Having spent the day visiting the Grand Canyon, we were enroute to Vegas and thought we would detour onto Route 66 to find a Motel for the night. As we did so, we entered the Twilight Zone into the town of Williams, AZ. This is an absolutely wonderful throwback town from the 20s through the 60s when the freeways effectively cut it off from the world but no one seemed to tell the residants. The afternoon and evening we spent here (May 14) was warm and sunny and as a local told me was, 'the warmest day we have had since last summer'. The town is over 7000 feet in elevation and the air is crystal clean and clear as - well nothing you are likely to find at any lower elevation. Driving through town, I was struck by its oldtown charm and it lacked that feel of a tourist trap town that you can find along Route 66. I felt like I was looking at a place that the Sooners of Oklahoma fleeing the depression era dust bowl would have driven through and probably stopped for the night or even longer. We looked around town and called a few motels for pricing and availabily of a room. The place we ended up staying at was the Grand Motel at 234 East Route 66. The rates were the most reasonable in town and the motel itself stands alone as one of the most unique motelling experiences of my life. The building itself was built between the 20s and 30s and did in fact see many depression era travelers who due to various reasons had extended stays at this unforgetable motel. The floor plan of each guest room is like nothing I have ever seen before. I asked for 2 queen beds and when I opend the door to our room I saw only one bed. At the far end of the room was another door and through it was another room with another queen bed. Adjacent to this second room was a arched doorway leading to a small kitchenette with a built-in dining table. The most unique feature of these rooms however was the bathroom. It had two doors, one leading into each of the two bedrooms. As we carried our luggage into the rooms, it dawned on me what had changed from the original design. The first room was originally intended as a living room and the back or second room was the bedroom. The bathroom could be used by someone in the living room without disturbing someone asleep in the bedroom. Out front is a stoop or porch with a couple chairs overlooking a courtyard in the middle of this horseshoe shaped building. A few of the units even have a carport that was a feature of the original design. And though originally designed to hold a couple of cars, you would be hard pressed to get two of today's cars into them. We left the next morning but not until we joined a few other guests for breakfast provided by the owner in the center of the courtyard/bar-B-Q area. I would give this breakfast a four star rating as it had everything a continental breakfast should have and then some. The owner is quite an interesting gentleman. He has been in the process of restoring and remodeling the rooms to their former glory and even gave us a tour through the room he is currently restoring. An obvious labor of love. I can't wait to go back and see it all in its original splendor. I highly recommend the Grand Motel for a one night stay or if you are lucky, a longer more leisurely stay to truly take in the sights and get a feel for what Route 66 may really have felt like back 50 or even 75 years ago.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
