Americana Motor Hotel

 An astronaut mannequin, stationed at the hotel’s entrance, is the first hint of the history — and kitsch — found at every turn. According to the hotel’s general manager, Zach Miller, the mannequin references the astronauts who trained in the Flagstaff area before walking on the moon. Meanwhile, the star-patterned pillows strewn about the orange midcentury couches in the board-game-furnished lobby allude to Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was discovered in 1930. The city, Miller explains, was recognized as the world’s first International Dark Sky City in 2001, so, of course, there are telescopes (included in the hotel’s $15 resort fee) for guests to do a little stargazing.

“We’ve tapped into Flagstaff’s identity,” Miller says, noting that this mountain town is known for its hiking, skiing and casual outdoors culture. A tree-shaded area is furnished with fire pits, hammocks and Adirondack chairs as an invitation to pop a frosty and relax. 

For the energetic, there’s bocce, cornhole and a small fleet of bicycles for tooling around town. Naturally, there’s a pool (heated year-round) and a pool bar that opens on the weekends in summer and fall. The Americana is also dog friendly, charging no extra fees for pets and offering a “BarkYard” complete with a dog-washing station. And hotel guests and locals alike roll up to Baja Mar, the hotel’s outlet for Sinaloa-style Mexican cuisine with a focus on seafood, offered at a 10 percent discount to guests.

“The hotel has undergone various name changes and renovations over the years,” Miller says, “but we brought back the name ‘Americana’ and stayed close to the original color scheme,” a cheery mashup of bright yellows, oranges and blues that captures the flavor of a bygone era. Each of the hotel’s 89 rooms is furnished with faux wood paneling, psychedelic orange and blue carpeting, and a spinning disco ball. It’s all pretty groovy — as is the fact that Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper stayed at the hotel while filming Easy Rider in 1968. 

You may not run into a movie star these days, but Miller speaks the truth when he says, “We curate an experience here.” And it’s a slice of Americana.