Joe and Gladys Sullivan, founders of the HiLo Motel. (Provided, Laurie Jackson)
It wasn’t much different from any other mom-and-pop motel, but it was a landmark.
The HiLo Motel on the corner of 37th and Central Avenues denoted the boundary between Minneapolis and Columbia Heights for three decades. When it was replaced by a CVS Pharmacy, a part of the area’s history was lost.
The corner was occupied by a Pure Oil station long before the motel was built. Joe Sullivan and probably his brother Edmund — family historian Thomas Sullivan isn’t sure — operated the station throughout the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s. They were members of the extensive Sullivan family who owned and developed much of Columbia Heights. Sullivan Bros. Service offered all the standard automobile services of the day, including pumping gas, cleaning windshields, changing tires and fixing mechanical problems. For a time, Joe and his wife, Gladys, lived in a little house behind the station.
In about 1955, some tax-forfeited property next to the station went up for sale and Joe and Gladys bought it. They built a little 15-room motel on it and named it HiLo for the surrounding neighborhood. The low-slung, one-level building was “just a series of rooms,” recalled Laurie Jackson, Joe and Gladys’ granddaughter.
In the typical manner of motels, you entered each room from outside, with parking just outside the door. It was a convenient stop for over-the-road truckers, sales reps or vacationers who wanted to stay in Minneapolis, but didn’t want to pay downtown prices.
In 1962, the Sullivans decided to expand the motel and get rid of the filling station. According to her Aug. 27, 1975, Minneapolis Star obituary, Gladys was the “architect and owner.” The couple added 15 rooms to the property. The new white brick building featured rooms on two floors with a balcony over them and a small, eight-table restaurant.
Gladys went all-out decorating the motel. Said Laurie, “It was very Mid-Century Modern. The office and restaurant had egg-shaped Eames chairs. They were white with purple and turquoise cushions. I think she used the same people who decorated Nye’s [Poloniase Room].” Gold-colored lanterns hung from the ceilings.
A pass-through window from the full kitchen allowed wait staff to pick up meals in the dining area. Until the 1970s, Laurie said, the little restaurant served breakfast and lunch. Later, motel guests could get a continental breakfast of coffee and pre-made Danish rolls.
Another grandchild, Gary Sullivan, recalled another feature of the motel. “We used to come from Chicago once or twice a year and stay at the motel,” he said. “There was a purple spiral staircase behind the office that we loved to run up and down. It led to an apartment where Uncle Don lived. It was a big thing for us kids.”
Don Sullivan, a popular teacher, had a “swanky bachelor pad” at the top of the staircase, Laurie said. Gary Sullivan recalled it as a “neat place to visit.”
A postcard shows the front and back of the HiLo. The back of the card lists amenities, and a tagline, “For Quiet Rest, Stop at the Best.” (Cardcow.com)
A family-run business
The HiLo Motel was very much a family-run business — if you had a connection to the Sullivan family, you probably worked there at some time in your life.
When Joe and Gladys moved to a home on Architect Avenue, management of the motel fell to Don, who died at a young age from cancer. His brother Jerry was next in line as manager.
Jan Sullivan Reed said she was one of the first family members to work for her father’s cousins, starting as a room cleaner in 1961. “I worked all through high school and nursing school,” she said. She also handled the front desk and switchboard.
Laurie and her brother, Lyle Jackson, are the children of Joe and Gladys’ daughter Lyla. They also worked at the motel during their teenage years. “I started there at 15,” Laurie said. She cleaned rooms. She said a long concrete ramp led to the laundry room in the basement. “You would load up your cart in the basement and push it up the ramp and across the alley to get to the rooms on the other side.” She also clerked, waited tables in the dining room and did some cooking.
Lyle started out by mowing the lawn and later became the night clerk.
Jackie Schuelein, Thomas Sullivan’s former mother-in-law, started there as a cook and worked her way up to motel manager. Delores Sowden, whose sister Betty (Gary’s mother) married into the Sullivan family, waited tables in the restaurant. In 1972, the Jacksons’ parents, Lyla and Lyle, Sr., took over management of the motel; ownership remained with Lyla’s brothers. The Jacksons ran it until its sale in 1987.
The family also hired people who weren’t related to them. “We hired high school girls for cleaning, boys for mowing. Usually they were our friends,” said Laurie.
Lyle said the HiLo always had at least 12 people on staff.
The Sullivan family at the HiLo. From the left, Gladys Sullivan, Lyla Jackson (in the background), Laurie and Lyle Jackson, and grandparents Clara and Dave Jackson. (Provided, Laurie Jackson)
High standards
Lyle said his grandparents had strict standards for cleanliness. “They could be hard on those people, making sure it was up to snuff,” he said. “We always had a painter on the premises, a little German guy.” The painter painted the rooms in a set rotation to keep them looking fresh.
Jan said she’s never forgotten the lessons taught by the head housekeeper: When you finish cleaning the room, walk out of it and then turn back and look at it as if you’re seeing it for the first time. Is anything out of place? Are the towels hanging straight? Are the ashtrays and matches in the correct place?
Laurie remembered how the cleaning staff would gather in the restaurant during their break to smoke, eat donuts, watch a favorite TV show and talk. “There were two or three women who worked the entire time [the motel was open]. They were like family, and they worked hard.”
Although they demanded much of their workers, the family was also known for kindness. Laurie said, “One of the cleaning ladies was having memory problems. Guests complained that jewelry was missing. Dad said one of the hardest things he had to do was let her go.”
Changing clientele
Clean rooms and friendly hospitality earned the HiLo many regular customers. Many were families of patients at the University of Minnesota, Jan said. “This was before the Ronald McDonald House opened up. They would stay in the older part with the kitchenettes, sometimes for a month or two.”
When the Jacksons operated the motel, rooms rented for $33 per night, and Laurie said they never went over $40. Weekly rates were also available.
Laurie recalled one trucker who drove for Consolidated Freight who became upset when his favorite room was not available. “I think he was from Georgia,” said Laurie. “One time he brought Dad a jar of moonshine. It sat in our house for a long time. When I was 16 and home alone I tried it. It was like rubbing alcohol!”
Despite its reputation as a place for families, the HiLo also attracted other customers. “Some very well-known people started holding clandestine trysts at the motel,” said Lyle.
Laurie said the larger rooms with a queen and twin bed were often used for parties.
In time, the wear and tear on the property began to tell on the little motel. Remodeling was deemed too expensive, and the land and buildings were sold in 1987.
The HiLo was torn down in 2004 to make room for the CVS pharmacy.