Part one of a three-part series exploring San Diego’s long-forgotten motor lodges and the roadside culture that grew around them.
A motorist traveling through San Diego in the 1930s didn’t need a large hotel to spend the night. Small tourist courts offered a room, a parking space, and a convenient stop along the road.
The tourist court emerged as automobile travel became more common. By the 1930s, Americans increasingly needed lodging that accommodated both themselves and their cars, and San Diego’s major automobile routes became natural locations for this new kind of business…