The barber shop was very
successful. In fact, George had
such a good reputation in the
community that the bank agreed to
loan him the money for a new business
venture. “The only place for travelers
to stay at that time was boarding
houses,” said Shelly, “and hotels in the
downtown area like Savannah’s DeSoto
Hotel, which later became the DeSoto
Hilton, and the Manger Hotel. So,
when my father read about these places
being built in Florida called motor
courts, he saw a business opportunity.”
The name “motel” was first “coined
by the owner of the Milestone Mo-Tel
(an abbreviation of “motor hotel”) in
116 TOOMBS COUNTY MAGAZINE
San Luis Obispo, California,” according
to Smithsonian.com. in an article
entitled, “The Rise and the Fall of the
Great American Motel,” written by
Andrew Wood and published on June
30, 2017. According to Wood, at its
peak in 1964, there were 61,000 motels
in America. By 2012, there were only
16,000 still in operation.
George figured if he built a motel
on Bay Street, on Highway 80 en route
to the beach, people would come. With
a loan from the bank, he bought a
couple of city blocks on Bay Street and
opened Savannah’s first motel: Seacoast
Motel.
But the motel was just the start
of her father’s new venture. “My dad
figured that people staying at the motel
were traveling and would need gas for
their cars, so he built Saba’s Gas Station
right next door to the motel. Then he
decided they would probably be looking
for a place close by to eat, so he built
a restaurant,” said Shelly. Little by
little, George added more structures
and rented them out. The restaurant
eventually became a Kentucky Fried
Chicken. Another building was rented
to a dry cleaner service.
George became a very successful
businessman. “My mother said Daddy
couldn’t sleep at night unless he owed
somebody $100,000.” With all his
/Smithsonian.com