Get Your Kicks on Route 66

I wanted to do something with my day after the Walt Disney Studio tour besides just driving back home. Disneyland would be an all day and evening thing and the rest of my group were going on Tuesday, my travel day, plus I'm holding out for the Magic Kingdom with my niece and nephew in June. While I wouldn't go as far as to call it a Bucket List thing, I've always wanted to check out one of those Wig Wam Motels. And that is what I did.

There use to be many of these things but there are only three left now with one in Tennessee, one in Arizona, and the last in Rialto, California. I guess they parodied the Arizona one in the movie CARS but I haven't seen it (some Disney/Pixar fan I am!). They are a throwback to a time a number of decades back when people turned architecture into something Kitsch like the Brown Derby in Hollywood shaped like a derby.

The concept is to have small individual motel rooms shaped like indian teepees. The idea is so corny and fun that I had to spend a night in one so I made the drive from the Disney Studios to the local one in Rialto (San Bernardino border). I was warned that is was farther out than Burbank and, sure enough, it was about a hour and a half away. But that was okay since I had other business out in this area (which I'll get to in later posts).

I'm guessing there might have been about 20 rooms. The photos make it look nice but the area in Rialto was a little rough and run down. Technically, Route 66 doesn't exist anymore but it is still celebrated with even some local towns like Fontana doing Route 66 brickwork on the street. But not all parts of the old Route 66 are in such good shape.

I think the three Wig Wam Motels along with all the previous ones were all located along Route 66. After spending the night, I did drive for about 45 minutes down Route 66 to explore and see what was left.

Inside the teepee, the rooms are very small but cozy. The windows are small and low and the only other room is for the bathroom and shower.

These are older motels so things that we might usually find at a motel like free hairdryers were not here. Even the water heater (hidden in a compartment) was making some god-awful noises.

There was this cool old run down van parked out back. Just for show but it had some character. In all, I'm not sure if the "Kitsch" factor surpassed the "kind of old and dumpy" factor but it was something to do at least once in your life, right?

Next time: The Air Museums of Southern California!
Get your flight suit, Maverick!
While it ain't Miramar, we are going to Chino, California!!