For someone like me, who didn’t know Phoenix before the 1970s, it’s hard to picture the motels on Van Buren and Grand Avenue as anything but horrible and run-down. By the time I got to Phoenix, in 1977, the days of those motels as anything but crime-infested places, with prostitutes, etc., were over. And since I collect old photos of Phoenix, I’m finding out that these were some awesome places. Let’s go visit some motels on Van Buren and Grand Avenue, before the 1970s.
It’s the 1960s in our imagination, so let’s start at the Dunes Motor Hotel, which was at 2935 E. Van Buren. The sign reminds me of classic Las Vegas. Of course, the rooms are refrigerated (which meant air conditioning, as opposed to the old-fashioned “swamp coolers” that many places had back in the ’40s and ’50s). There are also televisions… read more >
