23 Vintage Motel Signs From a Bygone Era

Get ready to let out a big ol’ yee-haw when you check into the Cowboy Motel, located just outside Amarillo, Texas, on a historic stretch of Route 66. According to the sign, direct-dial phones and colour TV are among the amenities that probably seemed a lot more impressive in the ‘60s.

The motel has long since been abandoned, but this sign still remains in the middle of the Mohave desert in Arizona.

For more vintage, abandoned places, explore 12 eerily beautiful images of abandoned theatres.

The 25-foot-high neon sign has been a fixture in Austin, Texas for nearly 80 years. Try not to be shocked, but locals have long nicknamed the place “the penis motel” thanks to the suggestive signage.

The sign for the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, still stands, but its purpose changed over the years; once meant to attract guests, the sign now stands as a grim reminder of the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was gunned down while standing on the balcony of this very hotel. These days, the hotel is part of the National Civil Rights Museum, a complex of artifacts and historic buildings — including this sign.

If you want to check out Memphis, Tennessee, it's actually one of the 20 best places to visit in August.

We’re not entirely sure why Bob was bashful, but he certainly wasn’t shy about advertising his roadside motel in Page, Arizona.

Since opening in 1939, the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico, has offered gas, food, lodging — and plenty of neon! The family-owned motel is still going strong today, and is truly a blast from the past.

A roadside staple on Route 66 in Farmsville, Illinois, since 1937, Art’s Motel was founded by Art McAnarney, providing gas, food and lodging to travellers. Sadly, the place closed down in the late 2000s due to lack of business.

Located on the famed Las Vegas Strip, the High Hat Regency Motel is one of the few survivors from the days before mega-casinos, when the Strip was dotted with tiny mom-and-pop motels. With a neon sign featuring a top hat and a cane, guests could be guaranteed they were checking into a classy joint.

The brightly coloured sign for the Lollipop Hotel in Wildwood, New Jersey, has been a fixture on the Jersey Shore for generations, one of the few remaining motels that popped up in what is now known as the area’s “Doo-Wop” era of the late 1950s and early ’60s.

Another “motor inn” from the “Doo-Wop” era, this Jersey Shore motel/restaurant was a local fixture since the early 1960s. Sadly, the place was demolished in 2015 to make way for a condo.

Located in rural Colorado, the neon sign for the Longhorn Motel (which is still in operation) suggests ordering a cup of coffee is the thing to do after checking in.

You can still book a room at this historic motel on Route 66 outside of Lebanon, Missouri. The motel received its odd name from the original owners, Nellie Munger and husband Emmett Moss.

The Pony Express Motel in St. Joseph, Missouri, has been around for so long that actual Pony Express riders may well have stayed there.

The bright pink neon bunny on this iconic sign in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, has greeted motorists since 1952. According to local lore, one longtime resident recalls that the rabbit’s eyes used to move from side to side, “but then I guess somebody must have complained.”

Located in Barstow, California (a key location for anyone who’s ever read Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), the historic Route 66 Motel still beckons motorists driving between L.A. and Vegas, the iconic neon sign shining proudly to this day.

The Skyline Inn was one of numerous motels to pop up in Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a “space age” theme in honour of the nearby Kennedy Space Center.

Located in Redding, California (near Mt. Shasta), the Stardust Motel is a vintage hangover from another time.

This vintage photo, taken in 1962, showcases the Starlite Motel in Cocoa Beach, Florida, one of many such hotels to pop up during Florida's "Space Boom" of the early 1960s.

A favourite hangout of California surfers, this vintage photo showcases the Surf Motel in all its neon glory.

The Wagon Wheel Motel in Oxnard, California, was a popular hotspot during its heyday in the 1950s and ‘60s. Don’t go looking for it today; it was demolished in 2011 to make way for a 1,500-unit residential condo complex.

Hard to believe the trend of sleeping in a wigwam never really took off. Still, if you ever feel the urge, the Wigwam Motel is still open for business in Holbrook, Arizona.

Sometimes there wasn’t much of a budget to create an eye-catching sign, so a little ingenuity and a few cans of paint would have to suffice, which was presumably the case with this manatee-themed motel in Key Largo, Florida.

"Seriously, who has time to come up with a name?" said whoever opened up a motel and put up a sign saying simply "Motel."

If these vintage motel signs are making you long for a road trip, then check out these 11 Canadian road trips you need to take at least once.