# Outdated motel signage **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 1, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-motel-signage/587449 "2011-07-01T00:24:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-motel-signage/587449/21 "2011-07-01T18:58:51Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Hell, even signs advertising cable in the room are outdated. When’s the last time you were at a hotel that didn’t have at least some very basic cable channels? I have stayed in some A+ dives and every single of them has had cable. The programming might have been viewed from a TV box set older than I am that only displayed primary colors, barely, but it was connected to cable. Many of the lower level ‘econolodge’ type motels around NYC and some other metro areas don’t, there is however a good deal of over the air programs. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-motel-signage/587449/22 "2011-07-01T20:20:47Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Many of the lower level ‘econolodge’ type motels around NYC and some other metro areas don’t, there is however a good deal of over the air programs. Once spent a night at a desperation-level establishment near Seattle-Tacoma airport, just a couple of years back. Just local TV. And a conventional key on a conventional door lock, not a swipe card or a pro type lock assembly, just the sort of thing you’d have on your kitchen door at home. Amazing. I’d stayed once before at a classic Norman Bates type joint in upstate Maine, but that was back in the 90s, this later one was '09 and right across a highway from SEA. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-motel-signage/587449/23 "2011-07-02T04:29:20Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > You guys have to take a look at [The Gobbler, from James Lileks’ Institute of Official Cheer.](http://lileks.com/institute/motel/index.html) Sadly though, the Gobbler is gone. There is still concrete to mark where the restaurant was but the hotel was demolished years ago. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-motel-signage/587449/24 "2011-07-02T05:20:40Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > I can recall somewhat recently (past few years) seeing a motel sign that advertised “Color TV” and another that advertised “Air Conditioning”. > > Well, golly, I bet them have those new fangled waterclosets, too! > > Anyone else notice this within the past 5 years? Ayuh. There’s a sign still advertising “Color TV” outside a motel in Kingston, NH. ---
**Author:** ![Blackhawk441](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/76d3ee/32.png) [@Blackhawk441](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackhawk441)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-motel-signage/587449/25 "2011-07-02T06:57:21Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > On Route 1 south of Boston, there are a number of old school motels that look like they just jumped straight out of a postcard from 1964. I don’t really know who stays in them most of the time but they are fairly cheap and have the puzzling signage. One morning I was driving by one when I noticed the only car in the parking lot was a Brady Bunch style station wagon that looked as polished as the day it left the GM factory. I wish I had a camera on because I would have loved to have gotten that picture with a date stamp on it. I think there may be a niche market for people caught in a time warp who look travel around in old cars and look for assurance that they can have color TV and free local phone calls if they stay in certain motels. I was just about to post about these, but you beat me to it! Drove past them yesterday actually. It’s a small world. I know that they do some classic car shows at Gillette sometimes, so maybe that explains your station wagon there. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-motel-signage/587449/26 "2011-07-02T07:02:42Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Ayuh. There’s a sign still advertising “Color TV” outside a motel in Kingston, NH. I think I can picture the one! I can recall seeing these types of signs when driving up 28 through Hooksett on the way to Ossipee. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-motel-signage/587449/27 "2011-07-02T17:45:40Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > The thing that amuses me about hotel/motel signs is all of the FREE things you get. Man, the innkeepers of America are sure a generous bunch! Charge ‘em for the lice, extry for the mice, two percent for lookin’ in the mirror twice… ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-motel-signage/587449/28 "2011-07-03T00:29:28Z")
There’s a Sunset Motel or something near Lake Bluff, Illinois. There are five big blocks with the letters M-O-T-E-L, with each block on top of a tall pole. Several months ago the “L” pole started to bend, so they had to remove it. Now the sign just says “MOTE.” Looking at the place, I doubt they’ll ever scrounge up enough money to buy a new “L.” What’s really funny is that the motel also has one of those “vacancy/no vacancy” signs where the word “no” is a neon light that can be lit up when the need arises. I can’t think of any possible scenario where they’d have a need to turn on the “no” sign. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-motel-signage/587449/29 "2011-07-04T18:45:25Z")
> [@lukeinva](#): > > Nowadays it’s common to see “HBO” and “Internet Service.” > > Btw, There is a commercial on TV for a hotel (don’t remember which) that advertises always having “clean sheets” just as someone is climbing in bed. Which makes me :dubious: think: for real there are hotels that _don’t_ put clean sheets on the beds!?" I looked but I couldn’t find any official cites owning up to this(frustrating cuz im certain i read an official account somewhere) only anecdotal 2nd and 3rd hand accounts that a lot of housekeeping staff at hotels DON"T change the bedding if it doesn’t ‘look’ dirty. Personally, I know what I do in hotels and motels, and I don’t wanna be doing that on top of someone elses … doing the same thing, I bring my own pillows and travel blankets etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-motel-signage/587449.md?page=1)