I heard Wednesday morning that the old neon sign for the Gateway Motor Inn, aka the Gateway Motor Hotel, along Oklahoma 66 halfway between Tulsa and Sapulpa, Okla., was down.
I checked it out. There is was — flat on the parking lot, surrounded by road cones and shards of broken neon tubing. It was obvious it soon would be taken away to a junkyard.
The owner confirmed that the sign it was going to be replaced with a backlit model. He showed me the design, by Sure Change International.
I asked him why the old sign was being replaced. He said: “It’s not working right, and it’s too expensive to fix.” He added it would have cost $40,000 in repairs.
Although the loss isn’t as significant as the Western Capri‘s two years ago, trying to keep vintage signs preserved in that area is an uphill battle.
That part of Interstate 44 is dotted with cut-rate motels often occupied with transients, sex offenders and shady characters. Sapulpa annexed that area a couple of years ago, and I suspect it now regrets doing so.
It’s telling that not a single motel in that area made it to the current Route 66 Dining and Lodging Guide, not has any to my knowledge in previous editions.
It’s also telling that the Gateway’s owner kept the old “$29 Couple” sign still standing. It’s hard to keep any semblance of maintenance with those kind of room rates.
Ironically, the owner asked me about information about placing his motel in Route 66 tourism directories.
It took a lot of restraint to not tell him: “It’s too late for that.”
Wow, that new sign design is great for a sign outside St. Louis, TULSA?
Sigh
I just wish that there were some way a Route 66 group could buy these signs before they are torn down.