Quote Originally Posted by reddog289 View Post
Thats a good explanation of the deal Professor. Kinda off the topic, But I always wonder why of all places did Inkster end up with so many Mom&Pop motels. I know that Inkster was started as a community for Black Ford workers and that Mich Ave is a main rd for travel. But why so many in that stretch?. Southfield has the office buildings so I can see that and it has quite a few major arteries running through it so that explains the numbers of large Hotels.
I remember that not so long ago the Southfield hotels as stated were still in good shape, and doing good business wise.
The US Highway system was the major interstate travel route before the interstates. I think that any place along those routes ended up with some motels [[you see them in the UP, etc), especially those places with minimal or no zoning at the time. Inkster has a lot of hotels, but so does Telegraph Road in Redford, another place with minimal zoning back then.

Two other considerations would be:

Is the place a logical place for where many people would stop for the nights? Being on the outskirts of a major city would be..

Is the place one where economically the motel has not been replaced by some other development in the last 50 years? If Inkster had a brighter economy, some of those motels would have been torn down.