Monday, July 9, 2012

Postcards of the Madonna Inn - San Luis Obispo, California

Madonna Inn - San Luis Obispo, California
The Madonna Inn is a hotel in San Luis Obispo, California. According to their website, "the first 12 rooms were completed December 24, 1958, and were given complementary for that night’s stay, to a very surprised group of travelers. An additional 28 rooms were quickly built, making a total of 40 rooms available to travelers.
Demand for public areas to handle the rooms encouraged us in April 1960 to start construction of the main inn, which was to eventually consists of the wine cellar, bakery, coffee shop, dining room, the cocktail lounge, banquet rooms, ladies’ boutique, men’s gift shop, and the gourmet shop. One hundred ten unique rooms now exist, each decorated differently to suit many individual tastes...rock rooms, waterfall showers, rock fireplaces, European fixtures, and fine furnishings to name a few."
The Madonna Inn has produced hundreds and hundreds of postcards. There are several of the outside including the one above, one with a frame, the sign at night, a close view, the inn at night, a wide view of the Inn and the Hilltop Motel Building.
The real beauty of the Madonna Inn is the interior. There's the lobby, the Coffee Shop, there are several cards of the amazing counter, several cards of the coffee shop booths. The executive coffee shop and the Gold Rush Dining Room and Men's Gift Shop are all represented. 
As you read earlier, there are 110 uniquely themed rooms. I haven't found a card for every room, but I have found dozens. The Madonna Inn website has a grid featuring the name and price of every single room. Here are the rooms that have cards that I can find. (Some of these postcards are from my collection, some are from Card Cow and the majority are from TimeTravelNow's awesome collection.)

Madonna Inn - Room 149 "Old Fashioned Honeymoon" - San Luis Obispo, California
Old-Fashioned Honeymoon 


  • American Home, Anniversary Room, Austrian Suite (again), Barrel of Fun,  Buffalo Room, CarinCaveman, Country Gentleman, Desert SandsDot and Daisy (again), Edelweiss, Espana, Everything Nice, Fabulous Fifties, Fleur de Lis, Harvard Square, Hearts and FlowersImperial Family, Irish Hills, Jungle Rock (formerly known as Flintstone), Just HeavenKona Rock, Love Nest, Madonna SuiteMatterhornMini-Maxi, Misty Rocks (again), Morning StarMountain CabinOld-Fashioned Honeymoon, Old World (scanned sideways), Oriental Fantasy (again), Pony RoomRock Bottom, RomanceRose Room, Round, Safari Room (again), Sir Walter Raleigh, StarliteSugar and Spice, Swiss BelleSwiss Rock, Victorian GardensVousYosemite Rock (again)


  • 1 comment:

    Mod Betty / RetroRoadmap.com said...

    Oh how cool! I have to write up a post about our totally Retro Roadmap worthy stay at the Madonna Inn, and you've reminded me I've got to do it! It's such an over the top type of place I took a gazillion photos there. And now I'm craving a piece of that delicious pink cake they serve. Nom!