Color TV! And Other Signs You Don't See Often Anymore...

[Jackmannii]

The reason expensive hotels charge you for every conceivable service (including wireless Internet) and hit you up for $2 or more for a can of soda, is that they figure anyone dumb enough to pay $275 a night for a hotel room (or have bosses dumb enough to cover expenses) is dumb enough to sit still for any conceivable charge.

@Markxxx

Do they still have the signs on the Interstates, every ten feet which say, “Visit Rock City,” and “See Ruby Falls”?

Don’t forget to take the whole family to Mammoth Cave and Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland.

Then, get them Martinized.

[Sternvogel]

@scr4

I’m more confused and amused by the catchphrase “A House by the Side of the Road”. Is it advertising convenient access from the road, or what?

Likely a play off the song The Church by the Side of the Road, which you can hear here if you’re interested. An attempt to sound friendly in a way that would appeal to good religious folks.

And what are Sample Rooms?

Rooms that were equipped just like the ones you would stay in, but not used for sleeping. Think of model homes in a new housing development. A certain man who’d later gain fame for his blend of eleven herbs and spices featured a sample room at the restaurant he ran back in 1940. From this page:

Lawrence Kuhl is a longtime London resident and one of the town’s unofficial historians. He says Colonel Sanders’ marketing genius showed early on, when he recognized that when families traveled, it was usually mom who decided where they’d spend the night.

“The mother would always say, I want the key, I want to look inside those rooms because back in those early days the motels didn’t have a very good reputation. So what Colonel Sanders did, he went ahead and built a model motel room in this restaurant right here,” explains Mr. Kuhl. So by seeing a sample room right inside the restaurant, Mom could then rest assured the Colonel’s motel next door was safe and clean. That’s the kind of selling savvy Sanders showed throughout his life.

[alphaboi867]

@Thudlow_Boink

Until recently, the local Best Inn prominently advertised “Free Special K Breakfast” on its sign.

A hotel with free ketamine? I’d stay there.

[TruCelt]

On my first trip to Ireland we commonly saw “Ensuite available” on a sign outside B&Bs and small hotels. Apparently this meant that if you pay the higher rate you can have your own bathroom. I haven’t seen it in the last ten years.

And in the US how about the anti-sales “No public Bathroom” which was double-speak for “It’s the little building out back.”

And if they had a refrigerator they’d have a “Cool refreshing Coke” sign. Otherwise it just said “Coca-Cola.”

[Shoeless]

When I was a kid we used to go to a dairy store to get milk instead of at the supermarket. They always had a big sign in their window advertising “HOMO MILK”. My brother and I used to snicker a lot about that one.

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

Anyone interested in roadside motel nostalgia has to check out James Lileks site.

The companion tribute to old fashioned diners and coffeeshops is also well worth a look.

[TreacherousCretin]

@BMalion

Luxury.

Got it.

[LiveOnAPlane]

@Markxxx

Do they still have the signs on the Interstates, every ten feet which say, “Visit Rock City,” and “See Ruby Falls”?

They sure do! We were up there just last weekend and they were all over the place.

[Snnipe_70E]

@elmwood

“American owned” is code for “not a Patel motel”; basically, not owned by Indian immigrants. It was far more common in the days when Indian immigrants first got involved in the motel business. Often the motels they owned weren’t operated in the most professional manner; e.g. owners cooking curry behind the desk, rooms not cleaned properly, etc. Today, Indian-American owned motels are run in a far more professional manner, but the reputation persists. Yeah, the code is racist in a way. I see fewer “American owned” signs now than in the past.

Hey I worked for the Patels.

[missred]

@Markxxx

Do they still have the signs on the Interstates, every ten feet which say, “Visit Rock City,” and “See Ruby Falls”?

They still do in my neck of the woods, but I don’t see them as far away as they used to be. A few are still painted on the sides of barns as well.

When I was a kid, there were the Mail Pouch and Beech Nut chewing tobacco advertisments painted on barn sides.

[JuliaSqueezer]

Remember motels with “magic fingers” beds? You fed nickels or dimes into a box next to the mattress and the bed vibrated, giving you a magic fingers massage.

Of course, driving anywhere in Michigan: Sea Shell City bumper stickers and signs (say THAT 3 times, really fast)

[gravitycrash]

I’m surprised that some of the more expensive hotels charge for internet access. Even motel 6 offers free internet.
Actually I was just wondering the other day why billboards still advertise free internet right along with free continental breakfast! I stopped asking about free internet about two years ago, although I mostly stay at Super 8 or Comfort inns for business trips.

[Vorpal_Blade]

Now with fewer bedbugs!

[LurkMeister]

@Markxxx

Do they still have the signs on the Interstates, every ten feet which say, “Visit Rock City,” and “See Ruby Falls”?

Or Wall Drug…my family used to drive to South Dakota every summer, and it seemed like there was a Wall Drug sign every five miles on the Interstate.

[Morgenstern]

McDonald’s - Over 100 million served.

[Enderw24]

Whites Only

[Mr.Excellent]

@Little_Nemo

I’m old enough I can remember when TV shows advertised they were being broadcast in color.

I’m looking forward to trying to explain the HD/SD distinction to my future ExcellentSpawn.

[Spoons]

@gravitycrash

I’m surprised that some of the more expensive hotels charge for internet access.

In my experience, the expensive hotels that charge for internet access do so in order to give their loyalty club members a “free” perk for joining and remaining in the club. I’d guess that the fact that it can be free for the membership means that it costs next to nothing for the hotel, but it probably does a good job of assuring the membership’s return business.

[Skara_Brae]

@Spoons

In my experience, the expensive hotels that charge for internet access do so in order to give their loyalty club members a “free” perk for joining and remaining in the club. I’d guess that the fact that it can be free for the membership means that it costs next to nothing for the hotel, but it probably does a good job of assuring the membership’s return business.

I think also many of those hotels service mostly business travelers, who probably would not mind an extra charge since they can expense it anyway. People who are traveling for pleasure will be more swayed by a “Free Internet” perk.

[Student_Driver]

[quote=“elmwood, post:25, topic:533705”]

[li]Bank Americard, Master Charge, Diner’s Club and Carte Blanche window signs.[/li][/QUOTE]

My girlfriend and I went to a new Indian restaurant the other day, opened in the last year, and in a strip mall that didn’t even exist a couple of years ago. It had a Diner’s Club/Carte Blanche window sign, and the tray our credit card slip came in also was also DC/CB branded. The gf had never heard of it, and I was amused by the anachronistic advertising… but it looked like new advertising material.

Sure enough, DC/CB turns out to still be around, aimed at international business travelers.