reason, one of the main things I remember from our trips to Georgia were the Stuckey's and the Shoney's restaurants along the way.

Stuckey's!

I'd forgotten about those. I remember staring out the car window hoping to see a sign so we could stop.  The only thing I ever could "afford" to buy on my own as a kid was candy.  I remember I bought a pecan roll at a Stuckey's--the first I'd ever had.  Still like them 

[rickl]

Yes, good story, Alphabet Soup.  So your dad worked on the Saturn V?  What part?

I also remember motels like these from my youth, but my family usually stayed in Holiday Inns or Howard Johnsons rather than the independent ones.  I have stayed in a few, though.

[Alphabet Soup]

Yes, good story, Alphabet Soup.  So your dad worked on the Saturn V?  What part?

I also remember motels like these from my youth, but my family usually stayed in Holiday Inns or Howard Johnsons rather than the independent ones.  I have stayed in a few, though.

My dad was a cost estimator and analyst who got sidetracked into management. For a time he ran the Flight Center. I didn't know about it as a kid but among the sh!ttier jobs he was tagged for was the hatchet-man for the SST project, and after we returned to Seattle, responsible for the wholesale layoff of thousands of men in the early 70's. Then they unceremoniously cut him.

He had the last laugh however, when he came back as a hired gun (at many times his previous salary), taking - and declining - several jobs that took him to his retirement. Then he and my mom formed a corporation and hired out to the highest bidder - often Boeing's old competitors - and ran for another six years or so.