Hillside Motel — Starbird Hill, Skagit County, WA
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member Dunbar Loop
N 48° 18.725 W 122° 19.360
10U E 550220 N 5351209
The Hillside Motel sign still stands as a landmark for travellers passing quickly by on Interstate 5 south from Mt. Vernon. It harks back to when this was US 99 from the 1930s until the 1960s.
Waymark Code: WMGZRT
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 04/29/2013
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member TheBeanTeam
Views: 9

The original US 99 ran along the Stilliguamish River Valley from Smokey Point through Silvana to Stanwood and the followed the Pioneer Highway to Conway. With the completion of the Stilliguamish River Bridge in 1933 the route shifted to immediately west of today's Interstate 5.

If you leave I-5 at Exit 210 and head west you will come to Old 99 Road. Follow this north for about eight miles. This stretch was mostly rural with very few amenities for the travellers during the route's heyday of the 1930s until the 1960s. But you can see the narrow concrete roadway break through the asphalt surface.

Just north of Milltown Road there is a short -- very short -- stretch of US 99 that is today called Bonnieview Road. At the very end of this dead end road you will find this great neon sign beckoning motorists to stop. However, the motel is mostly gone and much of it overgrown even though there was an attempt to restart in 2010.

Just a short distance south of this sign at N 48.310883, W 122.321464 there is beautiful piece of super-elevated curve in the concrete road surface showing that Bonnieview, or at least a small section of it, was part of a busier road that was intended for high speed motoring travel.

The waymark is not for the sign itself, as that is on private property. It is at the closest point on the road that is public that you can clearly see the sign.

State: Washington

Nearest City: Mt Vernon

Type: Americana - Motel, diner, roadside attraction, etc.

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