Remembering the Tourist Court Journal

In 1932, Bob Gresham published the first issue of the Tourist Court Journal. “Although Gresham knew little about either tourist courts or trade chronicles, he jumped in with gusto and fashioned a bible for mom-and-pop motel owners,” writes Anne Dingus in Texas Monthly’s October issue. Gresham’s magazine covered the Tourist Court industry for 32 years. Dingus recently studied one of the two remaining sets of the now-defunct publication, and she reports that the magazine offers a unique look at travel during America’s auto-tourism boom years. It didn’t cover one thing, though: Sex. A 1949 editorial opined that the “Tourist Court Journal does not now, nor has it ever, nor will it in the future shut its eyes to catering to the ‘hot pillow’ business.” (Registration required to access the article.)

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