Vintage Motels by Ellie Seymour — The Revival of Mid-Century American Roadside Icons

Neon Signs & Retro Rooms: Vintage Motels by Ellie Seymour

A new title from Luster Publishing, Vintage Motels: America’s Most Iconic Motels, Beautifully Restored, sends readers on a nostalgic drive through the history and rebirth of America’s roadside architecture. Written by travel journalist Ellie Seymour, the book traces 40 mid-century motels that once defined the freedom and optimism of postwar car culture — now reborn as contemporary boutique stays that preserve the charm of their past lives.

Seymour’s road trip includes icons such as The Pearl in Florida, Skyview in California, Hotel Lucine in Texas, and The Dive in Nevada.

Whether revived through glowing neon signage, preserved timber façades, or minimalist reinterpretations of classic Americana, each project reflects a time when motels were small architectural experiments lined along the nation’s highways — symbols of movement, anonymity, and the promise of the open road.

Celebrating the Icons of a Bygone Era

Seymour begins the story in 1925 with the Milestone Mo-Tel in San Luis Obispo, California — the first building to use the word motel. Designed by architect Arthur Heineman, it offered private garages and hot showers tailored to a new era of automobile travel. The compressed name “Mo-Tel” was simply a practical solution to fit “Milestone Motor Hotel” on a rooftop sign, but it sparked a cultural phenomenon.

The idea for the book was inspired by a passage from Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Big Country (1998), where he confesses his enduring excitement for motels. For Seymour — who grew up in England, where motels are more myth than reality — this sparked a fascination shaped by cinematic touchpoints like Psycho, Thelma & Louise, Pulp Fiction, and Schitt’s Creek. Yet a road trip through California, Nevada, and Arizona changed her perception entirely, revealing the beauty and history behind these often-misunderstood roadside icons.

Design, Nostalgia & the Spirit of the Open Road

Vintage Motels by Ellie Seymour - By the 1960s, more than 60,000 motels stretched along American highways, each distinguished by unique signage, quirky architecture, and a sense of place. But with the rise of interstates and accessible air travel, many fell into disrepair. Some were abandoned; others were demolished; many were reduced to noir backdrops in stories of transience and decline.

Seymour’s book captures the opposite: a revival. Across 256 pages, Vintage Motels documents how new owners, architects, and designers are restoring these mid-century structures with care. Some properties preserve their kidney-shaped pools, wood-paneled rooms, and neon signs exactly as they were. Others reinterpret the aesthetic with contemporary restraint — but always with respect for the original spirit.

Each motel is showcased through archival materials, rich photography, and the history behind its construction and rebirth. The result is a portrait of American road culture that blends nostalgia, design, and the enduring thrill of discovery.

Written by Otávio Santiago, a designer passionate about creating meaningful visual experiences through graphic, motion, and 3D design. Based between Berlin and Lisbon, he works across disciplines — from print and branding to digital and animation.