America’s Main Street Hotels: Transiency and Community in the Early Auto Age
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| America's Main Street Hotels: Transiency and Community in the Early Auto Age |
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| Manufacturer: Univ Tennessee Press |
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| List Price: $29.95 |
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Product Description |
| In small cities and towns across the United States, Main Street hotels were iconic institutions. They were usually grand, elegant buildings where families celebrated special occasions, local clubs and organizations honored achievements, and communities came together to commemorate significant events. Often literally at the center of their communities, these hotels sustained and energized their regions and were centers of culture and symbols of civic pride. America's main street hotels catered not only to transients passing through a locality, but also served local residents as an important kind of community center. This new book by John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle, two leading experts on the nation_s roadside landscape, examines the crucial role that small- to mid-sized city hotels played in American life during the early decades of the twentieth century, a time when the automobile was fast becoming the primary mode of transportation. Before the advent of the interstate system, such hotels served as commercial and social anchors of developing towns across the country. America's Main Street Hotels provides a thorough survey of the impact these hotels had on their communities and cultures. The authors explore the hotels' origins, their traditional functions, and the many ups and downs they experienced throughout the early twentieth century, along with their potential for reuse now and in the future. The book details building types, layouts, and logistics; how the hotels were financed; hotel management and labor; hotel life and customers; food services; changing fads and designs; and what the hotels are like today. Brimming with photographs, this book looks at hotels from coast to coast. Its exploration of these important local landmarks will intrigue students, scholars, and general readers alike, offering a fascinating look back at that recent period in American history when even the smallest urban places could still look optimistically toward the future. |
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Customer Reviews |
 hotels in small-town America in the age of the automobile |
| Review Date: June 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: , |
The parameters of the authors' study are "small-town and small-city hotels." "Small" is defined as places with populations between 600 and 60,000. The size of the hotels is between 25 and 250 rooms. The time period is 1900 to 1960. These parameters entail the closest relationship between the establishment and popularity of the hotels and ownership and use of the automobile in American society. With the authors' sociological interest, focusing on the smaller-size hotels found in towns and small cities, they got a "clear view of how hotels contributed to community development" which was not possible with respect to hotels in large, complex urban environments. And in focusing on such small hotels, the authors would be adding something new to this area of sociology and cultural studies since the subjects of most studies have been the grand hotels of major cities with their images of cosmopolitan, modernistic glamor.
Jakle and Sculle's study is not dry or secondary by comparison, however. It is a multidimensional, lively, and fertile study of an aspect of what was known as "small-town America" in the mid-20th century. While not particularly elaborate, the facades and architectural details of the hotels were indicative of contemporary American public architecture. The barrooms, beauty parlors, restaurants, tobacco shops, and newsstands of the hotels were not only amenities for travelers, but also social centers for the residents of the small towns and cities.
The authors' add unusual dimensions to the perspective on small hotels by covering to a considerable extent the operation of them. Parts of this section could be a manual on how to operate a small hotel for managers. However, the discussion of size and furnishings of rooms, budgets for different facilities, training of staff, and such, helps to put the reader into a small hotel. Some of this information is so detailed, it helps the reader to imagine being in a small hotel and interacting with the staff and moving through its rooms. Some of the antiquated design features and business practices add a nostalgic touch to the study as well.
Jakle and Sculle thoroughly and engagingly cover this topic of social history in such a way that one comes away not only with an appreciation for these small-hotel buildings which remain standing and in use in many places, but also with a better understanding of the term "small-town America."
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The aging hotels of America's small towns and small cities
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| Review Date: October 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: saskatoonguy, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada |
Every town and small city seems to have one - an aging hotel from the 1920s, often the tallest building in the community, usually with a red brick facade. Some of these have been converted into subsidized apartments for senior citizens; others survive as cheap lodging for the down-and-out. A few - and only a few - are places where a middle-class visitor would consider spending the night. This is the specialized, somewhat esoteric topic that Jakle and Sculle have addressed in this book.
At 200 pages, it's not a long book, and it's easy reading. One of the six chapters is on architectural design, one chapter is on how construction was financed, another on hotel management, another on historic preservation, and so on. The authors are optimistic about preserving and renovating these hotels, but I can't help but wonder if these hotels' reason for existence vanished a half-century ago.
The authors are geography professors who have written previous books about the history of the motel, the history of the gas station, and the history of the roadside diner. Compared to their earlier books, this book on Main Street hotels is more concise and less professorial in tone, and the end result is a highly readable book for those predisposed to have an interest in this subject.
Incidentally, those who enjoy this book will also enjoy Paul Groth's "Living Downtown: The History of Residential Hotels in the United States ."
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Tags: americas, auto, community, early, hotels, main, street, transiency
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