Hidden Village Motel (Demolished)
Flagstaff,
AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The orange sign outside the Hidden Village Motel was anything but hidden. Two large arrows pointed motorists toward the office, just in case the bright color was not already getting the job done. 09-21
Originally known as the Snow Peak Inn, the motel sat along Route 66 beside the Saga Motel and a Phillips 66 station. It also housed Casa Luna, an Italian restaurant and cocktail lounge. The motel and its eye-catching sign were eventually demolished. The property was replaced by modern housing for Northern Arizona University students.
UPDATE: The Hidden Village Motel and its orange neon sign are gone. The former Route 66 property has been redeveloped with modern student housing. 09-26
High Desert Inn (Closed)
Kingman, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The High Desert Inn once offered rooms starting at $29 beneath its Route 66 sign on Kingman’s east side. By 2021, the sign panels were gone, leaving only the empty metal frame beside the road. 09-21
The property opened in 1940 as the 10-room Ranchito Motel and was expanded in 1955. Rooms once ranged from $4 to $10 a night and included tiled showers, refrigerated air, and even pay television.
After later becoming the High Desert Inn, the motel shifted toward low-budget lodging before closing to travelers. The buildings remain but have been repurposed as apartments, while the old swimming pool has been filled in and paved over.
UPDATE: The High Desert Inn no longer operates as a motel. Its former rooms survive as apartments, but the roadside sign is gone except for its empty frame. 09-26
El Pueblo Motor Inn (Closed)
Flagstaff, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The old pink-and-black sign outside the El Pueblo Motor Inn has been advertising kitchenettes and low prices along Route 66 for generations. Later panels added free Wi-Fi and HBO, but the Pueblo-style buildings tucked beneath the Ponderosa pines have a story that reaches far beyond roadside lodging. 09-21
El Pueblo opened around 1936 or 1937, making it one of the oldest surviving Route 66 motor courts outside downtown Flagstaff. It was built by Philip Johnston, a World War I veteran and civil engineer who had grown up speaking Navajo while living near the reservation.
During World War II, Johnston proposed using the Navajo language to create a military code that enemy forces could not decipher. The El Pueblo became closely connected to that effort, with members of the original group of Navajo Marine recruits reportedly gathering and staying at the motel before heading to training. Their code played an important role throughout the Pacific war and was never broken.
The motel later closed, and plans announced around 2018 to turn it into a Navajo Code Talkers museum never came together. Another renovation effort stalled, leaving the old buildings vacant and wrapped in weathered construction material. The original office was eventually demolished, although three historic motel buildings and the roadside sign remain.
El Pueblo Motor Inn
Flagstaff, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
A new preservation effort is now trying to give the property another chance. Habitat for Humanity of Northern Arizona and local supporters hope to purchase the site and create 19 affordable workforce-housing units while preserving the surviving buildings. Plans also call for a small museum or community space recognizing the motel’s Route 66 and Navajo Code Talker history.
UPDATE: The El Pueblo Motor Inn remains closed and vacant. A 2026 campaign is seeking funds to preserve its historic buildings and sign while converting the property into affordable housing with an on-site museum. 09-26
Holbrook Inn (Closed)
Holbrook,
AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The Holbrook Inn once welcomed Route 66 travelers beneath a wonderfully odd Googie-style sign filled with stacked panels, angled supports, and plenty of lettering. It was the sort of roadside creation made to catch the eye at highway speed. 09-21
The motel opened around 1959 or 1960 as the Woods Inn, right in the middle of Holbrook’s postwar travel boom. Hopi Drive and Navajo Boulevard were packed with motor courts, restaurants, trading posts, and neon signs competing for the steady flow of travelers heading across northern Arizona.
After a change in ownership, the motel became Pope’s Inn and was sometimes promoted on postcards as the “New Pope’s Inn.” The top of the sign was changed to carry the new name, while the unusual Googie framework stayed in place.
A view of the front of the motel
Holbrook, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The property later became the Holbrook Inn and joined the Budget Host network. That arrangement allowed an independent motel to use a recognizable national referral name while keeping its own local identity. For a time, the old sign carried both the Holbrook Inn name and the familiar Budget Host branding.
Interstate 40 eventually pulled most through traffic away from the Route 66 strip. The motel declined, closed, and was left sitting vacant beside the old highway. Its sign remains, but the decorative top section has broken away and the surviving Holbrook Inn panel is badly faded. What was once a bright roadside landmark now looks like it has endured one too many high-desert winters.
UPDATE: The Holbrook Inn is closed and abandoned. Its damaged roadside sign survives in severely weathered condition. 09-26
Williams Motel (Gone)
Williams, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The roadside sign at the Williams Motel provided a handy list of goodies for Route 66 travelers. Coffee and donuts waited in the morning, while cable color TV and nonsmoking rooms offered a few comforts after a long day behind the wheel. 09-21
The motel stood near the eastern entrance to Williams, where it could catch motorists before they reached the busier downtown strip. It was one of the many independent motor courts serving travelers headed toward the Grand Canyon.
Unfortunately, the motel and its multi-paneled sign have both disappeared. Whether that coffee-and-donuts sign was saved or went down with the buildings is unknown.
UPDATE: The Williams Motel has been demolished, and its colorful roadside sign is gone. 09-26
Wonderland Motel (Demolished)
Flagstaff, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The Wonderland Motel opened along busy Santa Fe Avenue in 1956, promising Route 66 travelers a comfortable room and a view of Flagstaff’s mountain scenery. It was proudly advertised as “The Motel with a View. 09-21
By the time this photograph was taken, the sign was promoting a playground and color cable TV, two useful attractions for families spending another night on the road. Free Wi-Fi was added later, keeping the old motor court up with the times.
The Wonderland stood on Flagstaff’s eastern motel strip for more than half a century. It was even identified as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, but that did not guarantee its survival.
The motel eventually closed and began slowly coming apart around 2011. By 2018, the remaining rooms and roadside sign had been completely removed, leaving another empty space along the old highway.
UPDATE: The Wonderland Motel and its roadside sign have been demolished. The former Route 66 property was cleared for possible commercial redevelopment. 09-26
Hidden Village Motel (Demolished)
El Pueblo Motor Inn (Closed)
El Pueblo Motor Inn
A view of the front of the motel
Williams Motel (Gone)
