Pico Rivera, CA - The Bahia Motel in Pico Rivera was long a fixture for having a great motel sign. Even as the businesses around began redeveloping, the Bahia held steady with its large neon sign providing a glimpse of what the roadside looked like decades back.

Bahia Motel Marquee
Pico Rivera, CA
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

Along Washington Boulevard in Pico Rivera, the Bahia Motel once gave passing motorists a little tropical roadside scenery. Its towering neon marquee and bold lettering made this more than an ordinary place to advertise rooms. For those following the older commercial roads through Southern California, it was the sort of sign worth turning around to see again.

Opened in the late 1950s near the Montebello border, the Bahia belonged to the era when independent motels used distinctive themes to catch a traveler’s attention. A name suggesting warmer shores and a colorful sign out front could make an overnight stop sound a little more like a vacation.

The marquee was the main attraction for roadside photographers. Its combination of tropical styling and large Googie-style lettering reflected the years when South Seas imagery found its way onto restaurants, cocktail lounges, and motor courts throughout the region. No ocean view necessary when the sign supplied some of the atmosphere.

Bahia Motel
Pico Rivera, CA
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

After dark, the neon gave the property another look. The lettering stood out against the night sky, carrying the motel’s name above the boulevard. Guests might have watched for it on the way back to their room, while passing sign hunters had a reason to slow down and check out the glow.

The location served a growing part of Southeast Los Angeles County, where industrial development and expanding suburbs brought traffic along Washington Boulevard. Small roadside motels were part of that landscape, offering accommodations along the surface streets before newer lodging and freeway travel changed the pattern.

Bahia Motel (Demolished)
Pico Rivera, CA
Photo courtesy Sal Garcia

Over the decades, the Bahia’s surroundings changed with it. The older motor-court trade declined, and redevelopment placed increasing pressure on properties along the corridor. The motel and its sign eventually became another missing piece of the drive, remembered through photographs rather than a turn into the driveway.

The cleared site reportedly remained a weedy dirt lot for years afterward. Where the neon once announced a place to spend the night, there was little left to suggest the property’s earlier appearance. An empty lot certainly didn’t have quite as much to say as that old marquee.

Well, the Bahia has just met the fate of many other roadside businesses of yesteryear... the fate of meeting a bulldozer head-on. All that's left now of the Bahia Motel and its marquee, like the old Ford plant, is a memory and perhaps a place in Pico Rivera history books. 07-03

Bahia Motel empty lot
Pico Rivera, CA
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

This Bahia should also be distinguished from the motel of the same name on Beach Boulevard in Anaheim. That separate property later became the Covered Wagon Motel. Similar names can make the histories easy to mix up, but the Pico Rivera Bahia had its own place along Washington Boulevard.

UPDATE: The Bahia Motel in Pico Rivera and its landmark neon pylon were reportedly demolished in the early 2000s. The property stood vacant for a period following clearance before later changes to the surrounding commercial area. 10-26

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