Worlds first motel up for sale in sleepy California coastal city

America’s first motel — the roadside landmark that helped launch the great American road trip — is looking for a new owner.The historic property in the Central Coast city of San Luis Obispo, home to the original Milestone Mo-Tel, later renamed the Motel Inn, has officially hit the market for the first time in a generation.Located just off the historic El Camino Real, the landmark is widely recognized as the birthplace of the modern motel, offering travelers a place to park their cars and spend the night decades before roadside lodging became an American staple.The 4.21-acre parcel at 2223 Monterey Street, just off Highway 101, is being offered by Hayes Commercial Group but without a public asking price.Highway 101 is, in many ways, the modern incarnation of El Camino Real — the old “King’s Highway,” as it was then known, that once stitched California’s 21 Spanish missions together, from San Diego to San Francisco to Sonoma in Northern California.Laid down centuries later, the freeway still traces that same coastal corridor, carrying today’s travelers along the same historic spine the padres once walked.California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.

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Never miss a story Opened more than a century ago on December 12, 1925 as a labor of love from Pasadena architect Arthur S.Heineman, the Milestone Mo-Tel was built specifically for the new age of automobile travel.

Guests could pull their prized rides right up to the front doors of their motel rooms — a radical and novel idea at the time.Heineman, who was also an inventor, coined the word “motel” by blending “motor” and “hotel,” and the name stuck.

The motel was positioned roughly halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, making it a natural overnight stop when a day’s drive still meant exhaust...