If you ever find yourself in need of a time travel experience or High Kitsch Route 66 adventure, there is perhaps nothing as ultimate as sleeping in a cement teepee.... this is IT!

You'll feel the very least as if you have stepped onto a Tim Burton film set! This is pure hilarious Americana from the great age of road travel.

Aside from the amazingly preserved buildings and well kept grounds, we found the owner, Kumar to be extremely welcoming and helpful navigating local kitsch and good restaurants. He gave us good suggestions for local attractions (Tiki Drive-In) and was so much fun to talk to.

The Wigwam Motel has bravely not bowed to "remodeling" or "updating" their rooms, thus ruining the original charm of motor-touring motels. They have kept the original tile in the bathroom and head boards, and what updating we saw was done in the spirit of the period.

True, the rooms are smaller than what is common today. The wigwams were built in the late 40's and were designed to sleep in, not spend the day in. If you want a super-sized hotel with no personality, go some where else, because the Wigwam is the real deal- a motor hotel.

Our room was very clean- And there was little noise. The lawns and pool are well cared for and are great for kids to run off extra energy acquired on the road. There is also a very cute fire pit for roasting smores or roasting hot dogs. Ask for the tepee nearest it, if your heart so desires.

The Wigwam books up quickly on weekends, so book a week or more in advance.

All in all a great stop along Route 66- the surrounding town is sadly not as cool.

We stayed in #19 at the Wigwam Motel in San Bernardino on 12/30/2011. This was our 2nd Wigwam - we stayed at the one in Holbrook AZ last year. The rate was very reasonable - around between $70 and $80 a night.

So, we "slept in a wigwam" - actually a concrete poured structure just big enough for 2 beds, with a little restroom/shower off to the side. As a wigwam, it's surprisingly roomy, but as motels go, it's sort of cramped, and a tall guy like me has to be careful, or you bump your head a lot. But the novelty of it, especially if you are on a Route 66 pilgrimage, makes up for that. There is a pool (which we did not use on our December stay) and Cable TV to provide diversion if you're sticking around.

The beds were OK; not the most comfortable and somewhat small, but clean enough. Bathroom standards have clearly changed since the 50's; the absence of a shelf to put out shaving kits etc. was awkward, and none of us even tried to use the shower, since it was so much smaller than even the standard setup we're used to. Unfortunately, the architectural form of the wigwam pre-empts expanding the bathrooms at all, so you just have to put on your nostalgia hat and be glad you're not really living in the 50's anymore.

Comparing Holbrook and San Bernardino: If you are going to stay in only one "wigwam" in your life, we recommend Holbrook, mainly since it's close to the Petrified Forest National Park and many other natural things to see. It also has cool 50's cars left around as decorative props for photos. It has a larger office for checking in, with a gift shop and a Southwestern museum attached. But, we don't recall a pool, and actually the rooms in Holbrook were less comfortable than the rooms in San Bernardino. And, Holbrook is further away if you live in California. So, if you're doing a Route 66 journey, we really recommend you stay in both and see for yourself.

Note:
For all those reviews that described the neighborhood as dire or dangerous, well, we don't know what they're talking about. Rialto is not Beverly Hills, for sure, and there is some level of economic distress in the Inland Empire in general, but we saw nothing that made us feel one bit uneasy driving around in our Lexus. We suspect the fact that the neighborhood seems predominantly Latino (there is a "llantera" across the street) may have colored the impressions of some reviewers. We saw nothing to worry about. Check out Foothill Blvd. on Google Street View and see for yourself.

Travelling route 66. Stayed at Wigwam motel (number 16) on 8th November 2011. The rooms are larger than they appear from outside. Very comfortable bed. Clean room. Good flat screen tv. Small criticisms - why no bedside table - plenty of room for one. Why no shelf in bathroom? Had to put razor, toiletries etc on floor. Why is there a picture of Venice canal on a wigwam wall?
Completely ruins the indiam theme. At just $66 including taxes - good value. Free WiFi but no breakfast facility.

This was the last night on our Historic Route 66 drive from Chicago to Santa Monica. We felt compelled to stay at the Wigwam, and only HOPED it would not be a challenge sleeping there. Far from it, we LOVED the experience. Comfortable room, relatively quiet for being on a main road, good beds, excellent value. My photos of the place at sunrise are incredible, what a bonus. We had phoned while on the road to make the reservation, got there a good bit later than we anticipated, and Kumar was hanging by the pool waiting our arrival. They had the carpets cleaned quite recently, an odor lingered but not a problem. Those rooms are QUITE ROOMY, you would never guess!