Waller's Motel
Hammett, ID Photo courtesy Tony Craig
The Waller's Motel sign near Hammett has certainly put in its time beside the road. Faded lettering and peeling paint show what years of southern Idaho sun, wind, and winter weather can do to a marquee. Even worn nearly past its advertising days, it still marks a place where travelers once pulled in for the night.
Standing along old U.S. 30, the sign recalls the years when highway traffic passed directly through small communities. A motel didn't need an interstate exit nearby. Its customers were already coming down the road, looking for fuel, food, or somewhere to sleep before continuing across Idaho. A readable sign and an available room could be enough to bring another car into the driveway.
Waller's Motel
Hammett, ID Photo courtesy Tony Craig
Across the road, the old Hammett Trading Post adds another piece to the scene. Together, the storefront and motel sign suggest the range of services that once made a small highway stop useful. The buildings may have been modest, but places like these helped break a long trip into manageable stretches. Today, the empty frontage and weathered advertising make the change in travel patterns especially noticeable.
UPDATE: Waller's Motel is gone, but its weathered sign reportedly remains beside the old highway. The former trading post building also survives across the road, although it no longer operates. Neither offers the welcome it once did, yet together they preserve something of Hammett's earlier roadside appearance. The motel name is fading, but it still gives this quiet stretch of road a connection to its busier days. 06-26
Evergreen Gables Motel
Idaho Falls, ID Photo courtesy Tony Craig
The Evergreen Gables Motel sign in Idaho Falls made its name easy to remember. The tall evergreen silhouette supplied the picture, while the lettering filled in the details. It was a fitting roadside welcome, with considerably more personality than a plain rectangular motel panel.
Built in 1946 along South Yellowstone Highway, the property belonged to the postwar generation of motor courts serving automobile travelers. These smaller lodging businesses offered a convenient place to stop without navigating a downtown hotel lobby or leaving the car far from the room.
Evergreen Gables Motel
Idaho Falls, ID Photo courtesy Tony Craig
The Evergreen Gables followed that familiar arrangement, with connected guest rooms facing a protected common area and parking nearby. Its layout kept the accommodations close to the automobile, an important part of the motor court's appeal. The buildings were practical, while the sign handled the roadside introductions.
The evergreen marquee is believed to date from the 1950s. Its broad tree shape gave the property a recognizable silhouette, even before approaching motorists could read the name. Archival photographs document the display decades ago, showing how long this oversized evergreen has been part of the street.
Evergreen Gables Motel
Idaho Falls, ID Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
In 2008, the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission purchased the former motel to create safe housing for women and children. A 2012 preservation grant supported updating the sign's wording while maintaining its historic design. Fortunately, adapting the property for another purpose didn't require removing its most distinctive roadside feature.
UPDATE: To the far right is a shot of the Evergreen Gables Motel marquee lit up. 09-06
UPDATE: The Evergreen Gables no longer operates as a motel. Its former guest accommodations became housing associated with the mission's Ruth House program, while the evergreen marquee was retained. The neon is no longer lit, but the tree still stands as a reminder of the motor court years. The property continues providing shelter, giving this old roadside stop a useful second chapter. 06-26
Mel-Haven Lodge
Colorado Springs, CO Photo courtesy Tony Craig
Check out the sailboat above the Mel-Haven Lodge sign along West Colorado Avenue. A boat riding the waves might seem unexpected beneath the Rockies, but that's what makes this display memorable. The colorful panels give it plenty of roadside personality before anyone reads the motel name.
The property opened in 1929 as the Kentucky Lodge and became the Mel-Haven in 1951. The sign appears to date from that name change. Its panels have worn several colors over the years, changing from blue to yellow and later red, while the sailboat remained the identifying feature.
UPDATE: The Mel-Haven appears to remain open, and its distinctive sailboat sign survives. Nearly a century after the property's beginnings, travelers can still find an independent lodging stop here. The mountains supply the scenery, while the marquee offers a little suggestion of a seaside holiday. 06-26
6& 40 Motel (Rem.)
Idaho Springs, CO Photo courtesy Jason Carlton
Check out the lettering and geometric panels on the 6 & 40 Motel sign in Idaho Springs. The unusual arrangement gave the marquee a lively appearance, turning a pair of highway numbers into something far more memorable than a standard lodging advertisement.
Property records date the motel to 1953. Its name refers to U.S. 6 and U.S. 40, the routes that carried motorists through this mountain town before Interstate 70 became the principal highway. The sign belonged to that earlier roadside setting, when a distinctive display helped sell a room to passing travelers.
UPDATE: The 6 & 40 Motel remains in business, but its original Googie style marquee has been replaced with a plastic sign. The highway name survives while the imaginative shapes are gone. This photograph preserves the display that once gave arriving guests a particularly colorful introduction to their night's accommodations. 09-17
Covey Motel
Salt Lake City, UT Courtesy Wes Cross
The towering sign at Covey's New America Motel certainly suited the scale of the Salt Lake City property. This postcard captures a motor hotel that advertised itself with confidence, giving arriving motorists a landmark they could spot well before reaching the entrance.
Opened in 1952, the complex occupied an entire downtown block. A postcard mailed in 1954 promoted 225 air conditioned rooms, radios and telephones in every room, and a coffee shop seating 350. This was considerably more ambitious than a small cabin court with a vacancy sign beside the driveway.
UPDATE: Covey's New America is gone, and the Grand America Hotel now occupies the former motel site. The sprawling motor lodge and its enormous marquee disappeared during redevelopment. Postcards preserve the earlier scene, when downtown accommodations could combine hotel scale with the convenience and bold advertising of a roadside motel. 06-26
Evergreen Gables Motel
Evergreen Gables Motel
Mel-Haven Lodge
6& 40 Motel (Rem.)
Covey Motel
