Hi gang!

The Bizarre Motel project took over 5 years to complete. We crisscrossed this lovely country of ours photographing some of the best examples of 40s-60s motel neon. But, a strange thing happened along the way. The more motels we photographed, the more they disappeared. That is to say that over half of the structures that are contained within the book Motel Bizarre are completely gone! How quickly our landscape changed over this short period of time!
One example is the Edison Motel, located in Edison New Jersey. Two weeks ago that building was the scene of a 4 alarm fire. The fire engulfed 3/4 of the motel rendering the building useless and destroyed. Here are some photo’s we shot on location after the blaze!

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Lyrics by Tracy Byrd

The glasses were all plastic;
Little balls of no-name soap;
No cable on the TV;
The ice-machine was broke.
Well, I guess that’s what you get,
For nineteen bucks an’ some change.
But the cheapest motel in town,
Cost him everything.

They used the Bible for a coaster,
An’ it never crossed their mind:
Maybe they should’ve opened it,
Instead of that high-dollar wine.
It was just their little secret,
A hideaway out West Main,
But the cheapest motel in town,
Cost him everything.

He went from home in the suburbs,
To an apartment in town.
From bein’ met at the door by two little kids,
To a stray dog he’d found.
He paid the price for pleasure,
Now he can’t afford the pain.
An’ the cheapest motel in town,
Cost him everything.

They thought no-one would find ‘em,
But it isn’t hard to spot,
A brand-new black Mercedes-Benz,
In that gravel parkin’ lot.
He fooled his wife till one night,
She saw something he couldn’t explain,
An’ the cheapest motel in town,
Cost him everything.

He went from home in the suburbs,
To an apartment in town.
From bein’ met at the door by two little kids,
To a stray dog he’d found.
He paid the price for pleasure,
Now he can’t afford the pain.
Yeah, the cheapest motel in town,
Cost him everything;
It cost him everything;
Cost him everything.