John Margolies (1940–2016)

Fun coffee table book. Beautiful end papers with reprints of vintage attraction decals and stickers (my favorite part of the book, in fact). Does what a coffee table book should do: Be heavy on photos and light on text.

A bit disjointed, though. Some chapters are a bit long (24-30 pages), while others very short (4-10 pages). Transitions from one topic to another are not always obvious or clear. Overbalanced toward upstate New York attractions. Text is more allegorical and guess work, rather than historically researched and documented.

That said, however, it's a book by a photographer, not a historian. And it does contain some lovely images of quirky place from the West Coast, Midwest, Southeast, the South, and Northeast.… (altro)

If you're a fan of Americana, and have any interest in motels, then this book will probably appeal. It was published in 1995, so I was surprised to find out that at least one of the motels profiled herein, the Madonna Inn, is still open, in all of its kitschy glory. Probably most places have succumbed to either the corporate decimation of mom & pops in the late 20th/early 21st or, more recently, Covid-19.

I have to say that I was disappointed in the photography. I was expecting more and larger photographs from a John Margolies book. This definitely focuses more on narrative than other books of his that I've read.

Having just finished reading Overground Railroad: The Green Book Roots of Black Travel in America, I couldn't help but think of the struggles of black folks throughout the 20th century in their desires to travel and get a good night's sleep. I wonder how many of the cabins, tourist courts, and motels in this book did not allow African Americans lodging. Of course, that perspective is completely erased from this book, as it assumes that the "default American traveler" is white.… (altro)

I've wanted to read a book like this for years, as I'm the type of person who goes by a motel in the middle of nowhere and wonders about who lives there and when was it built and why has it survived when so many don't. And I love the old neon signs created from the boom after WWII up through the 60's.
This book features photos of some of the remaining motels like that, many still standing but long abandoned. It includes the history of the motel in America, along with the history of "auto camping", tourist cabins and franchised motels like Holiday Inn. Also included is a section on the gloriously tacky Madonna Inn of San Luis Obispo.… (altro)