Ramada (shelter)

In the southwestern United States, a ramada is a temporary or permanent shelter equipped with a roof but no walls, or only partially enclosed.

Ramadas have traditionally been constructed with branches or bushes by aboriginal Americans living in the region (deriving from the Spanish rama, meaning "branch"). However, the term today is also applied to permanent concrete, wooden, or steel structures used to shelter objects or people from the sun. For example, public parks in desert areas of the United States may contain ramadas with picnic tables, restrooms, water sources, etc. Since sunlight is more of an environmental hazard than wind or snow or rain in this part of the world, a roof alone provides substantial shelter. And because there are no walls in the structure, airflow is unrestricted, helping to keep the temperature below substantially cooler.

An example of a large modern-day ramada can be seen at the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument in Arizona, where it is used to protect ancient ruins.

Shelter

Shelter may refer to:

Organisation

Transportation

Places

Film and television

Te Tawharau

Te Tawharau (roughly translated as "the shelter") was a Māori political party in New Zealand.

Te Tawharau briefly had representation in Parliament when Tuariki Delamere, a former New Zealand First MP, transferred his loyalty to it. In the 1999 elections, Te Tawharau contested electorates under its own banner, but contested the party vote as part of the Mana Māori Movement. It did not, however, win any seats, with Delamere losing his position to Mita Ririnui of the Labour Party. Te Tawharau was founded by Delamere, the late Wharekaihua Coates, known as Willie Coates, and Rangitukehu David Paul. Te Tawharau was founded on the principles espoused by Te Haahi Ringatu (the Ringatu Church) and sought to persuade the Māori people to recognise that under the new MMP voting system it was possible for Māori to hold the balance of power if Māori was able to unite under a common umbrella.

The party contested the 1996 election with six list candidates.

In the 1999 election the Māori parties of Te Tawharau, Mana Māori and Piri Wiri Tua formed a political alliance to hold the balance of power. Te Tawharau did not put forward a party list and the 1999 alliance did not win any seats, the next step in that journey of Māori political awakening was reached in 2005 with the Māori Party winning four of the Māori electorates.

Shelter (automobile)

The Shelter was an experimental city car of the 1950s and one of the first applications of such a concept.

It was conceived, designed and built by Dutch engineering student Arnold van der Goot starting in 1954. Van der Goot's interest in transportation developed during his postwar employment by Bristol Aeroplane Company. He hit upon the idea of a small, light and readily available "pool car" specifically for intracity transportation when faced with a university project. Such a car could conceivably be rented almost anywhere in the city, driven within the city limits and dropped off at any of the rental stations. The government of the Netherlands took an interest in van der Goot's project and helped with financial backing since, even at that time, traffic congestion on the narrow, cobblestoned streets of Amsterdam was a problem.

Ramada

Ramada is a large hotel chain owned and operated by Wyndham Worldwide.

History

Longtime Chicago restaurateur Marion W. Isbell (1905–1988) founded the chain in 1953 along with a group of investors including Michael Robinson of McAllen, Texas (who later went on to start Rodeway Inns in the early 1960s) and Del Webb of Phoenix (who owned the New York Yankees and went on to establish his own lodging chain, Hiway House, in 1956). Other original investors of Ramada Inns included Bill Helsing, Isbell's brother-in-law; Max Sherman of Chicago, a produce operator dubbed "The Tomato King"; Chicago attorneys Ezra Ressman and Mort Levin; and Frank Lichtenstein and Robert Rosow of San Antonio, Texas.

Ramada opened its first hotel – a 60-room facility – on U.S. Route 66 at Flagstaff, Arizona in 1954 and set up its headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, where the chain built the Sahara Hotel on North 1st Street downtown in 1956 (which later became the Ramada Inn Downtown) and a 300-room Ramada Inn in the 3800 block of East Van Buren in 1958 that would become the chain's flagship property and headquarters. Mr. Isbell, like his contemporary, Kemmons Wilson, the founder of the Holiday Inn hotel chain, devised the idea of building and operating a chain of roadside motor hotels while he was on a cross-country trip with his wife, Ingrid, and their three children. On that trip, Isbell noted the substandard quality of roadside motor courts along US highways at the time. He saw the possibility in the developing market for a chain of roadside motor hotels conveniently located along major highways which would provide lodgings with hotel-like quality at near-motel rates plus amenities such as TV, air conditioning, swimming pools, and on-premises restaurants.

Ramada (Odivelas)

Ramada (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʁɐˈmadɐ]) is a former civil parish in the municipality of Odivelas, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Ramada e Caneças. It covers an area of 3.86 km² and had a population of 15,770 as of 2001.

References

Coordinates: 38°48′14″N 9°11′28″W / 38.804°N 9.191°W / 38.804; -9.191

Ramada (disambiguation)

Ramada is a Spanish word which refers to an open air shelter made of tree branches or thatch. Typically a shade structure in hot, arid locales. A flat roofed open air shade structure.

It may also refer to: