This place made a big promotional push. Some were content with a postcard. The Tropicana put out a brochure.

The next few pages feature enlargements of the illustrations. To state the obvious, I suppose, but I have to say something. I can't just give you a picture of a car and the source material and leave it at that.

I could tell you it's gone now, but would that come as any surprise? I could reassure you that the Best Western chain is still around, but that doesn't mean anything to anyone. Holiday Inn, now, there was a brand that stuck in the popular consciousness. Best Western meant nothing, because there was no sense of chain-wide standardization. The words just blended together: Bes-twestern.

They had a Best Eastern chain as well, but it didn't last. Using the "rope" motif for the East made no sense. The crown made no sense. The "western" font for the citified part of the country made no sense.

They retired that idea in 1966.