Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona: Sleep in a Teepee on Route 66

Wig Wam Motel on Route 66 in Holbrook, Az. Page Hdr

Wigwam Motel: The Most Iconic Overnight on Arizona’s Route 66

Address: 811 West Hopi Drive, Holbrook, AZ

At 811 West Hopi Drive in Holbrook, Arizona — on the very alignment of Historic Route 66 — fifteen concrete teepees stand in a semi-circle around a central office, their pale forms rising 32 feet into the Arizona sky just as they have since Chester E. Lewis built them in 1950. The Wigwam Motel is one of the most photographed, most recognized, and most beloved icons on all of the Mother Road — a place where the golden age of American road travel is not recreated or reimagined, but genuinely preserved. It has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2002, it inspired Sally’s Cozy Cone Motel in the Pixar film Cars, and it is still owned and operated by the Lewis family. Pull in, get your key, and sleep in a teepee.

Holbrook, Arizona Route 66 Shield Sign — **This Vintage Metal Sign Available on Ebay by Chico Creek Signs**

Where is the Wigwam Motel?

Address: 811 W Hopi Drive, Holbrook, AZ 86025
Phone: Check sleepinawigwam.com for current contact information
Check-in: 3:00 PM | Check-out: 11:00 AM

The motel is located seven blocks west of downtown Holbrook on Hopi Drive — the historic Route 66 alignment through town. It is approximately 30 minutes east of Winslow and 90 miles east of Flagstaff. The Petrified Forest National Park entrance is approximately 20 miles east, and Meteor Crater is about 40 miles to the west.

The History of the Wigwam Motel

Frank Redford and the Wigwam Village Concept

The Wigwam Motel’s story begins in Horse Cave, Kentucky in 1933, when a man named Frank A. Redford built the first Wigwam Village around a museum he had constructed to house his collection of Native American artifacts. Redford’s concept was pure roadside showmanship: teepee-shaped concrete rooms arranged in a semi-circle, designed to be unmissable from the highway and irresistible to travelers who might otherwise pass on by. Despite the name, the structures are modeled after Plains Indian teepees (not wigwams, which are dome-shaped Northeastern woodland dwellings), but the name Wigwam Village was the one Redford patented, and it stuck.

Drawing of the Arrangement of 15 Teepee Rooms at the Wigwam Village No. 6 in Holbrook.

Redford’s concept proved successful enough that he franchised it, eventually building seven Wigwam Villages across the American South and Southwest between 1933 and the early 1950s. Of the original seven, only three survive today — in Cave City, Kentucky; Holbrook, Arizona; and Rialto/San Bernardino, California. All three are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Chester Lewis Discovers Wigwam Village

Chester E. Lewis in Front of the Wigwam Teepees

In 1938, Chester E. Lewis, an Arizona motel owner, was passing through Cave City, Kentucky when he encountered Wigwam Village #2 and immediately recognized its potential. Lewis purchased the rights to Redford’s design and the use of the “Wigwam Village” name in an unusual royalty agreement: coin-operated radios would be installed in Lewis’s motel rooms, and every dime inserted for 30 minutes of play would be sent to Redford as payment.

Lewis chose Holbrook, Arizona as his location — a logical choice. By 1950, Holbrook was a thriving Route 66 town, a natural stopping point between Flagstaff and Gallup, New Mexico, and close enough to the Petrified Forest National Park to attract significant tourist traffic. He built his Wigwam Village — officially Wigwam Village #6 — on what is now West Hopi Drive, arranging 15 concrete teepee units in a semi-circle with the main office on the fourth side. A Texaco gas station originally flanked the office, though the pumps are long gone.

Each Wigwam: The Construction

Each of the 15 wigwams is a self-contained concrete and steel structure standing 32 feet high with a base diameter of 14 feet. The construction was substantial — poured concrete over a steel frame — and the units have proven durable enough to stand in essentially original condition for 75 years with proper maintenance. Inside, each wigwam has a small but complete bathroom (sink, toilet, and shower), original handmade hickory furniture, and enough room for two double beds or one queen.

Lewis operated the motel successfully through the golden era of Route 66 travel. When Interstate 40 bypassed downtown Holbrook in the late 1970s, however, business declined sharply. Lewis eventually sold the motel, which remained open only for gas sales before closing entirely in the early 1980s. Chester Lewis died in 1986.

The Family Revival (1988)

In 1988, Chester’s widow and children made the decision to restore and reopen the Wigwam Motel. They re-purchased the property, removed the gas pumps, and converted part of the main office into a small museum displaying Chester’s personal collection of Route 66 memorabilia, Native American artifacts, Civil War items, and petrified wood. Modern amenities were carefully added — air conditioning, cable TV, WiFi — but the original hickory furniture was retained and the teepee aesthetic was preserved intact.

Chester Lewis’s 1950s Studebaker Permanently Parked at the Wigwam Motel.

Lewis’s own 1950s Studebaker remains permanently parked on the property as part of a collection of vintage cars that fills the lot, giving the impression of having stepped directly into a 1950s road trip. The motel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 2002, cementing its status as a protected historic landmark.

The Cars Connection

The Wigwam Motel in Holbrook inspired one of the most memorable characters in the Pixar film Cars (2006): Sally’s Cozy Cone Motel, a neon-lit motel in Radiator Springs whose rooms are shaped like traffic cones. The filmmakers famously swapped teepees for traffic cones as an automotive in-joke, but the semi-circular layout, the sign lighting up at dusk, and the spirit of the roadside motel experience are all pure Wigwam Motel. Vintage cars parked around the property — including examples that resemble those in the film — make the connection vivid for visitors who arrive as Cars fans as much as Route 66 enthusiasts.

What to Expect When You Stay

The Rooms

The wigwam rooms are compact by modern standards — the convergence of angled walls in the bathroom, in particular, rewards guests who are flexible about personal space. But they are clean, well-maintained, and genuinely atmospheric. The original handmade hickory furniture gives each room a particular character, and sleeping inside a 32-foot concrete teepee on Historic Route 66 is an experience that no chain hotel can replicate. Air conditioning works reliably; satellite TV is available; free WiFi operates. There are no in-room phones and no ice machine — consistent with the motel’s commitment to the vintage experience.

Sleep in a Wigwam Sign at the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, AZ

The Ambiance

The Wigwam Motel is best experienced at dusk, when the neon “Sleep in a Wigwam” sign glows against the Arizona sky and the teepee silhouettes are golden in the last light. Vintage cars are arranged throughout the property, and small green metal benches etched with “Wigwam Village #6” are scattered around the parking area. The nearby BNSF railroad tracks add periodic freight train sound effects — authentic, but also deeply atmospheric for anyone sleeping in an original 1950s teepee on Route 66.

Tips for Staying at the Wigwam Motel

One of 15 Teepee Rooms at the Wigwam Motel

Book well in advance — the motel has only 15 rooms and fills up quickly, especially in spring and fall.
Check in is at 3:00 PM; contact the motel in advance if you’re arriving after 9:00 PM.
The motel is pet friendly (with an extra fee) — useful for road-tripping pet owners.
Bring cash for parking or incidentals, as remote card readers can sometimes be unreliable.
Request a room away from the railroad tracks if you’re a light sleeper — the train frequency is real.
Don’t leave without visiting the on-site museum — Chester Lewis’s personal collection tells the story of both the motel and the Route 66 era beautifully.
Combine your stay with the Petrified Forest National Park (20 miles east), the Rainbow Rock Shop dinosaurs, and downtown Holbrook’s Route 66 historic district for a full Holbrook experience.

Final Thoughts on the Wigwam Motel

The Wigwam Motel in Holbrook is not just a place to sleep on Route 66 — it is a direct physical connection to the era that Route 66 created and that Route 66 preserved. The Lewis family’s decision to reopen it in 1988, to list it on the National Register, and to continue operating it with authentic furnishings and genuine hospitality rather than converting it to a themed attraction is one of the finest acts of Route 66 preservation in Arizona. Sleeping in a concrete teepee on the Mother Road, surrounded by vintage cars and lit by neon, is genuinely one of the great American road trip experiences. It belongs on every list of must-do stops on Arizona’s Route 66.