The Motel in America (The Road and American Culture)

In the second volume of the acclaimed Gas Food Lodging trilogy authors John Jakle Keith Sculle and Jefferson Rogers take an informative entertaining and comprehensive look at the history of the motel. From the introduction of roadside tent camps and motor cabins in the 1910s to the wonderfully kitschy motels of the 1950s that line older roads and today's comfortable but anonymous chains that lure drivers off the interstate Americans and their cars have found places to stay on their travels. Motels were more than just places to sleep however. They were the places where many Americans saw their first color television used their first coffee maker and walked on their first shag carpet.Illustrated with more than 230 photographs postcards maps and drawings The Motel in America details the development of the motel as a commercial enterprise its imaginative architectural expressions and its evolution within the place-product-packaging concept along America's highways. As an integral part of America's landscape and culture the motel finally receives the in-depth attention it deserves.

Series: The Road and American Culture

Paperback: 408 pages

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press; 1St Edition edition (April 5 2002)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0801869188

ISBN-13: 978-0801869181

Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds