As the American love of the automobile blossomed in the years immediately preceding and following World War II, motels quickly sprung up along U.S. Highways on the outskirts of cities. Travelers in the 1940s and 1950s — both vacationers and businessmen — filled these motels, which promised clean, modern accommodation. But the vibrancy of motels didn't last long.
With the rise of the Interstates and the growth of national hotel chains in the 1960s, these motels from the 1940s and 1950s became dated and inconvenient. In order to survive, they had to attract a different sort of clientele. Some became havens for prostitution as unscrupulous owners sought to generate any income from their poorly maintained properties.
Such was the case for some of the numerous motels along U.S. 40 on the East Side of Columbus, and the most notorious of which was the 40 Winks Motel, located only a mile from where I grew up. By the 1970s, the 40 Winks was well known as a location where illicit assignations could be arranged. Columbus police regularly raided the motel and paraded the johns before the media.
In its final decades, the dilapidated building was renamed Motel One, and after protracted legal interventions, the motel was closed in 2012 and ordered to be demolished. That demolition finally began yesterday.
I still live in the neighborhood where I grew up, less than a mile from the old 40 Winks site. So I wholeheartedly agree with the comment of a business owner across the street who said, "To say I'm relieved is an understatement."