In 1960, at 310 S. Heights Boulevard (near Memorial Drive, which was getting freeway-level loads of traffic at the time), Coronado Motor Hotel was built, featuring 98 rooms. Around 1969 it became a Travelodge (or "TraveLodge"), which is when this ad is from; I believe this was the first of its kind in Houston. In 1971, a new TraveLodge was built at 2828 Southwest Freeway with 216 rooms and nine floors about three miles to the southwest. (Travelodge of course continues as a brand in the Houston area, but a far lower-end brand than what it once was).

The opening of the Katy Freeway to the north put the era of inter-city travel on Memorial Drive firmly in the past, and by 1976, the club was known as "Vento's Club", when a former manager (Sam Vento) returned and revitalized it, with nightly entertainment and steaks and seafood. In October 1977, the (still operational) motel was put on the market, with the restaurant leased to Dobbs House, and held the Travelodge name at least to 1979.

In July 1981, the hotel was still looking for a desk clerk, but by October 1981 the entire property was being stripped for demolition, replaced with an office building with a new address (55 Waugh Drive). Travelodge's closure preceded the closure of a much larger Holiday Inn further down Memorial Drive (closer to downtown), and after that hotel closed in 1986, the era of Memorial Drive being a hotel corridor ended for good.

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