Catherine Smart

With 21 luxe rooms, each with its own private terrace featuring ocean views, the Nevada in York, Maine, isn’t your typical beachfront motel. But locals and travelers familiar with its sister property, the Viewpoint Hotel on nearby Cape Neddick, won’t be surprised by the mix of high design and homey touches of the newly renovated motel. At the Nevada, which reopened under new ownership July 15, you’ll find peacock blue tiles and white terrazzo floors in the bathroom, impeccable painkiller cocktails at the bar, and umbrellas and beach chairs to take across the street to Long Sands Beach. Husband-and-wife owners Joe Lipton and Michelle Friar are longtime York residents and hospitality industry veterans. Along with the Viewpoint, they also own Long Sands beachside hotel and restaurant, Stones Throw. The historic Nevada property has been a popular spot for both families and surfers on the southernmost coast of Maine for more than 70 years. One of the first motels in the state and a staple of the community, the Nevada was originally built by a World War II veteran to resemble the USS Nevada battleship. Lipton and Friar purchased the property with the goal of continuing its legacy as a local, family-owned operation, while elevating the rooms and restaurant.  “The Nevada has been a quiet fixture in our lives for the 40-plus years we’ve lived in York,” Lipton says. “We would walk by it on our way to high school as teenagers—and it was there when we had our own teenagers! We remember p