Salton City, CA - The Sundowner Motel was an old roadside motel in Salton City, CA that dated back to the days when the Salton City area and Salton Sea were a resort area. The 1960's era motel was located along the west end of the Salton Sea. The Sundowner Motel closed down and eventually the structures burned to the ground in 1998.
Sundowner Motel
Salton City, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Nothing remains of the Sundowner Motel today, but for years its tall Googie sign and weathered buildings marked the west side of the Salton Sea. The old motel stood near West Shore Boulevard, where travelers following Highway 99 and later Highway 86 could once stop for a room, cool off in the swimming pool, and take a look at the new resort community rising from the desert.
The Salton Sea itself was created by accident in the early 1900s after the Colorado River broke through irrigation works and poured into the Salton Sink for nearly two years. Decades later, developers looked across the water and imagined California’s next great vacation playground. Marinas, yacht clubs, restaurants, motels, and thousands of residential lots were planned around the shoreline.
The Sundowner was originally called the Holly House as it sat along the former Highway 99.
Sundowner Bar and Restaurant
Salton City, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Salton City was one of the most ambitious of those communities. The Holly Corporation began developing the west-shore town during the 1950s, selling buyers on boating, fishing, warm winters, and the promise of a desert resort beside an inland sea. The Holly House opened in 1956 as a restaurant and motel, giving prospective land buyers a polished place to eat, stay, and picture themselves joining the Salton Sea lifestyle.
Sundowner Bar sign
Salton City, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The property later became the Desser House before settling into its best-known identity as the Sundowner Motel during the 1960s. Its tall roadside sign featured a dramatic arrow aimed toward the property, while the swimming pool offered some relief from the desert heat.
Then there was the staircase to nowhere. Rising beside the pool, the odd elevated stairway led visitors to a viewing platform overlooking the surrounding development. Prospective buyers could climb up, gaze toward the Salton Sea, yacht harbors, and nearby businesses, and imagine how everything might look once the town filled in. The stairs promised a view of the future. Unfortunately, much of that future never arrived.
The Sundowner Motel sign and buildings are now gone and just a dusty empty lot remains.
The motel area
Salton City, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Salton City failed to grow into the busy resort its developers had advertised. Changing water conditions, floods, shrinking tourism, and the Salton Sea’s growing environmental problems drove visitors away. Businesses closed, developments stalled, and the Sundowner joined the growing collection of empty structures scattered around the shoreline.
The abandoned motel sat deteriorating for years, its faded sign and empty pool becoming familiar sights to photographers exploring the west shore. Vandals and desert weather took their turns, but the buildings continued hanging on until arson destroyed the complex in 1998. The burned remains lingered briefly before the property was cleared in 2000. The old sign disappeared along with the motel.
Burned out structure
Salton City, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The Sundowner ruins were later seen in Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea, preserving one more glimpse of the lost roadside stop and the resort dream behind it.
UPDATE: The Sundowner Motel buildings and Googie arrow sign are completely gone. The former motel site was redeveloped with a small commercial center, leaving little indication that the Holly House and Sundowner once welcomed travelers beside the Salton Sea. 09-26
The Salton Sea was created in the early 1900's when the Colorado River levees broke and the Salton trough area of Imperial County filled in. After two years of water pouring in, the Salton Sea was formed. Capitalizing on this potential "resort" area, a planned community named Salton City was developed and places like the Holly House were built. Unfortunately, the Salton City resort never achieved its lofty promise and the businesses in the area were forced to close.
More from the motel area
Salton City, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The restaurant boarded up
Salton City, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Sundowner Motel
Sundowner Bar and Restaurant
Sundowner Bar sign
The motel area
Burned out structure
