Fontana’s Route 66 motels cling to survival

Route 66 through Fontana, Calif., has one of the biggest clusters of vintage motels in Southern California. According to an article Sunday by the Press Enterprise, about a dozen independently owned motels still stand along a stretch of Foothill Boulevard.

“There are your cities along 66 that have motels left, but I don’t think anything compares to Fontana,” said Scott Piotrowski, a preservationist who runs a production company devoted to documenting historic roads in America through film, books, and photography. “They’re fortunate that they haven’t had a lot demolished.”

Fontana city leaders hope to rebuild their long neglected portions of 66, but the area with the oldest motels sits on unincorporated county land with no redevelopment plans in sight.

Most of these motels are scraping by, and it’s doubtful many of them will survive in the coming years, even with no redevelopment imminent. But the story offers a ray of hope for at least one establishment.

Under the management of Maggie Marin, La Villa has tried hard to make itself a place unwelcome to seedy characters. The bright red-and-blue rooms recently got a paint job, and flowers grow in the dirt outside the main office.

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