The Motor Courts & Motels of Texas: 10 Uninviting or Odd Postcards

By Richard Connelly Wed., Nov. 2 2011 at 6:01 AM

Home away from home

Motor courts were all the rage in Texas back before the days where chain motels became as common as Starbucks in a city.

You were never quite sure what you were going to get -- tiny rooms with paper-thin walls and barely functioning a/c and plumbing, or nice-enough-for-the-price places to get the road grime off of you and set up temporary HQ for some sightseeing.

No matter where they landed on the scale, the establishments were usually proud enough of themselves to offer postcards. And we guess people thought those postcards were so interesting that they mailed them to friends and family, probably with an "x" marking the room where they stayed.

Most are long, long gone now -- although if you ever want a feel for them, drive Route 66 on Albuquerque -- but those postcards live on. Here are ten.

10. Ross Avenue Motel, Dallas
For those who want some paint on their motels, we guess.

9. Fin City
Not sure where this one is, but it's obviously built to handle the biggest car fins Detroit can offer.

8. Continental Inn, Nacogdoches
Odds that a drunk Dad took a wrong turn in the parking lot at night and ended up in the pool? Pretty good.

7. TraveLodge, Snyder
Sit by our pool!! Have some creepy animated character try to cop a feel off you!!

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Michael Sheldon Reed

Do you guys have anything better to do than make snarky comments that have nothing to do with the postcard and aren't even funny??? Hire a comedy writer next time.

Robert

#9 Is in Plainview which is north of Lubbock. I used Search Google by Image to find the location.

My grandparents managed a tourist camp in West Texas during the Great Depression.

squinney

When I was a kid we stayed in so many of these type motels around the country. Some of the best times of my life.

NewsDog

I think #10, Ross Ave, is now a car repair lot but the building that housed the office is still there.

#8 the Continental is still in Nac but converted into apartments. And Dad didn't have to worry about driving into the pool. He could walk across the parking lot to Continental Liquors to buy what he wanted. That's where we bought kegs when I went to SFA.