Holbrook, Arizona: Wigwam Village Motel No. 6

We visited the Wigwam Motel on our way home to North Carolina from California and Oregon, where we had spent one month on the road. Our departure from San Diego was specifically timed so that we would reach Holbrook by nightfall, as we had heard about the Wigwam Motel and its notoriety along the Mother Road. It was thrilling to see the teepees lit up at night and the owner was especially friendly in welcoming us. The motel has preserved much of its 1950's character and even has a mini-museum of sorts in a back room. Many old cars are parked out around the property for atmosphere and authenticity. The interior was roomier than one might have suspected from an outside glance and yes, while there were trains rumbling nearby, one could hardly hear them.

They don't make motels with character these days. This one was a gem that had survived the years and is even thriving, like some other old businesses in Holbrook, Gallop and Albuquerque, among others. I highly recommend this place to any traveler passing by Holbrook!

We stayed at the Wigwam for one night and it was a memorable stay. Our wigwam was clean and simple with TV but no phone. We called the night before and made a reservation on the phone, but when we got there, there was no record of our reservation. You better check. Apparently no one shows up to the office until around 4pm, so don't show up too early to check in. It is truly a piece of original Americana.

This Holbrook, Arizona landmark doesn't deviate a bit from its brochure billing. It's a genuine Route 66 motel comprising a dozen standalone concrete wigwams. "Spend the Night in a Wigwam!" the billboard urges. And you can do that for just $46.62, taxes and color TV included. Sorry, no telephones.

Often working the desk is Wigwam co-owner John Lewis, who's likely never met a stranger. It takes little urging to uncork his colorful observations on Route 66 tourism. He sees nostalgia continuing to grow, as a generation previously unexposed to the song and the TV show discover the back way through the Southwest.

And Lewis confirms this odd little suspicion I've been developing. Germans are invading the American Southwest. Certainly, there are other international tourists here, too, but not like the Germans. It's common to hear German conversations in restaurants, and in some places, the waiters join right in.

Lewis, who is cultivating business interests in Germany, explains that wide-open spaces are fascinating to northern Europeans. They travel to this country, and as Lewis puts it, "rent these big giant cars and just go crazy."

If the concept of Germans going crazy in big cars and sleeping in Wigwams isn't zany enough, get this: They love Native American art. According to Lewis, many of the world's foremost tribal art experts are German. It's a fascination, Lewis explains, with something very foreign and very exotic to Europeans.

"There just aren't a lot of Indians in Germany," Lewis explains. I suppose, deep down, I may have suspected that.

Just a little more info about the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook. In response to another tipster, yes, the interiors of the teepees are pretty nice, although a little on the cramped side. The beds and tables in each room are the original hand-made hickory logpole furniture from when the motel first opened in 1950. Very cool. Perhaps my favorite feature was the tiled shower stall, which, because of its location in the wigwam, has weird angles and sloping walls. Very disorienting the morning after a night out in one of Holbrook's bars. As for the cars, most of the vintage vehicles in the parking lot, including the Studebaker out front, still run and have been owned by family members since they were new.

What a great place! I wish I could have spent the night at the Wigwam Motel, but there was too much daylight ahead of me to pack it in for the night. Fortunately, the blue sky and the cotton fluffy clouds that afternoon allowed me to capture some of the best shots I got on our Route 66 adventure! I've read that these Teepee enclosed rooms are actually kept up rather nicely. They have a bunch of cool vintage cars sprinkled around the parking lot too, which gives it that uhm-uhm 1950s fresh kinda flava!