Gila Bend, Arizona: Stovall's Space Age Lodge
RoadsideAmerica.com Team Field Report
- Address:
- 401 E. Pima St., Gila Bend, AZ
- Directions:
- I-8 exit 119. North on Butterfield, which veers left onto Pima. Left side, about a mile.
- Phone:
- 928-683-2273
-
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The exterior is eye-catching, and the interior of the bubble dome above the motel check-in counter -- including a mural of the moon landing -- is worth a quick peek. Roadsideamerica.com Report... [08/28/2015]
Visitor Tips and News About Stovall's Space Age Lodge
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Odd and fun stop-off in the middle of nowhere to grab a not-bad-burger or stay overnight, as there is a hotel attached.
[Mike Larson, 07/12/2015]
This is a great little restaurant and a real blast from the past! We were raised in the 1960s Space Age and Cold War era. We have a ten-year-old son and we try to raise him in a world more like we knew when we were children. Being able to show him this restaurant and the amazing photos on the wall, which even include a Russian cosmonaut, was great. Not to mention the food was terrific American food much like I grew up with before cholesterol was an issue and no one had ever heard of organic. Our visit was for lunch on the way to Disneyland and we liked it so much we just had to have supper there on our return trip.
If you are on the highway anywhere near Gila Bed you have to stop at this place, especially if you grew up in the sixties. Can't wait for my next excuse to swing by again. The restaurant is also part of a hotel, but we did not stay there as we were only passing through.
[Scott, 10/05/2013]
Fantastic! Still as 60's as ever. The place was immaculate. Fun and funky. Don't miss out on this one.
[Carla Simmons, 10/29/2007]
Yeah, the Space Age is going strong, while most of the other motels in Gila Bend seem to be falling over in the photogenic ways. One of those other decaying motels flew the Travelodge flag in Feb 1973, when Burt Reynolds and Sarah Miles were implicated in a murd... well, that's gossip.
From an architectural standpoint the Lodge is far more satisfying than the restaurant. According to the patient front desk clerk, the lodge was first built in '62, partly because of the Zeitgeist, partly because of the Air Force / test pilot connection to the local economy. Occupancy runs fairly high, she said (I believe it; they were already full that day, in the late afternoon). The pool out front is gorgeous kitsch, the 41 rooms are supposed to be cool too, it's well-run, and a blissful chunk of Roadside America. The restaurant, on the other hand, is less Elroy Jetson and more James T. Kirk.
[Walt Lockley, 06/09/2001]Photo added July 2006.
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Not as impressed on our visit this year. Exterior is eye-catching. Interior space and astronaut paintings are newish renderings from NASA photos of Apollo and shuttle missions -- and a little too slick. The bubble dome above the motel check-in counter was worth a quick peek, illustrated with more manned space travel orthodoxy.