Recently cruising by the corner of 10th Street and Polk, I found that the vintage sign advertising the Desert Inn to motorists on Grand Avenue had been partially sheered off. Was this damage caused by a windstorm or a collision with an errant truck? The patching of the block wall clearly shows where the sign fell.
Looking at an earlier version of the sign, one can see that “Adult Movies” was on longer an option at the Desert Inn. And “D.D. Phones” would indicate direct dial phones that no longer had to go out through the motel’s switchboard operator.
The Desert Inn, whose main entrance is on West Van Buren, was an elegant place to be in the 1950s with a coffee shop that âNever closes.â I wonder what will become of the structure.
