Quick answer
In mid-century America, roadside businesses often used coded terms to control who could stay. Along U.S. Route 40 in Maryland, the Billy Boots Motel is a small but telling example of how travel could include quiet, routine exclusion.
“Restricted”: Billy Boots Motel, Route 40, and the Quiet Exclusion of Jewish Travelers in Mid-Century Maryland
In the popular memory, the American highway of the 1940s and 1950s represents freedom. Neon-lit motels, long stretches of open road, and the promise that anyone with a car could go anywhere. For Jewish travelers, that promise was often an illusion.
Along U.S. Route 40 in Maryland, one of the principal east-west highways connecting Baltimore with the Midwest, discrimination was not hidden. It was practiced openly, but carefully worded.
Just outside Frederick stood the Billy Boots Motel, a small roadside establishment typical of the independent motels that lined Route 40 during the postwar years.
For years, the motel operated under a simple designation: “Restricted.” To those who understood the language of the time, the meaning was unmistakable. Jewish guests were not welcome.
Maryland: Northern geography, Southern habits
Maryland in the mid-twentieth century occupied an uneasy middle ground. Though firmly Northern in geography, its social customs, particularly outside Baltimore and Washington, reflected many Southern attitudes. Frederick County was overwhelmingly Protestant, culturally conservative, and slow to challenge long-standing social boundaries.
In this environment, exclusion was not controversial. It was routine. Motels, restaurants, and resorts exercised the freedom to refuse service without fear of legal consequence. For many proprietors, this was considered not prejudice, but prudence.
Route 40 as a corridor of discrimination
Route 40 was heavily traveled by tourists, truck drivers, and military personnel. Yet it was also known among minority travelers as a difficult and sometimes hostile corridor. African Americans faced outright refusal at many establishments. Jewish travelers encountered something more ambiguous but no less effective: coded exclusion.
What “restricted” meant in mid-century lodging
Businesses often relied on euphemisms such as “Restricted,” “Selected Guests,” or “Gentile Clientele.” These phrases were rarely explained because they did not need to be. Their meaning was widely understood by both those enforcing them and those affected by them.
Why exclude Jewish travelers
- Local social pressure - owners feared violating unwritten community expectations.
- Economic anxiety - proprietors worried about alienating regular clientele.
- Legal freedom - before 1964, refusal of service was difficult to challenge.
- Normalized antisemitism - stereotypes shaped who was seen as desirable or not.
Traveling while Jewish: adapting to the landscape
Jewish families adjusted by sharing information and using specialized travel listings that identified places known to accept Jewish guests. Inclusion mattered. Omission sent a message. Often, that was enough to redirect a family to another town or another road.
What changed after the 1960s
By the late 1960s, this system began to unravel. Federal legislation, shifting social attitudes, public activism, and the modernization of the hospitality industry gradually made explicit exclusion harder to maintain.
Conclusion
The Billy Boots Motel is a small example of a wider pattern in which discrimination operated through habit, language, and quiet agreement. Along Route 40, the open road was not equally open to all. Remembering places like Billy Boots helps clarify how exclusion could be ordinary, local, and widely understood, even when it was not shouted.
FAQ
What did “restricted” mean at some motels in the mid-1900s?
In many contexts it functioned as coded language for excluding certain groups, including Jewish travelers, without stating it directly.
Why was Route 40 significant for travelers?
Route 40 was a major east-west highway carrying heavy traffic through Maryland, making it an important test case for who could travel comfortably and who could not.
Did these practices disappear overnight?
No. Change came gradually through law, activism, market forces, and shifting norms, with much of the visible language fading by the late 1960s.
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