Monday, July 22, 2013

The Gull Motel on U.S. 6 in Huron – Then & Now

I saw this postcard of The Gull Motel on Ebay recently, and knew it would make a good candidate for a "Then and Now" shot. Anyone who has driven to Cedar Point along U. S. Route 6 through Huron probably remembers the motel as being located at the west end of the bridge over the Huron River.

1970 Vermilion-Huron Directory ad

I've long admired the classic style of the motel's sign and its great typography. It symbolized a laid-back, beach vacation attitude.

Alas, in recent years the vintage sign has been replaced by a much shorter and plainer sign. Here is a current view (below) of the motel from a week ago.

A current view of the motel from July 3013
Dale Wells, the current owner and manager of the Gull Motel since 2004, explained to me that at some point Huron had passed an ordinance limiting the height of commercial signs, and that the original sign was probably a casualty of it. He said the original sign is still down in the motel's basement.

He pointed out that most of the other tall signs visible in the vintage postcard were long gone as well.

A few changes in the local scenery can be seen if you compare the postcards. The brick building housing Artino Ford next door to the west has been painted white.

The 25-unit Gull Motel, which opened on May 23, 1962, has undergone a few changes since then as well, with the upstairs addition being the most noticeable.

The motel has some good online reviews, and looks like a great economical choice if you're looking for a mom and pop place to stay at while visiting Cedar Point and the Vacationland area. Plus, you have the Pied Piper Drive-In right across the street, and Berardi's just over the bridge to the east. What more could you ask for?

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UPDATE (July 31, 2015)
Here's another vintage postcard of the Gull Motel.

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UPDATE (March 15, 2019)
Here's another undated vintage postcard of the now-demolished Gull Motel.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The Gull Motel was torn down yesterday 3-4-2019.

Dan Brady said...

Thanks for posting that. I knew it was just a matter of time after it was sold in January 2019, but I didn’t know that the demolition would happen so quickly!