The History of the Motel: 100 Years of Neon and Kitsch

"The motel might seem like an ageless fixture of the American landscape, but in fact, this roadside mainstay didn't exist before Dec. 12, 1925. That's when Arthur and Alfred Heineman, two brothers with a successful Southern California architecture practice, opened the Milestone Mo-Tel, the first motor hotel, in San Luis Obispo, roughly halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. At the time, motorists had limited options."

"Their dust-covered clothes hardly suited the highbrow standards of most hotels, and parking in cities could be challenging. So many drivers stayed in autocamps, roadside resting places that sometimes offered basics like firewood and communal bathrooms, pitching tents off their running boards and cooking underneath the stars. In contrast, the brand-new Milestone featured novel comforts like hot showers and private garages."

"you know, they talk about that in The Grapes of Wrath.' It's such a concept of the American dream. Like those trees, motels blossomed, giving a century's worth of asphalt explorers a place to park their cars, lay their heads and contemplate what's down the road, and fulfilling a promise perhaps best expressed in the words of those once-ubiquitous ads for Motel 6: We'll leave the light on for you."

The motel originated on Dec. 12, 1925, when Arthur and Alfred Heineman opened the Milestone Mo-Tel in San Luis Obispo, California. Traveling motorists had limited lodging options because dust-covered clothes conflicted with hotel standards and city parking was difficult. Many drivers used autocamps that offered basics like firewood and communal bathrooms while pitching tents off running boards and cooking outdoors. The Milestone introduced comforts such as hot showers, private garages and orange trees outside every door, adding convenience and domestic charm to roadside stays. Mass-produced cars, federal road funding and the 1925 highway numbering, including Route 66, expanded long-distance driving and created widespread demand for motels.

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