TBT: 1960's Motel Culture

Cape Coral, Florida will be celebrating its SIXTIETH birthday in 2017. In the spring of 1969, my grandparents stayed at the modernist Nautilus Motel  and Garden Apartments.

There were other Nautilus Motels in Treasure Island and Daytona Beach, Florida.

Images above: Laura Mae Rylance at the Nautilus Motel and Garden Apartments. May 1969. Private collection.

The Nautilus Motel and Garden Apartments. 1965. As viewed 9 April 2015 via "About Coral Gables." URL: http://www.secretplacesflorida.com/capecoral/about.html

1958 Airline Highway

In 1958, New Orleans photographer Frank Lotz Miller (1923-1993) shot this series of Airline Highway photographs for architects Curtis and Davis, who renovated the London Lodge Motel and Restaurant. The complex's predecessor structures -- a tourist court assemblage -- had been designed by Patrick M. Allison for Chicago owner Ben London in 1952.

Images above:  Frank Lotz Miller, photographer. Airline Highway/London Lodge Motel. 1958. Digital image from black and white negative. Curtis and Davis Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Field Trip: Colorado Springs, Colorado

The subject of Googie architecture has been addressed on this blog a number of times, and Colorado's state highways feature many well maintained mid-century motels. Along Colorado Avenue between Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs, there is an especially high density of interesting Googie signage.

Image above: Mecca Motel, Colorado Avenue, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Photograph by K. Rylance 24 July 2010.