Monday, June 16, 2014

WIGWAM MOTEL



Continuing with our travels along Route 66 featuring iconic motel signs.
The Glancy - Clinton OK
Blue Swallow Motel - Tucumcari NM

November 2008 - Rialto CA



The Wigwam Motels, also known as the "Wigwam Villages", is a motel chain in the United States built during the 1930s and 1940s. The rooms are built in the form of tipis, mistakenly referred to as wigwams.

A wigwam and a tipi, also spelled teepee, are two different dome-shaped dwellings used by Native Americans. They are different in construction, structure, materials used, technique used, and are used as dwellings by Native Americans of different regions.

 It originally had seven different locations: two locations in Kentucky and one each in Alabama, Florida, Arizona, Louisiana, and California.

They are very distinctive historic landmarks. Two of the three surviving motels are located on historic U.S. Route 66: in Holbrook (will post another week), Arizona, and on the city boundary between Rialto and San Bernardino, California. All three of the surviving motels are listed on theNational Register of Historic Places: the Wigwam Motel in Cave City, Kentucky, was listed in 1988 under the official designation of Wigwam Village #2; the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona, was listed as Wigwam Village #6 in 2002; and the Wigwam Motel in Rialto/San Bernardino, California, was listed in 2012 as Wigwam Village #7.











7 comments:

  1. Now that's a different kind of inn to stay at for the night!

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  2. Those are hysterical! I'm not sure why I have never heard of these before. My parents must have shielded us from them because I'm sure we would have begged to stay in a wigwam when we were kids (you know, back in the 50s)

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  3. I thought only Germans spelled it tipi, I've always known them as teepee! :)
    I guess they're not "authentic" but I still think it would be fun to stay here.

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  4. oh my gosh, that is so neat! i can't believe i've never seen the ones in san bernardino before, or maybe i did as a kid...

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  5. WAY TOO COOOOOL! I need to pull my 1947 style tear drop trailer down Route 66 some day soon.
    Tom the Backroads Traveller

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  6. I actually saw a program on these once many years ago and always wanted to stay there. Maybe one day. It would certainly be an experience. Thanks for linking up!

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  7. i have driven past the one in Cave City many times ...i didn't know it was part of a motel chain...

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