There are few things as quintessentially American as the motel.
These roadside boltholes have featured in so much popular culture from music videos, to beat novels to films like True Romance that they have become imbued with a kind of romanticism that belies their dilapidated exterior. Try as Lenny Henry might, a Premier Inn off the M25 just doesn’t inspire the same kind of rock and roll idealism.
Photographer Fred Sigman pays homage to the original 1950s Las Vegas motels in a new book, "Motel Vegas". Sigman, who is one of the very few people ever permitted to photograph inside a casino, was commissioned to take his motel pictures by Ivan Karp, a prominent New York gallerist instrumental in the Pop Art movement.
Motels rose to prominence in the 1950s after the construction of the Route 66 highway and became synonymous with America’s burgeoning road trip culture. “At the heart of every mega-hotel on the Las Vegas Strip today you can see the innovative soul of the early motels,” says Sigman, “a glorious sign evoking wonder and romance with the artful magic of neon and light.”
Travelling long distances across the newly built highways, motorists needed a place to stop, and although the small motels that began to pop up were plain and functional, their owners created eye popping facades to catch the weary eyes of passing drivers. Many of the signs, made out of colourful stucco, plastic and adobe were influenced by the Pop Art movement, that once considered brash are now relics of American art history in their own right.
After spending months photographing the Vegas motels, Sigman developed a personal connection with one in particular: "I can’t really identify one motel or sign as more significant than another but I will say this, the one sign and motel that best describes who I am is the Lucky Cuss."
While many of the original motels facing closure as a result of the growth of hotel chains like Holiday Inn, Sigman hopes his ode to the humble American motel will cement their rightful place in the cultural zeitgeist.
Motel Vegas will be available to buy from May 25
