“I admired its architecture, if not its bedsprings.”
—S.L., St. Louis

“It’s a dark, sleazy place with bad memories.”
—Marie, Fenton, Missouri

“It seems so unconscionable that it could be destroyed. I liken it to crucifixion.”
—Bob Waldmire, Rochester, Illinois

“I lived in my van and delivered flowers. She was high society and very married. I had never been to the Coral Court, but I’d heard about it since high school. It became a Shangri-la solution, 10:30 to 2:30 p.m. every Tuesday.”
—Bob B., St. Louis

“…I loved working there, I really did. It was fun during the pool days. What really was the final blow for the tourist business at Coral Courts was when the pool was no longer open…”
—Alan S. former employee (1973-1982), St. Louis

“It was an institution. I’ve got a glass block, a tin ashtray, some towels and a matchbook. I grew up here and spent my whole life here in St. Louis. Coral Courts, even as a child, you heard the older people talking about it. It had its nefarious reputation, but when you drove by it, it was a beautiful little affection, with its trees and all that. A lot of people didn’t know that place and [that] there were two different check-ins. Like if you were a tourist wanting to spend the night, you went in one section. If you were [there] for the notorious 3-hours, that was another section. Because they didn’t want the tourists being upset by the garage doors clanging all night long.”

“Most people laugh when they hear the name Coral Court, and think of it as a seedy place. My recollection—maybe I’m one of the few in St. Louis—is that it was an extraordinary place. As a kid, we swam there frequently and met nice families. Some people came back year after year to the Coral Court Motel…My recollection was not a place for one-night stands; I remember it as kind of a classy place.”
—Rick Anthony, Ellisville, Missouri

“In the ’70s, for our anniversary…I took my husband out to dinner and asked him if I could drive home. Then I drove him to Coral Courts. It had such a reputation; I had to stay there just to find out if there were mirrors on the ceiling, television sets on the ceiling and if the beds were really warm…It was just a nice comfortable room with a bath.”
—Marilyn H., St. Louis

“Along 66, there were motels shaped like tepees and taco stands built like sombreros. There’s so much history in this highway. It was the style of an era, it is our culture. Of course, we don’t see anything like it anymore. What are we building nowadays that’s real cool, like the Coral Court Motel?”
—Ray Benson, founder of the Texas swing band “Asleep at the Wheel”