The Heritage Motel: Family-Friendly Landmark From the '50s

In the mid-1950s in Sherman Oaks, there was a hip motel called the Valley Sojourn, part of a chain of motels in California catering to the motor lodge crowd. At the time, tourists were flocking to Southern California to visit the new Disneyland park in Anaheim, which opened in the summer of 1955.

The Valley Sojourn was a family-oriented motel with a swimming pool and access to the new 101 Freeway. It had a coffee shop in the front and a front office with an apartment above it that the owner lived in. Working at the hotel as manager was Walter Spengler, who eventually bought the Valley Sojourn from his boss and changed the name to the Heritage Motel. Its sign had what looked to me like candles or spears sticking up through the Old English lettering.

My family would often pass by the motel at night on the drive home from dinner at Barone's or Casa Vega. I always wanted to stay at the Heritage, and my dad would always joke, "We live in Encino, why would I take a vacation in Sherman Oaks?"

We had friends visit from out of town in the late '60s who stayed at the Heritage, so I got to visit and swim in the pool there. That was a real treat, especially since later we went across the street to eat at the Orange Julius hot dog stand, where my neighbor Alan "Sparky" Rifkin worked and gave us extra chili on the chili dogs.

After taking over, Spengler moved into the apartment over the office of the Heritage and remained there for over 40 years—until 2004, when he finally sold the Heritage. The current owner runs it as the Best West Inn and did a badly needed remodeling job on the place about six years ago. What was once the coffee shop is now a sushi bar. The exterior design of the coffee shop is still relatively intact, however, and you can see the original white panels on the roof's edge in front, overlooking the parking area.

In its '50s and '60s heyday, the Valley Sojourn and subsequent Heritage were the "hip" model motels of the period, with lots of parking near the rooms and the inexpensive coffee shop for family dining.

I remember when my family would eat at the coffee shop and I would sit at the counter reading my Bob Hope and Plastic Man comic books. Chocolate cream pie was on view in the mirrored refrigerator above the counter.

For many years in the lobby of the Heritage, vintage photos of Sherman Oaks and Encino were displayed. Spengler spent most of his time on the motel grounds, but for an occasional treat he would venture over to the Valley Inn restaurant for lunch just a couple of blocks away, which is also a Sherman Oaks landmark, still going strong in 2011.

I was hoping that when the Heritage Motel was sold it would be redone as a cool, retro motel, like the Ace Motel in Palm Springs and many other '50s and early '60s motel properties that have been upgraded in the midcentury modern style. I guess that could still happen, but for now, Best West Inn functions as low-cost visitor lodgings with easy access to the 101 and 405 freeways.

Look for my upcoming articles on other vintage Sherman Oaks hotels: the Howard Johnson's, the Royal Oaks Motel on Sepulveda Boulevard and the Carriage Inn Motel and Coffee Shop.