What Road Trip Motels Were Like in 1970s America

Step back to 1970s America and experience what road trip motels were really like during the golden age of highway travel. This was when the family station wagon would pull up to a mom-and-pop motel with a neon vacancy sign, when you'd park directly outside your room and carry your suitcases ten feet to the door, when the office had a bell on the counter and postcards of local attractions, when the pool was kidney-shaped with a diving board and stayed open until midnight. Remember the Magic Fingers vibrating beds that cost a quarter? The ice machine at the end of the breezeway? The thin towels and tiny bars of soap? The air conditioner that rattled under the window? Road trip motels in the 1970s weren't luxurious—they were practical, affordable, and perfectly suited to families crossing America with everything packed in the car. From Howard Johnson's orange roofs to independent motor courts with quirky names, from the Holiday Inn's dependable consistency to the sketchy places where you paid in cash and didn't ask questions, 1970s motels were where American families slept while discovering their country one highway at a time. #1970sMotels #RoadTrip #VintageAmerica