He got drunk and bought a motel. Stories behind Route 66 motel owners

Their stories follow a remarkably similar path. They start with frustration: over skyrocketing housing prices, or the pandemic’s impact on their jobs, or the tedium of arranging flowers for weddings and funerals. They each wanted to drastically change their lives, and they were willing to gamble that the way to do that could be found in a roadside motel along Route 66, an American artefact that turns 100 in November.

These are the innkeepers who form the backbone of the iconic highway’s continued existence. Beyond hosts, they are de facto plumbers and landscapers, housekeepers and historians, preservationists and tour guides.

In an ecosystem now dominated by chain hotels, each seemingly adorned with the same stock artwork and serving the same continental breakfasts, the ageing Route 66 motels they own stand out as cultural touchpoints for American motor travel in the first half of the 20th century – even as some are lost to time and neglect.

“The motels are highly endangered properties, especially the original auto courts,” says route historian and author Jim Hinckley.

Here we discover the stories behind three of them.

1. The Aztec Motel & Creative Space

Seligman, Arizona