Bisbee, AZ - The Shady Dell RV Park located in the picturesque Arizona town of Bisbee is a throwback in time to the mid-century complete with 50's memorabilia, aluminum trailers, a yacht, and a throwback diner. The Shady Dell started up in 1927 as a place for weary travelers along Highway 80 to stop and grab some rest.

Shady Dell RV Park
Bisbee, AZ
Photo courtesy Tony Craig

Pull into The Shady Dell Vintage Trailer Court in Bisbee and it feels like the calendar has somehow slipped back to the 1950s. Polished aluminum trailers sit beneath the Arizona sky, surrounded by vintage lawn chairs, old televisions, period magazines, glowing signs, and enough mid-century memorabilia to fill several roadside museums. The difference here is that guests actually get to spend the night among it all.

Trailer at the Shady Dell RV Park
Bisbee, AZ
Photo courtesy Tony Craig

The Shady Dell began in 1927 as a simple campground beside U.S. Highway 80. Long before the interstate arrived, Highway 80 carried motorists all the way from Savannah, Georgia, to San Diego. Travelers could pull off the road in Bisbee, park beneath the trees, set up camp, and rest before continuing across southern Arizona. Sometimes called the Route 66 of the South, Highway 80 brought a steady parade of early automobiles, trailers, and road-weary passengers past the property.

Today, visitors no longer bring their own trailers. The Shady Dell has become a vintage trailer hotel where the accommodations are already parked and waiting. Its collection includes such shiny aluminum time capsules as a 1949 Airstream, a 1950 Spartan Manor, and a 1951 Royal Mansion. Each trailer has its own personality, complete with period furnishings and little reminders of the days when the family vacation might involve a road map, a roadside picnic, and a station wagon without air conditioning.

The vintage RV park is also noteworthy for being the home to Dot's Diner, which is a vintage Valentine model that was originally built in 1957 and served the corner of Ventura and Topanga Canyon Boulevards in Los Angeles.

Dot's Diner
Shady Dell RV Park
Bisbee, AZ
Photo courtesy Tony Craig

Inside, the details are part of the fun. Guests may find rotary telephones, old radios, record players, percolators, vintage magazines, and televisions accompanied by collections of old movies. The trailers have modern comforts where needed, but the overall effect is closer to spending the night inside a carefully preserved 1950s vacation than checking into an ordinary hotel.

Not everyone at the Shady Dell sleeps in a trailer. The 1947 Chris-Craft yacht El Rey sits permanently dry-docked in the Arizona desert and offers guests a cozy nautical escape several hundred miles from the nearest ocean. It is hard to resist the sight of a vintage yacht sitting among the cactus and aluminum trailers. No seasickness pills required.

Here's Harbie
Shady Dell RV Park
Photo courtesy Tony Craig

Then there is the Polynesian Palace, a 1947 bus transformed into a full tiki hideaway with tropical decorations and its own outrigger-style bar. Add in the vintage trailer used for Dashes bar, and the Shady Dell begins to feel like several different roadside vacations gathered into one small court.

One of the best-known attractions is Dot’s Diner, a compact 1957 Valentine diner built in Wichita, Kansas. The little diner once served customers in Los Angeles before being transported to Bisbee. With its stainless-steel exterior, counter seating, and glowing neon, Dot’s looks ready to serve burgers and breakfast to travelers who just rolled in from 1959. Its operating schedule has changed over the years, but it remains part of the Shady Dell experience and is used for selected weekends, events, and catering.

UPDATE: The Shady Dell remains open as a seasonal vintage lodging destination. Its restored trailers, El Rey yacht, Polynesian Palace bus, Dot’s Diner, and classic roadside signs continue to carry visitors back to the golden age of the American road trip. 09-26

According to the official Shady Dell website, the diner was run by Dot Bozeman as the chief cook until 1999. 11-10

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