POSTCARDS FROM OUR PAST
Motel Row !
Written By Michael F . Brookman
Can you imagine a time when South Santa Clara County ’ s economy relied on ranching , farming and tourism ? It ’ s true , and it wasn ’ t that long ago ! Travel was something new to people of the early 20th Century . Many had not traveled more than a day ’ s journey from their homes . Taking the train was expensive and limited to central transportation sites . You had to have a pretty good reason to leave the homestead . The automobile age changed that . People were able to travel for leisure inexpensively and the destination was limited only by passable roads . Old , direct stage coach routes between cities were among the first to be graded ( although not necessarily paved ) for the new horseless carriages .
The engineering capabilities of the roads and vehicles of the 1920 ’ s meant a bumpy journey of between 60 and 100 miles a day . This required lodging for bone-weary travelers at frequent intervals . Necessity , mother of invention , brought the birth of the “ mo-tel ” about 1925 . The word is a contraction of “ motor hotel ” and was meant to specify motels designed for one-night stays with individual covered parking for guests ’ vehicles . Older hotels , like the Skeels in Morgan Hill , updated their facades and signs to attract the new mobile customers .
Motels began to spring up all along the El Camino Real , or Monterey Highway as it is most commonly known in South County . It ’ s hard to say how many there were at the peak of the era , about 1960 , but there were more than 20 between the Pajaro River at Sargent and Rocky Point in Coyote .
With so much competition , motels did whatever they could to entice guests . Postcards were inexpensive advertising and motels had them printed by the thousands , free to guests . Long-distance phone calls on land lines were costly and cell phones didn ’ t exist , so postcards were a good way to stay in touch with family and friends . Names and themes such as the “ Mission Trail Motor Court ,” “ De Luxe Motor Court ,” and “ Holiday Motel ,” with slogans like “ Where the Summer Spends the Winter ” and “ Morgan Hill ’ s Most Modern Motel ” were used to lure customers . Neon signs promising TV ( color later ), air conditioning and heated pools were also popular . Does anyone remember the “ Vibrating Fingers ” massage bed ? It was a big selling point but I imagine most only tried it once . Inspection and endorsement by either the American or the National Automobile Association guaranteed cleanliness and quality service .
Motels ’ popularity brought them into the limelight of our culture . The movie “ It Happened One Night ” with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert featured a motel in its plot and won five Oscars in 1934 . Even the great local author , John Steinbeck , wrote about motels in his novel , “ Travels with Charlie ,” although not in an entirely favorable light .
The motels brought much-needed revenue from outside the area for our rural community . Guests had lunches and dinners at restaurants , bought incidentals at the local markets and had their cars fueled and serviced in town . Local government not only benefited from sales tax collected by merchants , but charged a transient occupancy tax that was a greater percentage of the hotel bill than sales tax was of merchandise ! As roadway and vehicle efficiency improved and flight travel became more economical , motels went into decline . Covered carports were no longer needed with the weatherproofing of newer model cars . Modern , single-building motels were more efficient architecturally and the single units faded out . Some converted the old carports to additional rooms and became low-income housing , renting by the day , week or month . You can still see many of the old motels on Monterey Highway while their past remains captured forever on postcards .
110
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN JUNE / JULY 2018 gmhtoday . com