The classic American motel is making an unlikely comeback

Telegraph

02-04-2025

'We didn't want a hotel, an Airbnb, an inn or a lodge. We wanted a traditional motor court,' says Ryan Fortini, who's standing with me in the compact car park of the Pacific Motel, of which he's co-owner with his wife Marisa. 'And we purposely kept the word 'motel'.'
Smiling behind black Ray-Bans and speaking in a laid-back gravelly voice, Fortini is a jovial character who opened the Pacific, in the idyllic beach town of Cayucos on California's Central Coast, with his wife in 2022. Motel is an unusual and archaic word to hear in the world of hospitality in 2025, but the Pacific's breezy hand-painted white and navy cabins are achingly cool, with fire pits dotted around and a converted minivan serving cocktails in the summer.
Cayucos is an easy sell, too. Around 70 miles south of Big Sur's ragged ocean-sprayed cliffs, it has the rather peacocking nickname of 'California's last great beach town'. And after watching the sun dip beneath the horizon with the sky painted in brushstrokes of vivid orange and hazy gold on my first night, I agreed that whoever came up with the nickname may have a point. Throw in golden sands with a long wooden pier, majestic coastal scenery and quaint bistros with names like Sea Shanty and Duckie's Chowder House, and the town is in perfect modern motel territory.
'We're on the iconic Highway 1, the gateway to Big Sur,' says Fortini. 'A million people drive this road [when it's open – Big Sur's susceptibility to landslides is notorious], and we wanted to embrace that.'
Though originally from Los Angeles, Fortini has lived around the Central Coast area for 40 years, with much of that in the small city of San Luis Obispo, where he studied and subsequently stayed. Maybe it was written in the stars that he would own a motel one day, seeing that his adopted home – 100 years ago – was where the world's first motel opened.
Pop culture hasn't exactly been kind to the motel. What was once a symbol of new-found American freedom and escapism soon became a byword on film and TV for crime, depravity and terror.
Motels were often depicted as ephemeral homes for characters of dubious integrity and malevolent intentions, with Alfred Hitchcock's landmark 1960 film Psycho the obvious cultural reference point. The imagery of the Bates Motel perhaps marked the point where the concept of the motel in public consciousness became something much darker, but it wasn't always this way.
While driving in the 1920s was still a relatively novel concept reserved largely for the well-heeled, automobile technology had come a long way since the turn of the century and the idea of auto tourism was becoming a realistic prospect. Architect Arthur S Heineman could see this trend and in 1925 built the world's first 'motel' in San Luis Obispo, coining the clever portmanteau in the process.
Almost equidistant between Los Angeles and San Francisco, it was an ideal stop for those travelling the roads that were slowly spidering out across America in the early 20th century. Though it closed in 1991, the building still exists and its Spanish Revival architecture makes it a quirky visit for anyone wanting a deep dive into motel lore.
Motels had an intriguing duality between the garish and the bland, with large blinking neon signs on the roadsides hiding low-rise single-floor cabins in a gravel motor court with basic functional rooms. These were transitory places, single-night stops on a longer journey. Motels reached their zenith in 1964, by which time 64,000 were dotted across America, providing temporary sanctuaries for ever more rapacious travellers.
Jack Kerouac stayed in many, Jim Morrison lived in room 32 of LA's Alta Cienega Motel and Martin Luther King Jr met his end at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.
'I love everything about motels,' once opined the great travel writer Bill Bryson in his Notes from a Big Country. 'I can't help myself. I still get excited every time I slip a key into a motel room door and fling it open.'
But while Hitchcock's grisly portrayal didn't help, the true end for the motel came in the form of the Interstate highway system. President Eisenhower's Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 poured $25 billion (equivalent to around $220 billion – £170 billion – today) into the construction of 41,000 miles of new highways over a 10-year period. Bigger, faster and more direct, the Interstates bypassed the old roads, and their motels. Cookie-cutter chain hotels like the Holiday Inn popped up beside the new freeways offering hundreds of rooms across several floors.
As more motels closed in the 1970s and 1980s, their appearances in the movies became seedier and more sordid. Releases included Motel Hell (1980), Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1983) and Desire and Hell at Sunset Motel (1991), with their names alone enough to put one off booking. And don't forget that Psycho became a franchise, with several sequels, spin-offs and a TV series (2013-2017) of varying degrees of quality bringing the Bates Motel into the 21st century.
Recent years, however, have seen a change in the motel's fortunes. Hoteliers and entrepreneurs have seen potential in their look, perhaps pouncing on romantic and nostalgic emotions. Incorporating the retro aesthetics and the mom-and-pop atmosphere of the classic 1950s and 1960s editions, a new generation of boutique motels have popped up across the States. But while the essential shape and look are similar, a closer inspection reveals several high-end flourishes, with more affluent travellers in mind.
My drive around San Luis Obispo County's vineyard-strewn hills takes me inland to Paso Robles, where the River Lodge Motel 's gaudy Jetsons -like neon sign will seldom fizz or crackle. Reopened in 2024, its basic single-storey setup is still there from its original 1954 inception but this slick art-heavy operation boasts a hot tub, restaurant, cocktail bar and swimming pool lined by petite palms and tall cypress trees.
Leaning back on my poolside lounger, house music beats pump from a hidden stereo, though they can't mask the rumble of Highway 101 nearby. My spacious room has large artworks, soft linens, a cosy reading nook, a hammock outside the front door and fashionable hardback books by Rick Rubin and Joan Didion. All in all, a far cry from the bulletproof windows, sagging beds and net curtains of yore.
But while this feels more like a low-slung boutique hotel, there's no denying its allure. And Godspeed to anyone who can resist taking photos of the River Lodge's dazzling signage every evening.
'I think they are making a comeback,' says Ryan Fortini, back at the Pacific. 'I thought it was trendy for a while, but it keeps on going. I don't think it's going away.'
Like much of America's historic highways, the 101 is spectacular in parts though for long stretches there's almost nothing on the roadside, especially further north. A few more motels wouldn't go amiss.
Five of America's best motels
The Pacific Motel, Cayucos, CA
Tucked into a dreamy coastal town just off the Pacific Coast Highway, the Pacific Motel is a modern throwback but doesn't overdo the kitsch, nor does it try to cram in too many amenities either. One for the purists in a majestic location.
Doubles from £155
Austin Motel, Austin, TX
Famous for its striking red sign, Austin Motel in Texas originally opened in 1938 but underwent a boutique makeover in 2017 under the stewardship of master hotelier Liz Lambert. Cool off from the roasting Texas summer in the motel's kidney-shaped pool with its red-and-white striped pool bar.
Doubles from £220
Tourists, North Adams, MA
The slick wood finish and bucolic Massachusetts surroundings make Tourists feel like more of a country lodge than a motel. But it's a good example of how old 1960s motor courts can be moulded into stylish modern stays (North Adams's myriad cultural offerings help too).
Doubles from £208
Thunderbird Inn, Savannah, GA
This retro roadside motel in Georgia turns the kitsch up to 11, presenting a veritable barrage of bright neon, vintage decor and popping colours. Originally opened in 1964, The Thunderbird 's motor court and rotary phones keep the authenticity at a high level.
Doubles from £150
Brentwood, Saratoga Springs, NY
An upscale motel in Upstate New York, the Brentwood Hotel boasts a mere 12 rooms in its L-shaped building but they're all minimal Brooklyn chic with old-world Americana touches like framed oil paintings of local scenery and brass press-button light switches.
Doubles from £175
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