back
 

 

 Photographs December, 2003 courtesy of Phil Edwards

 Shreveport, Louisiana
5101 Monkhouse Drive

 

The parking lot side rooms were likely singles and had sliders, but no balconies. Rooms facing the pool are doubles (I stayed in one in 2000), and retained a traditional layout. Some of the rooms have been made into suites with fireplaces.

Scott Greer first took note of the Shreveport Motor Lodge/Restaurant complex back in 1979 while he was on a grade school field trip to the local airport. He said that while on that outing the place caught his eye and imagination because they were replacing the HoJo's highway sign with a new model--the Roof-Logo type!
 
 
 
 

 
 

Scott Greer Remembers Shreveport
 
When this was constructed, there were only 3 of the 5 wings you see now, the short one behind the gate lodge, the wing that ran parallel to the interstate, and the wing that made the L off of it. I do not believe the south wing was original. I know the wing closest to the interstate was constructed in 1992 or so, because I drove past the location weekly, and watched the progress. The owners of the Richmond Suites made great strides to match the architecture of the motor lodge.

The Gate Lodge was a sight in its day. It was situated so that motorists coming off I-20 on Monkhouse from the eastbound lanes saw only it and the restaurant. If you were westbound, you got a photogenic picture coming across the interstate. I remember around 1999 or so that when the new office was being built, the gate lodge was still in place. It was demolished when the office was completed. The new office faces the interstate with the wing just to the east of it.

 
 

 
 

back