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Wayside Motel

923 Santa Fe Ave., Grants, NM
Phone:

East < GO > West

Another one gone, but not forgotten, he old Wayside Motel is located on Santa Fe Ave. between McArthur St. and Nimitz Drive, across the street from the Grants Cafe site on Route 66 in Grants. The motel itself is gone, the office was all that was left when we snapped these photos in 2009. The guest room buildings formed a sort of "U" that wrapped around the office building. The office building was originally just one story.

The motel was known as the Grants Motor Lodge offering 16 modern units, wall to wall carpeting, inner spring mattresses and ranch style furniture when it was built in 1945.

As late as the mid-70s it was the "It'll Do Inn" The owners/managers had an apartment upstairs that featured a covered verandah overlooking the 15 guest unit building and the railroad tracks.

GPS: 35.145268, -107.839673

In 2009 the sign looked like it has seen better days. The arrow is or at least was lit with incandescent bulbs. There was an effort by the city to tear down the building in 2018, but it was fenced off and still standing in 2019, although the sign was gone.

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Vintage Advertising Highlights

GRANTS
Motor Lodge
16 Modern Units - Wall-to-Wall Carpeting - Ranch Style Furniture - Inner Spring Mattresses
Elevation 6500 - East Side of Town
GRANTS, NEW MEXICO
For your convenience - next door
A New and Modern SHELL SUPER STATION

NOTE: For a Mid-40s motel this seems like a fairly common style of description. The population of Grants in 1950 was about 2,250 so saying the place was "East of Town" was probably adequate, but maybe mentioning the highway name would have been nice.

Photo(s): 2009