Space Age Lodge

by Michael Satterfield – 9/25/2017

Sometimes, on a road trip, you run into some interesting roadside attractions. I ran across the Space Age Lodge after crossing the Sonoran Desert National Monument southwest of Phoenix. The town of Gila Bend sits at the junction of old US Highway 80 and Interstate 8. The small town of around 2,000 people is named after the nearby Gila River, a town with almost as many abandoned businesses as open ones, like so many small towns I pass through on my travels.

Everything in town is pretty average, a Shell Station, a Dollar General, the local Elks Lodge, which looks like it has seen better days. I don’t plan on stopping in Gila Bend, then I see a flying- saucer-shaped sign for the “Space Age Lodge” I have to stop to check it out.

The hotel and restaurant were built in 1962 and were popular with travelers traveling along US Highway 80. They benefited from the interest in the ‘Space Race’. In 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American, shortly after USSR Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The hype would only grow, with shows like Star Trek, Lost in Space, and The Jetson airing on everyone’s television. The space craze would last well into the early 1980s.

The Space Age Lodge was one of five special “space age themed” hotels built by Al Stovall in the Southwest, including the Galaxy Hotel, Apollo Inn, Space Age Lodge, and the Inn of Tomorrow. It is also the best preserved of the original Stovall designs, and the current owner plans to keep it that way. While the rooms have been updated, all still feature space-themed art and the lobby features a large mural