The co-owner of the Hill Top Motel in Kingman, Arizona, said the Route 66 landmark will reopen in one or two months after a lengthy rehabilitation of the site.
I was prompted to contact co-owner Makenzie Baker after seeing photos and a comment thread (which I can’t find now) about the apparent restoration of the neon sign and architectural neon at the property.
“Yes, we have all the neon restored. Probably be fully open in a month or two,” Janel replied last week on Facebook Messenger.
Baker and Francisco Sinopoli, who both are chiropractors, acquired the property in spring 2018 for $157,500 after the motel was foreclosed. They initially planned to spend about $500,000 on renovations.
According to local resident Jim Hinckley in fall 2019, the owners had planned to reopen the motel in January 2020 after replacing the property’s plumbing and electrical system. However, I have little doubt the COVID-19 pandemic delayed that.
John Mescheid built the motel in 1954. The Hill Top went through several sets of owners, including longtime proprietor Dennis Schroeder, who ran it from 1981 to 2017.
The Hill Top Motel remains infamous for Room 119, where Timothy McVeigh stayed for four days in 1995 before bombing the federal building in Oklahoma City a few weeks later. The terrorist act killed 168 people and injured hundreds more. The registration card McVeigh filled out at the motel later was entered into evidence during his death-penalty trial.
(Image of the Hill Top Motel sign in 2006 by Curtis Gregory Perry via Flickr)