The Postcard Motel

I’m Jay Hinman, and I’m in San Francisco, CA.

I’ve been collecting motel and roadside America Chrome postcards ever since my Grandmother passed away and left me a good-sized box of them in 2005. Then I discovered the greater world of postcard and paper ephemera collectors, and found another insular tribe I could join who might understand why these meaningless pieces of paper could be laden with deep meaning.

I’m just old enough – born in 1967 – to have a strong memory of big, blazing neon motel signs and gaudy motel and restaurant architecture. Some of it’s still around – but not enough of it. This is a place to preserve it as best I can. I used to do a blog by this same name at www.postcardmotel.blogspot.com, but I kept getting notices that my domain was disappearing, so I figured it best to just start the whole thing up all over again here.

Then, in 2018, I stopped entirely with this one – and by mid-2025, I got the hankering to revive it – this time with not only motels, but postcards from other collecting sub-genres I’m interested in: dining, main streets, “large letters”, political propaganda, beer and whatever else sounds interesting. But still mostly motels and old signs!

I also take “real” photos of the remaining signs still scattered out there, wherever I can find them, and post them on The Sign Stalker. If you’d like to email me, please do! I’m at thejayhinman@gmail.com.