Route 66 made Flagstaff a town of beds. From the auto camps of the 1920s to the neon-crowned motor courts that fought a sign war over every arriving driver, the whole story of roadside lodging played out along a few miles of pavement here, and an unusual amount of it is still standing. This guide walks the survivors, the converted and the gone, with each property's status checked in July 2026.
Motel DuBeau: renting rooms since 1929
Albert DuBeau, a French-Canadian entrepreneur, built his motel in 1929, three years after the road was commissioned, and aimed it at the comfortable end of the market: carpeted rooms, indoor toilets and a steam-heated garage. It was also listed in the Green Book, the guide published from 1936 to 1966 that told Black travelers where they could safely eat, sleep and buy gas, a chapter of Route 66 history most tellings skip. Today the property operates as Motel DuBeau Travelers Inn and Hostel at 19 W Phoenix Ave, with private rooms and shared dorms, still doing its original job nearly a century in. Its 80-foot neon tower still marks the Southside skyline, and the tour's own site keeps a deeper stop page on the DuBeau and the Green Book.
The Downtowner: a sign, a block and an unsolved case
The Motel Downtowner's sign still spans the view down South San Francisco Street, sixty feet of steel and neon raised when the Southside motels were fighting for every passing headlight. The motel behind it is gone as a motel: the buildings at 19 S San Francisco St now hold apartments, and the sign stands as the block's memory.
The block also carries a darker file. Around 1900 this was the heart of Flagstaff's red light district, and in August 1916 the well-known madam Dutch May Peters Prescott and her companion were found dead here in a scene officially ruled a murder-suicide that almost nobody believed. The case was never solved, and the walking tour tells it standing on the ground where it happened. The stop page for the Downtowner and Dutch May holds the researched version.
Western Hills Motel: the sign is outliving the motel
The Western Hills opened in 1950 on the east side of town, and its animated neon sign, galloping horses pulling a covered wagon through red, yellow and green, became one of Flagstaff's most photographed. In 2026 a local housing nonprofit purchased the property, now fully remodeled into 29 workforce apartments, so it no longer rents to travelers. As of this writing the sign still stands over Route 66 and its long-term fate has not been announced, which makes this a good summer to photograph it.
Americana Motor Hotel: the 1962 room key, reissued
Built in 1962 at 2650 E Route 66, the Americana was one of the last big motor hotels of the road's confident years, and it collected stories to match: Robert F. Kennedy campaigned here in 1968, and the cast and crew of Easy Rider stayed during filming in Arizona. After a top-to-bottom renovation it reopened in the summer of 2023 as a retro motor hotel with a pool, fire pits and a lobby bar, which means you can sleep the centennial year in a genuine Route 66 property without giving up a modern mattress.
The L Motel: the original name came back
On South Milton Road, where the highway's traffic still funnels through town, the L Motel spent years flying a national chain's flag before new owners restored the original name. It still rents rooms to road travelers, budget-friendly and close to the Northern Arizona University campus, and its comeback is a small version of the road's own story: the old name turned out to be worth more than the new one.
The rest of the roster
Not every name made it to the centennial as a place to sleep. Flagstaff's period directories and postcards remember a longer roster, and its fates split three ways: converted, retired or gone.
- The B&M Auto Camp, on the 1926 alignment, gave a working family with a tent an affordable way onto the open road decades before anyone said the word motel. The business is long gone, and the walking tour tells its story where the camp stood.
- The Vandevier Lodge and the Arrowhead Lodge went the way of the Downtowner, converted rather than demolished: the Vandevier's long roadside building still stands even though its gabled main house is gone, and the Arrowhead's original buildings now make up an apartment complex.
- Flagstaff Motor Village, Nickerson's, Cactus Gardens and a string of other courts along the east and west approaches survive mostly as names in period directories and postcards; their courts no longer operate.
The gaps matter as much as the survivors. Standing where an auto camp used to be, and hearing why it vanished, is half the story of how America's road trip changed in a single generation.
Sleeping in one during the centennial
You can still book a bed inside the road's own history: the DuBeau for the classic motor-court experience, the Americana for the renovated version, the L Motel for the no-fuss original. If your taste in historic lodging runs to the storied downtown hotels and the guests who reportedly never checked out, our guide to Flagstaff's haunted hotels covers the Monte Vista and the Weatherford in proper depth. And if you are timing a stay around the celebration itself, the dated 2026 centennial events guide lists what is still ahead.
See them on foot
The signs read differently at walking speed. The Route 66 Centennial Walking Tour covers both the 1926 and 1934 alignments in 90 minutes, meets at Heritage Square at 6 PM, and passes the DuBeau tower and the Downtowner sign as the neon comes on, with the sign wars, the reroute politics and the Dutch May case told on the blocks where they happened. Tickets are $29 for adults, $25 for students and $22 for children. The tour is made possible with partial funding provided by the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, and the research shows.
On the tour's own TripAdvisor listing, guests rate the walk 4.9 out of 5 across its first 13 reviews. The company behind it carries 1,000+ five-star reviews. Best of Flagstaff three years running.
Questions people ask
Which historic Route 66 motels still stand in Flagstaff?
The Motel DuBeau, built in 1929, still operates as an inn and hostel. The Americana Motor Hotel, built in 1962, reopened in 2023 after a full renovation, and the L Motel still rents rooms on South Milton Road. The Downtowner and the Arrowhead survive as apartments under retired motel names, the Vandevier's long roadside building also survives, and the Western Hills, now remodeled into 29 workforce apartments, no longer rents to travelers, though its neon sign still stands.
Can you stay in a historic Route 66 motel in Flagstaff?
Yes. The DuBeau offers private rooms and shared dorms, the Americana runs as a renovated retro motor hotel, and the L Motel remains a working budget motel. Book ahead for centennial weekends; the dated events guide flags the busy ones.
When were Flagstaff's neon sign wars?
The 1930s. After the 1934 reroute shifted Route 66's traffic, the Southside motels raced to raise the tallest, brightest signs to catch arriving drivers. The DuBeau's 80-foot tower and the Downtowner's 60-foot answer are the surviving artillery, and dusk is the hour to see them lit.
What happened to the Western Hills Motel?
A local housing nonprofit purchased it in 2026, and the 1950 motel has been fully remodeled into 29 workforce apartments, so it no longer operates as lodging. As of July 2026 the animated neon sign still stands, with no announcement yet about its future.
