Retro Motels in California

Desert Star

Palm Springs, CA

A 1956 Palm Springs Class 1 Historic Site with studios furnished in authentic mid-century originals, including Eames, Bertoia, and Nelson pieces. Full kitchens, private patios with gas fire pits, and a heated pool.

Azure Sky Hotel

Palm Springs, CA

A 1959 desert retreat where built-in beds float above stone tile and a twelve-person hot tub anchors a pool terrace built for lingering. The mountains rise right behind the water, and the whole place is tuned to a slow, quiet register.

Beck's Motor Lodge

San Francisco, CA

A 1958 Googie design in its third generation of family ownership, with the central courtyard and free parking intact. The last surviving classic of its kind in San Francisco.

El Bonita Motel

St Helena, CA

Behind an intact 1940s art deco facade on St. Helena's Main Street, the motor court wraps a lush garden with a heated saltwater pool, sauna, and fire pits. The rooms are genuinely comfortable and the walking distance to Wine Country's best blocks makes leaving the car optional.

Hope Springs Resort

Desert Hot Springs, CA

Natural mineral hot spring pools, Japanese-influenced minimalism, and no televisions in a mid-century desert frame made for this kind of quiet. Adults only, and a very different experience from what surrounds it.

Les Cactus

Palm Springs, CA

Named for a cheeky French pop song and dressed in the same playful spirit, this 1930s desert getaway keeps its bright pool humming with music and its rooms notably crisp. It trades polish for genuine cheer, the kind of easygoing stay you book once and keep coming back to.

Mojave Resort

Palm Desert, CA

A 1957 Palm Desert motor court reborn adults-only in sunburnt orange, with a cocktail-shaker-shaped pool at its heart and fire tables that glow at dusk. Every door opens onto the courtyard, and a breakfast box waits outside it each morning, all a short walk from El Paseo.

Orbit In

Palm Springs, CA

A 1957 courtyard compound furnished with genuine Eames, Saarinen, and Noguchi pieces, arranged around a quiet heated pool at the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains. Each afternoon the house Orbitini gets poured by the water, and design pilgrims trade notes on loungers as the light goes gold.

River Lodge

Paso Robles, CA

Restored in 2024 where rooms open onto rose gardens, hammocks, and fire pits, with an adults-only pool and Cal-Italian poolside dining. A 1947 frame that finally found what it was for.

Skyview Los Alamos

Los Alamos, CA

A 1950s hilltop property with sweeping views of wine country, a working vineyard, and rooms around a central courtyard. Restored in 2016 with the original yellow MOTEL sign intact.

The Astro

Santa Rosa, CA

A 1963 restoration into a MICHELIN Guide property, with original MCM auction pieces throughout and every furnishing for sale. An edible garden replaced the parking lot.

Roosevelt Base Camp

Orick, CA

Three generations of family roots and Roosevelt elk that graze in the backyard, at the national park edge. Quality linens and plush velvet chairs inside a restored 1950s frame.

Safari Inn, a Coast Hotel

Burbank, CA

The 1955 neon sign out front is one of the last of its kind in Burbank, and after dark the pool glows beneath it like a scene from a movie, which it has been more than once. Inside, updated rooms and a jungle-themed lobby keep old Hollywood alive a mile from the studio gates.

Stardust Lodge

South Lake Tahoe, CA

The original technicolor neon sign still glows out front, but the rooms behind it are clean, cheerful, and better than the vintage exterior lets on. Two pools, daily activities, and a popcorn-stocked front desk give it a social, family-camp warmth right across from the gondola.

The Pearl Hotel

San Diego, CA

Saltwater pool and a poolside bar and kitchen that stays open late in a restored mid-century frame by the water. Beach cruiser bikes and hospitality that earns its way.