MOAB
BACK IN TIME Moab’s Apache motel’s new owners breathe new life while preserving the past.
T
Burke and Nicole Priest.
wo figures stand outside the door of Moab’s
ers for smaller overnight rentals for many
Apache Motel: a weather-proofed lifesize
years, though this is their first time owning a
cardboard cutout of the western film icon
motel-style lodging property. They’re excited
John Wayne, in a cowboy hat and a pistol
to join Moab’s hospitality industry. They had
hanging at his side; and a lifesize statue of
been visiting Moab since the 1990s before
a Native American man with feathers in his
moving to town in 2011. Since buying the
hair and a quiver of arrows at his feet. They
Apache, they’ve been updating it to include
harken back to an era when a fantasy version
modern technology and amenities. But,
of “Cowboys and Indians” dominated Hol-
Priest said, they’re also careful to maintain
lywood: the 1950s, which is also the decade
the vintage feel and unique character of the
when Moab experienced the uranium boom
motel, which was once a hub where Holly-
that transformed it from a small western
wood glamor met small-town hospitality,
outpost to a bustling industrial town full of
with a backdrop of the “wild west” narratives
rags-to-riches dreamers.
of movies filmed near town.
“Anyone that comes to Moab, or lives in
Renowned director John Ford frequent-
Moab, or spends any time in Moab cer-
ly used Southeast Utah and sites around
tainly knows the Apache Motel as kind of
Moab for his genre-defining western films,
a landmark of the town,” said Burke Priest,
including Fort Apache, (1948); She Wore A Yellow
who, with his wife Nicole, bought the motel
Ribbon, (1949); Rio Grande, (1950); and Wagon
in 2021. The motel’s bright yellow sign fixed
Master, (1950). The Apache Motel was built
to a post shaped like a feathered arrow is an
following this string of productions.
eye-catching reference point. “It’s been there
One story claims that the motel was
since 1955 and it’s on what was the original
named after Fort Apache, though it’s uncer-
Main Street,” Priest said.
tain. Director George Sherman’s The Battle at
The Priests have been property manag-
28 | utahstories.com
Apache Pass (1952) was also filmed in the area
PHOTO COURTESY OF BURKE PRIEST
By Rachel Fixsen
