The blog A Chicago Sojourn posted a thorough roster and history of the vintage motels of Lincoln Avenue. Clustered mainly between Foster and Peterson, west of Western, Lincoln Ave's 'motel row' has one hell of a collection of seedy-looking road side motels. This despite the loss of a few over the years. The two-mile stretch once boasted 14 marvelous post-war motels. Nine originals remain (due to crime, the city demolished three itself in 2000). Many are worse for wear, scoring nasty reviews on Yelp despite being prized for their time capsule looks and cool neon signage. The arrival of interstate highways in the 1960s touched off the row's long decline. Awesome though motel row may be there's no protection for the old timers, who're bound to get picked off one by one. [A Chicago Sojourn, photo: Mark Heiden/flickr]
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