When Anne Dodge wrote her thesis at MIT about preservation planning along Route 66 — the 2,500-mile corridor that runs through eight states from Chicago to Los Angeles — she found out that more than 30 percent of the independent motel owners along Route 66 were Indian Americans.
Her documentary project 66 Motels will combine interviews and photos of historic motels and their owners. Browsing through the photos reveals shots of vintage neon signs and some retrofabulous interiors as well as portraits of the owners at their motels. She writes that interviews will be up by this summer. Some interviews are already online.
One part of her project involves the practice of labeling motels with the “American Owned” sign. A Time Magazine piece that refers to desi motel owners along Route 66 as “curators of a nice slice of Americana” who lovingly refurbished and decorated the historic motels also covers the practice of using “American Owned” signs.
While this seemingly innocuous phrase may appeal to many customers, it can also be intended as code for “not owned by immigrants,” an attempt to divert business from upstanding first- or second-generation citizens whose ethnicity distinguishes them from most of their small-town neighbors. To those in the know, like veteran road-trip author Michael Wallis, AMERICAN OWNED is a subtle reminder of the days when customers, too, suffered from prejudice—back when African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and, at least on Route 66, poor Oklahomans fleeing to California were all denied lodging. “[Innkeepers] are trying to prey on people’s prejudice under the guise of patriotism,” says AAHOA president Fred Schwartz.
Dodge began her research also thinking that white motel owners used “American Owned” to promote their properties to customers who did not want a room at a motel owned by a desi. But she learned that while some owners do use the sign that way, others got the sign when they bought the motel and some desi owners themselves use “American Owned” signs to “make a statement about themselves and their properties.”
Via: PreservationNation, “South Asians: Stewards of America’s Roadside Heritage.”
Previously: Ennis wrote about the “American Owned” sign at motels in “Do not enter.”
Related reading: The Gujaratis of San Francisco by Usha Jain, a look at families from Gujarat who now run hotels in the US. (Thanks, Hilal)
