{"id":468007,"date":"2026-09-18T15:06:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T15:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/468007\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T15:06:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T15:06:18","slug":"the-rise-of-roadside-motor-lodges-in-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/468007\/","title":{"rendered":"The rise of roadside motor lodges in San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0Casa de Pico Motor Hotel in Old Town, c. 1940. (Photo caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

Part one of a three-part series exploring San Diego\u2019s long-forgotten motor lodges and the roadside culture that grew around them.<\/p>\n

A motorist traveling through San Diego in the 1930s didn\u2019t need a large hotel to spend the night. Small tourist courts offered a room, a parking space, and a convenient stop along the road.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s major automobile routes became natural locations for this new kind of business.<\/p>\n

The city of San Diego identifies the tourist court \u2014 also called an auto camp or auto court \u2014 as the predecessor of the modern motel. Early courts generally consisted of small, one-story buildings with a limited number of rooms and nearby parking, or individual cabins arranged around a central parking area.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>El Portal Motel and Apartments, \u201cDoorway to Western Hospitality,\u201d at 5252 El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego, shown on a vintage postcard. The property advertised 54 units, tile baths and showers, free television, kitchens, and a heated pool. (Postcard courtesy of the Boston Public Library.)<\/p>\n

One example was the El Portal Motel and Apartments at 5252 El Cajon Boulevard, along Business Route U.S. 80. A vintage postcard advertised the property as \u201cDoorway to Western Hospitality\u201d and described it as a 54-unit motel and apartment complex with kitchens, a heated pool, and other amenities.<\/p>\n

The auto-court concept was not limited to San Diego. It also appeared along the busy routes through nearby communities, giving motorists places to stop as automobile travel expanded throughout the region.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Chula Vista Auto Court at 398 National Avenue in Chula Vista. The property was listed in city directories during the 1930s, including listings identifying it as an auto court, gas station, and restaurant. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center.)<\/p>\n

For example, Chula Vista Auto Court was operating at 398 National Avenue by 1934, when a city directory listed the property under John S. Odom with a gas station and restaurant. The court continued to appear in Chula Vista directories later in the decade, illustrating how the automobile had created demand for roadside lodging and related services outside San Diego itself.<\/p>\n

The small roadside courts were part of a much larger transformation. San Diego\u2019s automobile routes were becoming lined with businesses designed specifically for motorists, including gas stations, garages, restaurants,<\/a> and overnight accommodations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>California Auto Court at 3870 Calhoun Street in San Diego, shown in 1940. The low-slung roadside property was one of the auto courts serving motorists traveling through the city. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

California Auto Court offers another glimpse of the roadside lodging that had become established in San Diego by the early 1940s. A 1941 city directory listed California Auto Court at 3870 Calhoun Street, placing it among San Diego\u2019s tourist camps and auto courts.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This picture postcard of the La Cresta Motel (\u201cmotor court\u201d) shown in a line drawing is from 1939. At the time of this card, its address on El Cajon Blvd., San Diego, was part of Highway 8. (Photo and caption info courtesy of SDSU University Library Digital Collections)<\/p>\n

And properties such as La Cresta show the physical form of the early auto court: a collection of small accommodations oriented toward motorists <\/a>rather than a traditional hotel lobby and multistory guest rooms.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>An old postcard, front and back of the La Cresta Motor Court on El Cajon, c.1930s. (Photo and postcard courtesy of CardCow)<\/p>\n

Busy places<\/p>\n

Old Town also became an important center for automobile-oriented tourism.<\/p>\n

Tourist camps, auto courts, gas stations, and garages appeared along San Diego Avenue and nearby streets. The largest was Young\u2019s Auto Court, located at the corner of San Diego Avenue and Taylor Street.<\/p>\n

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\nTop: early photos and postcards (bottom) show Young\u2019s Auto Court and Cafe. Bottom right: Postcard of Young\u2019s and, far right, view of a San Diego Electric Railroad Streetcar bus seen and identified as No. 25, twin coach, in December 1927. The bus is stopped by Young\u2019s Auto Court in Old Town San Diego, with a tall barn-like building to the right of the auto coin the he background. Sign on front of bus reads Ramona\u2019s Home, tourist name for Casa de Estudillo in Old Town, also called Estudillo House. Buses were used by the streetcar line. (Photos and captions courtesy of the San\u00a0Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s Auto Court was a substantial operation for its time. According to the city of San Diego\u2019s Old Town historic<\/a> resources survey, the property covered an entire block and included approximately 43 individual units, separate restroom facilities, an office, and a gas station.<\/p>\n

The original Young\u2019s Auto Court has since been demolished.<\/p>\n

More sophistication<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>La Cresta Motor Court at 4980 El Cajon Boulevard, one of San Diego\u2019s surviving examples of an early roadside auto court. Built in the 1930s. (Photo and caption info courtesy of Wikipedia Commons\/Public domain)<\/p>\n

Another Old Town property showed how the tourist court was evolving into the more sophisticated motor hotel.<\/p>\n

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\nLeft, view of a man and woman seen from behind looking at Casa de Pico Motel in Old Town San Diego, c. 1955. Middle, the Casa del Pico Hotel in Old Town in 1940. (Photos courtesy of the San Diego History Center) Right, Casa de Pico Motor Hotel in Old Town San Diego, photographed June 9, 1940, by Charles W. Cushman. Designed by architect Richard Requa, the motor hotel opened in 1940 with rooms arranged around a central patio. (Photo courtesy of Indiana University Archives, Charles W. Cushman Collection.)<\/p>\n

The Casa de Pico Motor Hotel was designed by San Diego architect Richard Requa<\/a> in 1939 and opened in 1940. George Marston<\/a> helped finance the project with motel operators Frank K. and Eloise Cardwell.<\/p>\n

Its design represented a departure from the more typical auto court. Instead of arranging rooms around a central parking lot, Requa placed the rooms around a large central patio. Wide porches<\/a> faced the patio, while garages were entered from the rear.<\/p>\n

The design deliberately evoked a Spanish Colonial hacienda, fitting into the effort to develop Old Town as a historic tourist district.<\/p>\n

The motel also offered amenities that went beyond the basic roadside court. The El Pico Dining Room opened in 1942 to serve motel guests as well as defense workers from nearby aircraft plants.<\/a> It was renamed El Nopal in 1949.<\/p>\n

The Casa de Pico continued operating as an auto court into the 1960s. In 1968, the property was acquired as part of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.<\/a> The historic buildings are now part of the Fiesta de Reyes complex.<\/p>\n

Big developments framed travel<\/p>\n

Together, properties such as Chula Vista Auto Court, California Auto Court, Young\u2019s Auto Court, El Portal, La Cresta and Casa de Pico illustrate how San Diego\u2019s roadside lodging developed alongside the automobile.<\/p>\n

\"https:\/\/images.openai.com\/static-rsc-4\/y3xvSlIIGBMs2JPO9Qg7lRdMb1J4UgWfsmdpu2_Tgkuj4s8wgMS0VsjvVaY5FYRSUsxl8W1QDE8uW-rDic9EYe1qHWAmiD_CPms7iDCcz4TLtLAca9iJjuZa3yCUvuCaYqW8YGyENO-g9dmiMJHdGHaWkfm-QfRNeD5QaGgCEZ9SNSyU0HDTPhZCywxgWLtI?purpose=fullsize\"Vehicles merging at Pacific Highway and Barnett Avenue in San Diego, California, December c. 1940. (Photo by Russell Lee courtesy of the Library of Congress.<\/p>\n

The earliest courts were practical places where travelers could park their cars and sleep for the night. By the 1940s, some had become carefully designed motor hotels, combining automobile access with architecture, restaurants, and amenities aimed at attracting tourists.<\/a><\/p>\n

The motel had not yet become the standardized roadside building familiar to later generations. In San Diego, its roots were in the small auto courts and tourist accommodations <\/a>that appeared when the automobile began changing how people traveled \u2014 and where they stopped along the way.<\/p>\n

Read more history stories\u00a0here.<\/a>\u00a0Do you have a story to tell? Send an email to\u00a0DebbieSklar@cox.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

City of San Diego, Old Town Community Plan Area Historic Resources Survey Report.<\/a> The report documents Young\u2019s Auto Court, Casa de Pico Motor Hotel, and the development of automobile-oriented tourism in Old Town. <\/p>\n

California State Parks, The Casa de Pico Motor Hotel,<\/a> Sean K.T. Shiraishi, Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. <\/p>\n

Indiana University Archives, Charles W. Cushman Kodachrome Slides, \u201cCasa de Pico San Diego, Calif.,\u201d<\/a> June 9, 1940, Call No. P01838. <\/p>\n

Boston Public Library, Tichnor Brothers Collection, \u201cEl Portal Motel and Apartments,\u201d<\/a> 5252 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego. <\/p>\n

City of San Diego, 1941 City Directory,<\/a> listing California Auto Court at 3870 Calhoun Street. <\/p>\n

City of San Diego, 1950 City Directory<\/a>, 1950, listing California Auto Court at 3870 Calhoun Street and other area auto courts. <\/p>\n

Steve Schoenherr, \u201cA Chronology of Trailer Courts in Chula Vista.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0Casa de Pico Motor Hotel in Old Town, c. 1940. (Photo caption info courtesy of the San Diego…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[172176,29942,418,184300,141180,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-468007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-1940s","tag-1950s","tag-history","tag-motor-lodges","tag-roadside","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}