But fear of being cliched never stopped this blog, so these photos will, I hope, go some way to celebrating the tacky exuberance of the form.
And in the best examples the tackiness reached such a state of high camp that it transcended kitsch and became art (I love the blues in that one, above).
Some of them used a particularly delicious lettering style (that one, above, is a gorgeous mixture of both The Contemporary and The Addams Family).
But the very best ones used pictorial representations in stylish ways which evoked multiple meanings -- no need to enquire whether Reed's Motel, above, has a pool, although part of me wishes they'd left off the word "pool", presumably there for the thicker clientele.
Roy's Motel eschews all that fanciness and, instead, makes the arrowhead into a giant stylised (and stylish) feature. The glorious typography, the bold use of colours, the chic assemblage of the elements into a whole... yeah, I'd stay there.
Though there's every chance that the interiors of these motels would have been as shockingly inept (in design terms) as the signs were, er, ept.
I hate most hotel rooms I stay in -- they're usually overly fancified and have clashing patterns in their fabrics, carpets and wall-coverings that, frankly, do my head in.
Those old motel rooms would have been torture, but some newer designs are actually rather more thoughtful:
These are obviously economy rooms rather than luxurious but I prefer my hotel rooms that way. Cleanliness is an overriding essential, as is security, but then design comes into play and I like my rooms simple, well thought-out and (does this even need to be said?) restful. Though the primary colours wouldn't have been my choice.
Sometimes, in idle moments, I daydream about what the motel I'd build would look like. Some of the elements you see in those rooms might feature
2 comments:
Oh my plaid stretch-pants, you are branching out. You are stepping outside your comfy comfort zone into the surreal.
Here are a few ideas.
Mid-20th century American restaurant signs. There were so many fun ones. Even now, some try to be retro. Hard Rock Cafe tries a little. Johnny Rockets gives it the old college try. But some real oldies were over the top just like them fins on Cadillacs.
Route 66 even has tried to bring back it's original illusion of Americana in recent years.
Look up the Madonna Inn in southern California and see what they brought to kitsch. A truly unique work of art, Madonna Inn is.
America has loved it's strangeness. People love to fill their yards with gnomes and signs and old farm machinery and every tacky item they can pull from a dumpster.
Graceland, anyone?
Liberace?
There is no end to how tacky Americans can get.
One way I do appreciate sincerely is how far some people go to decorate their homes with X-mas lights each year. Enough wattage on display to power a city. Some are sights to behold. Youtube has some fun X-mas lights videos set to the music of The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, from across America.
We often display our decadence in the most shamelessly shameful of ways.
No one knows what to expect from you next. Do you?
Thanks for keeping us entertained.
More of Vermont WNBR dude will show up sometime this week, I promise. At least I think so. There were several pics taken of that ride and he should be amongst other pictures.
FYI. The word verification word below for me to type in is:
"chinarse". chin arse. Huh.
OK, gotta go check my chin arse.
Mike
"chin arse". That's just genius.
I really hope there's some blogspot bot that matches the made-up words to the content of the blog. Really.
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