I must admit that there’s a special place in my heart for 50s/60s style motels and Aurora had plenty of them in the day. This shot comes from the archives of Max R. Jensen who photographed almost every square inch of the city and surrounding area over the years.
It
looks as though a Holid
ay Inn stands where the Crest Motel once did.
Click for higher res.
Crest Motel, 14115 Aurora Avenue, Seattle 33, Washington.
One of Seattle’s newest and finest motels. Near shopping, resaurants, and entertainment.
Large and small units, suites, apartments. Free TV and Radio.
Tubs and Showers. Phones. Trailer parking in connection.
Service station and barber shop. Coffee Service. Heated swimming pool. Photo by Max R. Jensen.
I live in Shoreline and my commute to Cap Hill every day is down Aurora, so I’m very familiar with all of the now-seedy motels with their wonderful old signs. My favorites are the ones whose signs still boast “Color TV, HBO!”
I see a ’57 Mercury, a ’57 Chev, and a ’57 Ford in the parking lot, and nothing newer; so I would guess the picture was taken in 1957.
It is a testament to the change in America’s attitude toward convenient highway motor hotels that the same scene now would show cars almost as old as those shown here. These places (the ones that still exist) are frozen in time and have been left behind, sadly the refuge — for the most part — of folks on the fringe of society. The way this photo lovingly celebrates the marriage of car culture with American roadside hostelry, you’d think that the same scene now would show a lot full of BMW’s and Priuses, but that would not be the case.
We lived on Palatine and I seem to rememember being allowed into the pool on more than one occasion. Memory hazy though on the how?
Also, had anyone turned the camera around and a little south to capture the wonderful Fish Bowl fish and chips place? just curious. My dad would pick up fish and chips at least twice a month and even after we moved out to Lake Forest Park, my first solo driving experiences often involved a late Sunday afternoon run to the FB to pick up dinner. Would love to see if anyone had info on this once iconic North Seattle restaurant.
If you want to step back in time, there’s a motel that looks exactly like this still in Port Angeles. I think it’s just called “The Port Angeles Inn.” I stayed there a couple of months ago. Cheap. Mostly clean. Absolutely frozen in time.
Sorry to reply to my reply, but I just found some photos of it (Port Angeles Inn) here: http://www.pnwarchitecture.com/Building/4860/Port-Angeles-Inn.php
My favorite on Aurora was (is?) Seal´s Motel. It had such a great sign.
Louis, did that have the seal balancing a ball on his nose? Or is that just a lingering hallucination from my lead paint years?
Steve- Fish Bowl, and right across the street, Whizburger…
If you love motor courts, Manitou Springs, Colorado, has some great ones….and then there’s the Adobe Wall Motel in Taos, but in PA, I prefer the Sportsman Motel
We spent our wedding night at this motel on October 25, 1958.
Yes…we stopped because it had television and we wanted to watch, “American Bandstand”…little did we know….
I love my fater an I hope you will forgive me an I miss anna wentworth an I wish we could get back together because I love her to death . I want her to be my wife an I ask u to make this happen soon an please jesesen help me. I would do anything to make her see I love her but now I don’t know how to do that an if you show me the way how to do it . I would give my life for her life an my heat to be with her . Please show me the way down your past an we had agrement that why we broke up an I miss so much jesesen an thank father . Aman
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I was just out there and the Crest is a Day’s Inn now, not the Holiday Inn in the “now” photo. Just sayin…!
Beautiful picture. BTW, it is not a Days Inn today, it is a Holiday Inn Express. The original pic shows some 1957 models, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the photo is from ’57, it could be a year or two or three later. Note the cool red pop machine up front.