Long Live Hotel Kitsch! Why America's Vintage Motels and "Fantasy Getaways" Are the Ultimate Stays for Hopeless Romantics

Name me a US film that doesn't contain a single shot of a motel with annexed neon-lit, softly flickering road signage, and I will perhaps reconsider my conviction that American pop culture and the local hospitality scene are far more intertwined than you'd think at first sight. From the falls-facing Rainbow Cabins of Henry Hathaway's Marilyn Monroe-starring, psychological thriller Niagara (1953) to the eerie Bates Motel of Alfred Hitchcock's cult horror film Psycho (1960), the saturated Portland hotels of Gus Van Sant's electrifying road movie My Own Private Idaho (1991), and the instantly recognizable lilac façade of the now-defunct Magic Castle Inn & Suites, which served as the backdrop to Sean Baker's emotional rollercoaster The Florida Project (2017), vintage motels and hotel rooms are ubiquitous in American cinematography. But their allure doesn't just belong on the small — or the big — screen. Not anymore, at least.

Over the past ten years, a renovated interest in America's mid-century heritage and holiday destinations has seen many of these iconic institutions, including some of the best Los Angeles hotels, come back to life after thorough restorations that blend a technicolored feel with the comfort of contemporary amenities.

Among such imaginatively refreshed design icons are Massachusetts' former 1960s motor lodge Tourists, general-store-turned-holiday-inn Austin Motel, Santa Fe's spirited El Rey Court, the modern rustic Camptown Catskills, and the desert modernism marvel that is Palm Springs' Ace Hotel & Swim Club.

Vintage motels aren't the only retro stays to enjoy a revival, either. Across the US, the very "fantasy getaways" and themed hotel rooms that provided amusing escapism during the post-WWII economic boom, and later lost traction to low-cost air travel, are now being rediscovered. They attract visitors with their 1950s futuristic "Googie architecture" — think boomerang-like rooflines, Space Age-inspired motifs, contrasting surfaces, and bold palettes — and equally extravagant, unexpected interiors. It is a phenomenon that's bewitching the curious and the design connoisseurs alike, as also attested by the latest edition of Modernism Week (Palm Springs, through February 23). One of the best cultural events of 2025, in our opinion anyway, its interdisciplinary celebration of mid-century culture comprises a series of appointments dedicated to the renovation — or documentation — of America's legacy motels, honeymoon resorts, and lifestyle destinations.

Still, as Marta Soligo, Director of Tourism Research & Professor of Hospitality and Sociology of Leisure at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) reminds me, this is nothing to be surprised at. "Especially in Western countries, people frequently dream of an idealized, romanticized past, which is often a 'sanitized' version of how things were," she says. Forgetting the social or economic challenges that characterized a particular era to privilege its positive aspects, such as its cultural and artistic effervescence, continues Marta, we become captivated by destinations that remind us of that 'perfected' past — places that, "working as a time machine, invite travelers to experience it first-hand," she adds.

London-based US travel specialist, journalist, and author Zoey Goto, a long-term lover of vintage motels and all things Americana, is aware of "chasing a simpler time that probably never existed, but that's all part of the charm," she tells me on her way back from Elko, Nevada. Having visited the States regularly for most of her life, she carved a prolific writing career out of her fascination with their quirkiest idiosyncrasies and greatest musical icons, exploring the country far and wide in search of its "most exaggerated, nostalgia-soaked attractions". From sleeping in an original Cadillac in the 1950s-themed suite of Los Alamos' Victorian Mansion, complete with "a drive-in projector for watching Elvis [Presley] flicks", to sipping bubble-gum pink cocktails in the gilded-with-cherubs lounge of the Madonna Inn — "the undisputed queen of maximalist kitsch" — and spending a night in the King of Rock 'n' Roll's teenage bedroom, over the past 20-plus years, Zoey has enjoyed her fair dose of American whimsical stays. But she isn't done just yet.

"In a world that often feels too highbrow and serious, there's something liberating about leaning into the pure joy of the unapologetically over-the-top," explains the writer, who is already eyeing up The Roxbury as her next bucket list destination. Nestled in the Catskill Mountains of New York, "this former motor lodge was reimagined as a high-camp resort by a couple with a theater background," she says. To catch her attention was the Cinderella's Gown cottage, which comes "with a bathroom tucked inside a giant pumpkin" — how's that for fanciful décor?

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Whether speaking from academic or personal experience, Marta and Zoey agree: rather than settling for cookie-cutter, generic hotel rooms with no real sense of place, today's tourists "increasingly look for places with a clear historical identity or branding," explains the UNLV researcher. As we discovered in our Travel Trends 2025 Report, booking accommodation is "no longer just about finding somewhere to sleep for the night," adds the journalist. "It's about buying into an experience, stepping through the door and escaping into a fabulous fantasyland." Of course, America's vintage motels, honeymoon resorts, and themed hotel rooms — with their champagne tower Jacuzzis, circular beds, and heart-shaped bathtubs — embody that spirit. And that's what has allowed them to gain new momentum as globetrotters seek more unusual, authentic ways to spend their time off.

While their bold interiors "were already serving picture-perfect backdrops decades before the dawn of social media," Zoey thinks viral travel accounts like Margaret and Corey Bienert's A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour were pivotal in fueling the recent motel renaissance. With a combined following of nearly two million people across their Instagram and TikTok channels, the married couple has put these retro gems back on the map, allowing younger travelers to discover them online for the first time.

"We started this project in 2018 to document fantasy hotels and kitschy resorts that seemed to be hidden away and quickly disappearing," Margaret and Corey, who tonight will present the book that emerged from their travels during a special event at Modernism Week (February 14), tell me. After bathing in the 7-foot-tall champagne glass of the Cove Haven Resort — the Pennsylvania, adults-only duo (then trio) of surreal honeymoon stays where they filmed their debut episode seven years ago — and catching the absurd journey on camera, the two captured hundreds of rooms nationwide. Soon, "it became clear that this wasn't just a niche interest but a larger piece of American history," say the co-founders. Published in 2023 by Artisan, Hotel Kitsch collects the stories and photos they gathered along the way, "preserving a world that might otherwise be forgotten".

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"In a society that feels increasingly noisy and chaotic, where we're constantly plugged into everything happening across the globe, but disconnected from the community closest to us, a classic American motel offers something rare in its simplicity, unpretentious kitschiness, and genuine personal connection," explain the A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour creators. Small and often family-run, these getaways facilitate more direct interaction between guests and owners while also allowing you to fill up on cinematic aesthetics reminiscent of Route 66 road trips and Old Hollywood films. Forcing you out of the mundane and into a dimension of their own with their garish, flamboyant furnishings, "they aren't just services or transactions," continues the couple. "They're accessible, temporary fantasies to visit where no digital screens are ever necessary."

When I talk to Margaret and Corey ahead of their Modernism Week appearance, they reveal they are on a break from traveling and are instead focusing on "a big home remodel". Coming right on time for Valentine's Day, their newly installed — and "very own" — heart-shaped bathtub grants a second life to one of the dozen sentimental bathroom additions of the Pocono Palace Resort, the third fantasy hotel once part of the Cove Haven Resort group, which shuttered last spring after selling for nearly 18 million dollars. That the A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour co-founders will now be able to enjoy it daily following their stay at the property feels somewhat of a full-circle moment, particularly if we consider how that vacation paved the way for their widely successful series. But much like in the case of Zoey Goto, their offbeat explorations are far from finished.

"We still haven't stayed overnight at the Trixie Motel in Palm Springs, so that's definitely one of the places on our radar," they say of the Barbiecore-worthy holiday destination that, opened last autumn by American drag queen Trixie Mattel, lent its flamingo pink backdrop to a Discovery+ series of the same title as well as starring on the cover of their volume. In many ways, the Trixie Motel couldn't exist anywhere other than the Californian open-air museum that is Palm Springs. "There's undeniable magic here," says the couple. "One minute you're driving through endless desert, and the next, you find yourself in a scene straight out of a Doris Day movie, where pastel-colored classic cars blend seamlessly into the backdrop of mountain views, sparkling pools, and mid-century modern hotels."

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But Margaret and Corey aren't the only contemporary creatives to have been enthralled by California's mid-century modern hotels. It was the eye-catching and mysterious essence of their neon signage that introduced image-maker Barkev Msrlyan, another one of the protagonists of this year's Modernism Week (February 16), to their world. Raised in Los Angeles, he had always nurtured a deep appreciation for its architecture, history, and landmarks. So, when these began to disappear, "I decided to dedicate myself to documenting as many of them as I possibly could," Barkev tells me. With Merch Motel, the visual archive he created as a celebration of the mid-century sites he cherishes most, which also sells souvenirs inspired by them, he strives to immortalize the vibrancy of these long-overlooked Californian icons — how "they transformed the mundane into the magnificent".

It is a mission that reminds us of the importance of protecting our cities' heritage, especially in the midst of the climate crisis. "In January, The Eaton Fire destroyed thousands of Los Angeles buildings, including entire neighborhoods, landmarked architecture, and culturally significant, centuries-old sites," Barkev, who lives in Pasadena, one of the areas affected by it, tells me. As a result, "places we never imagined would disappear were lost overnight." Among such historic locations is Sahag Mesrob, an Armenian heritage school in Altadena, which the Merch Motel founder had shot in 2022. "I'm so grateful they allowed me to tour the campus and look at all the details up close," Barkev says of his visit to the building, which was over 100 years old. "Referencing my photos, I was able to design a collection of products for the school, whose entire profits were donated to support its recovery."

Had it not been for the lack of interest of their owners, many of Palm Springs' most spectacular examples of mid-century modern architecture, too, would have been demolished come the economic downturn of the 1980s. Luckily, "the great majority of these homes were second residences, overlooked, and not worth the hassle of tearing down," travel journalist Zoey Goto tells me. This meant that when the style came back in fashion in the late 1990s, "Palm Springs was a near-perfect time capsule waiting to be unearthed". The Ocotillo Lodge, a former luxury hotel designed by pioneering architects William Krisel and Dan Saxon Palmer in 1957, is a prime example of this process, and one of the numerous legacy buildings opening up to the public during Modernism Week (February 16).

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Built on the south side of the city by the Alexander Construction Company, one of the main developers active in the area at the time, the stay was crafted to accommodate prospective buyers before they moved into their newly purchased homes. Counting the Rolling Stones and the Los Angeles Lakers among its celebrity guests, it had a glamorous restaurant and an all-suite setup, with color schemes and tongue-and-groove ceilings mimicking the look of the properties all around it, "so that people could be sold on the homes even before they left their room," Ocotillo Lodge HOA's President Tony Vardaro tells me. Still, as tourism took a hit, "many great mid-century modern hotels were either razed or, like the Ocotillo Lodge, repurposed as condominiums," he explains.

Bought by an investment group in 1996, today the building houses 120 one-bedroom condo units, but since "the rooms were all suites with kitchens, no changes were necessary for the conversion," Tony adds. This recently earned the property Class 1 designation — a sign that "the building is historic and mostly unaltered", and a testament to the enduring legacy of mid-century modern architecture; its ability to create "a better way of living through design," as architect Willliam Krisel once said. This sense of optimism and possibility is out in full force at the Ocotillo Lodge. "When you sit in your open-space living area and have an unobstructed view outside onto your yard, you're at peace," explains Tony. "Our large, central common area around the legendary, keyhole-shaped pool takes the indoor-outdoor living model a step further by adding a communal element, bringing owners and guests together in a way that's rarely seen in condo complexes."

Aware of Hollywood stars' role in shaping the myth of specific American vintage hotels, I ask Tony about the rumors that see actresses Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, and Lucille Ball among the Ocotillo Lodge's visitors. Sadly, there's no way to verify them. "We have door plaques stating that certain units were the 'Marilyn Monroe Suite' and the 'Doris Day Suite', but those were marketing gimmicks," he says, adding that, admittedly, "they do make for great tales."

Sometimes great tales are enough to ignite long-lasting fascination, and photographer Isaac Jeffreys sure knows what I am hinting at. His interest in American history and pop culture emerged "when I saw an image of Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher at Grossinger’s Hotel in Liberty, NY, appear on my screen," he tells me. From there, Isaac "went down a wormhole" to find out about the hundreds of mid-century resorts that dotted the Catskills in the 20th century only to be later forgotten by the general public.

"There's something tragically poetic — and a little magical — about a whole region created for frolic and leisure being left stagnant once it fell out of fashion," he says, referring to the many glamorous mid-century theaters currently decaying in the middle of its woods. Having realized that, in one way or another, these resorts were intertwined with most people he knew across the country, the image-maker set out to photograph them at night, "illuminating these places to present the past in a unique, captivating way". Juxtaposed with archival imagery from these venues' heyday, some of these shots will be showcased during Modernism Week (February 15) in The Art of the Showroom: Theaters and Nightlife in the Catskills; an exhibition tracing the rise and fall of these dramatic marvels.

Describing their rich, lavish, and often unchanged interiors and exteriors as "some of the coolest things I have ever seen," Isaac hopes the event will prove that, "while not enough thought is given to preserving places that are physical markers of the golden age of US travel and entertainment, these resorts symbolize the birthplace of modern American comedy." Built at a time when theme, shapes, colors, and patterns ruled the design scape, even in their most desolate state, "these theaters embody my yearning for a world that wasn't as bleak as the world in the 21st century, the world I grew up in," the photographer explains.

To contemporary viewers, the sumptuous, frocks-and-frills ambiance of the theaters lensed by Isaac might seem a bit much, excessive, even. But as A Pretty Cool House Tour's Margaret and Corey say, that's precisely the point: "now that so much art and design feel like they are constantly trying to prove something, kitsch is a refreshing break from the competition."

Are vintage motels, fantasy getaways, and themed hotel rooms tacky? Perhaps. Would those Catskills resort entertainment venues have fallen out of fashion anyway? It's possible. Still, taste aside, "few things spark happiness quite like the plush decadence of a shagpile carpet underfoot, or the sentimental pull of a velvet Elvis painting," author Zoey Goto tells me. "It's not just about the aesthetics that I love — it's also about the emotions that these kitschy spaces stir up from within."

Modernism Week continues across multiple venues in Palm Springs, CA, through February 23