Retro Motels: Medicine Hat Alberta

We’re got a thing for retro motels and seek them out at every opportunity. It’s a nostalgia rush and for the full immersive experience we often make them our home on road trips. For those on a tight budget (so us) they’re usually the best choice too and if this plus the following conditions are met it’s a no-brainer…

Clean? Check! Orderly? Check! Not a chain? Check! Ambiance and character? Check, check, check and we’re in!

Medicine Hat Alberta has become a mecca for old school accommodations like this with most clustered in a few block area where two major highways meet. One functioned as our base of operations for a busy weekend of exploring, but with so many to choose from it was a tough decision. In the end it was a coin toss and next time we’ll try a different one and help spread around a little love. These little Mom & Pop’s are a treasure and we show our support any way we can.

1) Our pick for the weekend, it’s the Ranchmen Motel. Built along the then new Trans Canada highway in the late 1950s, their sign (put in during the 1960s) is stand out. You’ll see a neon theme in this post but sadly many signs are in need of TLC, as is the case here. Times are always tough in the biz and what with Covid and all now (this was shot just as the hammer dropped in 2020) there’s probably not much coin to go around for fixing things like this. In an old yellow page’s ad found (ca 1970s), they advertise all rooms come with “Free TV”. Have we died and gone to heaven?!

1) The Ranchmen, our home for the weekend.

2) Found off the old Number Three/Crowsnest Highway alignment into downtown (now Gershaw Drive), the Hat Motel is one of the oldest we’ll see and dates from the early 1950s. And it looks every bit the part. In the 1970s it’s listed as having an attached restaurant.

3) Across the street, the Riverdale Gang at the Garage Pub which operates out of an old service station That colour is BIGDoer.com approved!

4) Presenting the Pallas Motel in neighbouring Redcliff. We believe it started out as the Starlight in the late 1960s but data’s a bit sketchy then. However, we know for for sure it was the Pals Motel from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s before taking the name used present day. Interestingly there’s another Pals in the Hat and we think the two connected (more in a moment). In old phone book ads, our main research material, mention is made in the late 1990s of their “comfortable and pleasant décor.”

5) Under the Pallas sign, a memorial to Darcy who perished a few years back here along the Trans Canada Highway, a dangerous road at the best of times. In back, the motel is a set away from the busy thoroughfare and almost hidden from view.

6) The Riverside Motel appeared closed on our visit, but has since reopened. A change of ownership? Or down time due to renovations maybe? From the mid-1950s to about 2010, or maybe a bit beyond, it was the El Bronco and the building seen, we suspect, not original. The attached restaurant (similarly looking closed) was once a Bob’s Big Boy in the late 1970s. The Riverside offered five channels worth of cable TV back in the day. Yes, five! Hard to believe in today’s world that was a selling point, but yet it was.

In the 1980s they made it a point to mention they were “across from the Waterslide” without stating it was at a competing motel. That place is up next.

7-8) The Rancho dates back to the late 1950s and like a lot of the motels seen in this post was put in about the time the Trans Canada bypass was built. Before this cross-country travellers had to go through downtown which was slow and complicated and this new road made life easier. In the early days the Rancho claimed to be “Medicine Hat’s most modern” but we’re not sure if they could fly that banner now.

In the 1980s-1990s period they had a water slide on the property. We did not know it at the time, so didn’t go looking for evidence (if there even was any) but suspect it must have been on land to the west and closer to the river. The Rancho is within throwing distance of the South Saskatchewan, here in a deep valley, by the way. Their sign’s not working as it should.

9) Dating from the early 1980s it’s the newest motel seen here and we debated even including it, but hey, it still kinda fits. Originally called the Circle T it was advertised as “Medicine Hat’s Finest” in the 1990s. For a time that same decade they were connected to the nearby Travel Lodge and while looking closed on our visit, they are now open again as Medicine Hat Inn & Suites.

10-12) The Sun Dek Motel dates back to the early 1960s. We’re obsessed with zig-zag roofs (rooves?) and by the way will be producing a piece on them down the road. In the 1980s their ads make mention of waterbeds being available in some rooms. Waterbeds? Really? The vibrating ones we’re better! We believe the Sun Dek sign is of a more modern vintage than the buildings themselves. BIGDoer-mobile photobomb!

11-13) The Pals is tied with the Hat Motel as the oldest in this post. First operating the Frontier Auto Court & Service Station staring in 1952 (“For the best in the Hat”), then simply Frontier Motel afterwards, in addition to selling gas they had a coffee shop in the early days. With a Class “A” rating in the 1950s (what ever that signified), they also operated under the “Travo-Lite” banner in the ’70s. The Pals sits right along the Crowsnest Highway.

In the 1980s and 1990s it was the Cedar’s Villa Motel but since the mid-1990s it’s the Pals and we think this the second incarnation of that name. Recall the earlier Pals in Redcliff spoken of near the beginning of this piece that closed about the time this one opened – they must be connected. Old phone book ads mention the Pals is “3 Blocks west of the Trans Canada” and that they offered “RV parking”. The oldest section of the motel is the cabin style rooms behind the (original) office where as the buildings in back (and another out of sight in our photos) are later additions.

We found a old post cards online showing the place during its Frontier days – it was pink once! There’s the gas pumps too, right in front of what is the present day office. The sign is somewhat broken something we’ll see time and again this evening. Medicine Hat needs a neon tech!

14-15) Along the Number One, the mighty TC Highway, the country spanning T-1, it’s the Ace Crown Motel. Dating back to the early 1960s, it operated as the Bel Aire up until the 2010s. We mostly used old phone books as research fodder for this piece and in the decades the motel operated we found not a single yellow page ad for the business. Back then, that was the place to advertise, so they must have done well by word of mouth or maybe their strategic position on the highway made them an easy choice. Given the appearance of the place we suspect the building is close to original exterior wise and their cool sign gets two thumbs up from us. It’s awesome!

16-17) The Satellite Motel dates back to the early 1960s, although for a while back then it had a different sign. They offered Colour (color) and Cable TV in the late 1960s, which was pretty cutting edge for the time. They are likewise having a problem with their neon (one side only) but even with this it still takes top prize as the best sign this night. The Satellite sits alongside the Trans Canada, but set back on a service road.

18) Turning around, it’s our place, the Ranchmen, the iconic smiling cowboy hard to miss. That’s the Trans Canada to the right. In times past the motel offered “Free TV” (those guys were saints!) and advertised they had “44 Modern Units”. I think they have more now.

19-21) The Imperial Motor Inn on 13th Avenue has been in business since the mid-1970s with the attached Beefeater Restaurant (“For the Ultimate in Dining”) coming a couple years later. We’re eating there next time we’re in the city (post ‘Vid if that ever happens) and who’s with us? Chicken Neptune for everyone! And and could we get a round of Bloody Marys? We picture thick pile carpets underfoot (probably deep red) and dark wood panels but alas we’ve found out the inside has been modernized even if the exterior retains that’s ’70s vibe. Those flaming torches are epic!

Old ads show the motel had a kidney shaped swimming pool. Of course they did – all classy joints had them back then. We wonder if they had round beds? Or heart shaped beds? Gold fleck mirror walls maybe? Shag? This was all fashion during those crazy polyester days!

22) We’re on the north side of the Trans Canada Highway now for the next batch and from an overpass are looking at the Park Lane Motor Hotel. Dating from the late 1950s, at various times a dinning lounge, beauty parlour and barber shop operated out of the business. Today, they have a bar and liquor store and that’s where the money is.

An old postcard (the cars out front tell us it was taken in the early 1960s maybe) shows the structure painted pea green and baby-poop yellow. Who approved that? Looking closer in the photo – there’s a Christine, a Punch Buggy and an Impala maybe, among others. Incidentally, it was pretty common for motels to give out free post cards and it was cheap advertising.

23-24) The Searra has been in business since the late 1970s. Interestingly it’s listed as Sierra in certain phone books or sometimes there’s both spellings. A bit of an identity crisis maybe? Business wasn’t exactly booming here, with only a few vehicles visible in the parking lot, but then again none of the places seen we’re even remotely busy. Our crash pad had maybe four tenants each night we stayed. While we think it was the mid-winter blues in play here, with Covid coming soon after our visit, things must be even worse now.

25) Closing it out, it’s the TC Motel and Liquor Store – all the things you need in one easy location! They started out as the Trans Canada Service Station & Motel in the starting in 1950s but a few years later operated as the Tran Canada Motel (no gas I guess) and did so into the early 2000s. After a gap where no listings appeared, they became the TC sometime in the 2010s.

In the past there were other retro motels in the general area and within sight of each other at the highway junction there was the similarly named Cloverleaf Motor Inn and Clover Leaf Court. There’s chain motels there now. Those old phone books are rabbit hole for us and elsewhere around town we see Micheal’s Motel, JC’s, the Casa Linda, Roy’s Auto Court, the Prairie Schooner, the Silver Buckle and others. We picture them looking not all that dissimilar to the places we explored today. Seems “Colour & Cable TV and Dial Phones” were big selling features and many it seemed has a coffee shop or some such eatery and I guess “news stands” were once a big thing.

2) Hidden off Gershaw Drive, the Hat Motel.

In the early 1950s motels were listed in phone books under the heading “Automobile Camps” but in the later part of that decade it was “Motor Courts”. It was not till about 1960 before the phone company refereed to them as Motels.

What a wonderful two evenings photographing these old digs. We’ve passed them by countless times and always imagined a visit was in order. Here it was nice to get up close and personal this time. We loved shooting this series and should we visit an area with a similar density of retro motels such as this again, we might just do a follow up. I hear the Okanagan calling! Your author used to stay at places like this during family travels as a kid and here in lies the fascination. It’s like stepping back in time.

Here’s some useful Google search terms if want to see more places like this: Neon Motel Signs and 1960s Motels.

They’re saying…

“The background information is just amazing – I love being able to “travel” with them as they share their fascinating sites.” Jo Tennant.

In the area…
Downtown Hilda.
Medicine Hat Then & Now – Ogilvie’s.
CPR FP7s #1418 and #1424.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date of Adventure: February, 2020.
Location(s): Medicine Hat, AB.
Article references and thanks: Medicine Hat and District Genealogical Society, Calgary Public Library and our dear friends at the City of Medicine Hat.

3) Some of the Riverdale Gang at the Garage Pub.

4) In nearby Redcliff, the Pallas.

5) Under the Pallas sign, this memorial.

6) Between owners?

7) The Ra’ho ‘Tel down in the valley.

8) Mo!

9) Medicine Hat Inn & Suites.

10) The Sun-Dek off the Number Three.

11) Photobomb! And a zig-zag roof!

12) The Pals Mote along the Crowsnest Highway.

13) A neon sign guy could do well in town.

14) The Ace Crown was once the Bel Aire.

15) One of many along the Number One.

16) We’re looking at the Satellite Motel.

17) Winner of the best sign award this night.

18) Howdy!

19) The Imperial Inn on 13th Avenue.

20) That ’70s restaurant.

21) We’re eating here next time – who’s with us?

22) The Park Lane along Motel Row.

23) Reverse view, it’s the Searra.

24) Not much going on…

25) And closing out the tour, it’s the TC.