When you come to Wittrup Motel and Sallie’s Restaurant & Snack Bar, you will enter a time warp from the 50s. Here, the décor, design, food, menu and furniture are made with inspiration from the time when Sallie Zimmerhackel and Oscar Wittrup established the place.
After having kept up with the times for many years and been through modernizations as the times changed, the motel and the restaurant have now returned to their roots.
The current owners, Claus and Henrik Hansen, are themselves the third generation of the families who took over after Sallie Zimmerhackel. And they have witnessed many modernizations over the years.
Total transformation
In 2013, however, Clause and Henrik made a big decision. The history of the motel and restaurant is so exciting and special that they decided to totally change the concept of the place. With inspiration from very comprehensive historical material, not least many good photos, they chose to go “all in” and establish Wittrup Motel and Sallie’s Restaurant & Snack Bar with the starting point in what it looked like in the mid-50s.
The first step was an experiment to redecorate 12 rooms with other colours and wallpaper and black/white photos on the walls.
Afterwards, the major renovation in the restaurant began which up towards the 60th anniversary in 2015, changed character completely. Old menus were studied and work was done on new, “old” recipes. The building was fully emptied so only the walls remained. Extra windows were installed so the light could penetrate and soften up the dim colours on the walls, which was the custom in the 50s.
In the process, Claus and Henrik came into contact with Torben Nielsen who worked as a stage manager on film projects, but he was also an architect and fervent 50s fan. Torben took on the task of designing the entire décor, including the design and production of all the furniture that was unavailable as 50s originals.
Today, you could actually be saddened over how many things were sold or thrown out over the years in connection with the modernizations, but annoyance is replaced by curiosity and eagerness to recreate as many details as possible.
All historical details have been examined
Decisions have been made on all the details - from the colour on the walls, the material for the floors, ceiling lamps, the shining chrome edging on the wood laminated tables and handles on the toilet doors.
It has been a fantastic and exciting but also expensive process which is still in fully ongoing, as the renovation also includes all the rooms at the motel. Original 50s Rooms is the name for the rooms that will gradually become Wittrup Motel’s very special trademark.