Showing posts with label STATE: CA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label STATE: CA. Show all posts
Fun Fake Frigid
You'd expect a woodsy-looking, snow-topped, icicle-festooned lodge to be nestled between two great peaks, and the Alpine Inn motel in Anaheim kind of is -- Disneyland is 100 yards to the north, and the Anaheim Convention Center is across the street. Matterhorn bobsled parking is available, ask about in-room Yeti.
Tiki Time Is All The Time
When the weather gets hot, I long for a trip to the Desert Cities, for here can be found pools and A/C and rum-based drinks and lazing about in a drying swimsuit and robe. I am reminded of our visit to the Caliente Tropics motel in Palm Springs, a terrific exercise in 60's Polynesia that has been nicely updated. Plus it is so pet-friendly, there were free dog biscuits on arrival. Now if only they had in-room rum...flickr photo by JennRation Design
Safari, So Good
Yesterday I passed the Safari Inn in Burbank for the 47,000th time, and recalled watching "True Romance" last week, where it is featured prominently. Then I remembered it in the 90's TV show "Buddy Faro" with Dennis Farina, whose catch phrase, "I feel like a hundred bucks!", our household still frequently uses. Then I remembered it from a bunch of other things, and thought, "Safari Inn, so many people in showbiz start to show their age after fifty years, but not you. What's your secret -- a little Botox around the pool, a tuck in the ice machine, a chemical peel on the maid cart? Lookin' good."
The Continuing Saga Of Motels That Used To Be Travelodges
The Pomona Lodge in, I believe, Pomona, used to be a Travelodge. Added bonus: The only way the Jack In The Box next door could be any closer to your room is if you were staying at the Jack In The Box.
Do I Know You?
What do Starbucks, hermit crabs, and pod people have in common? They all cozy up inside the shells of their former inhabitants, while maintaining the same outward appearance. Such is the case with the Hollywood Econolodge.
For those of you not as steeped in the minutiae of motel architechtura as your Humble Narrator, the sign is a dead giveaway that this was once a TraveLodge. See for yourself:
Think of this the next time you're on the road and see a motel sign that looks vaguely familiar, but don't know why. Or think of something else. It's your brain.
Incidentally, my family's TraveLodge in Alamogordo was changed to the "All-American Inn" after my mother bought it from the company, then when she sold it, the new owners turned it into an "Economy Inn." Econolodge -- Economy Inn... a clear pattern is emerging for the inhabitants of former TraveLodges, and unless I'm badly mistaken, it all points to someone named Bob Econo.
For those of you not as steeped in the minutiae of motel architechtura as your Humble Narrator, the sign is a dead giveaway that this was once a TraveLodge. See for yourself:
Think of this the next time you're on the road and see a motel sign that looks vaguely familiar, but don't know why. Or think of something else. It's your brain.Incidentally, my family's TraveLodge in Alamogordo was changed to the "All-American Inn" after my mother bought it from the company, then when she sold it, the new owners turned it into an "Economy Inn." Econolodge -- Economy Inn... a clear pattern is emerging for the inhabitants of former TraveLodges, and unless I'm badly mistaken, it all points to someone named Bob Econo.
Necessary Roughness
All motels should be required by law to have a rock design element as groovy as the Hollywood Downtowner:
Here's a gratuitous close-up -- make it your wallpaper, and live the dream every day!
Here's a gratuitous close-up -- make it your wallpaper, and live the dream every day!
The Most Effective Way to Cool
Vintage postcard of the Gables Motel in Fresno, still there off Highway 99. "Cooled by refrigeration" is kind of like saying "heated by heat," but to California motorists sweating it out with no A/C, it probably sounded pretty sexy.
A Great Date Movie
Driving through Indio, CA, you see signs for one of the desert's steamiest attractions:
At Shields Date Garden, a terrific roadside stop selling dates, date shakes, date cakes, date cookies, date clothing, date butter, date internal combustion engines, and 4,000 other date-based goods and services, there is an air-conditioned theater showing free entertainment: The provocatively-titled short film, "The Romance and Sex Life of the Date." Though the subject matter -- how dates are grown and harvested -- is titillating only if you're a small seed-bearing fruit, it is interesting nonetheless. But I have to say, while the current incarnation of the film boasts slick production values, I miss the recently retired 1983 version that combined owner Floyd Shields' original slideshow and narration from the 50's with such 80's staples as big hair, star-wipes, and Casio soundtrack. All that was missing were dates in torn sweatshirts and leg warmers, but that would have made viewers too hot and bothered.
At Shields Date Garden, a terrific roadside stop selling dates, date shakes, date cakes, date cookies, date clothing, date butter, date internal combustion engines, and 4,000 other date-based goods and services, there is an air-conditioned theater showing free entertainment: The provocatively-titled short film, "The Romance and Sex Life of the Date." Though the subject matter -- how dates are grown and harvested -- is titillating only if you're a small seed-bearing fruit, it is interesting nonetheless. But I have to say, while the current incarnation of the film boasts slick production values, I miss the recently retired 1983 version that combined owner Floyd Shields' original slideshow and narration from the 50's with such 80's staples as big hair, star-wipes, and Casio soundtrack. All that was missing were dates in torn sweatshirts and leg warmers, but that would have made viewers too hot and bothered.
Motel Alpha
What do motelians generally agree is the world's first motel? That would be the aptly-named Motel Inn in San Luis Obispo, built in 1925.
Back then, the drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco couldn't be made in one day, what with the sorry roads and slow speeds and general 1925-ness of it all. So builder Arthur Heineman selected San Luis as the halfway point for a new enterprise, an alternative to pulling over for the night and pitching a tent by the side of the road. We know the term "motel" is a combination of "motor" and "hotel," but people back then seeing the sign just thought Heineman was simple and couldn't spell. So he had to get creative, first hyphenating "Mo-Tel," and then putting a smaller "H" under the larger "M." Travelers eventually said, "Oh, we get it!", and a phenomenon was born.
And now the amazing part -- the Motel Inn is still standing. Unfortunately, it is fenced off and abandoned, so it is no longer someplace you can stay for the night. Unless, ironically, you want to revert back to the days of a pitched tent by the side of the road.
flickr photo by Matt(mistergoleta)
Back then, the drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco couldn't be made in one day, what with the sorry roads and slow speeds and general 1925-ness of it all. So builder Arthur Heineman selected San Luis as the halfway point for a new enterprise, an alternative to pulling over for the night and pitching a tent by the side of the road. We know the term "motel" is a combination of "motor" and "hotel," but people back then seeing the sign just thought Heineman was simple and couldn't spell. So he had to get creative, first hyphenating "Mo-Tel," and then putting a smaller "H" under the larger "M." Travelers eventually said, "Oh, we get it!", and a phenomenon was born.
And now the amazing part -- the Motel Inn is still standing. Unfortunately, it is fenced off and abandoned, so it is no longer someplace you can stay for the night. Unless, ironically, you want to revert back to the days of a pitched tent by the side of the road.
flickr photo by Matt(mistergoleta)
Now Anything Is Possible
They laughed and said it couldn't be done, but here it is: A hotel and a motel, blissfully joined together. In Lone Pine, CA, this is the Dow Hotel, built in the early 1920s...
...and the Dow Villa Motel, added onto the hotel right next door in three sections from 1957-1963.
Alysia and I stayed here recently, in the Hotel portion. We bunked in the old Manager's Apartment, where the person running the place used to live, and it was delightful. Nice to see a hotel and a motel getting along so well for almost fifty years. Bodes well for us.
Photos from dowvillamotel.com
...and the Dow Villa Motel, added onto the hotel right next door in three sections from 1957-1963.
Alysia and I stayed here recently, in the Hotel portion. We bunked in the old Manager's Apartment, where the person running the place used to live, and it was delightful. Nice to see a hotel and a motel getting along so well for almost fifty years. Bodes well for us.
Photos from dowvillamotel.com
Your Room Is Ready... For Demolition
Several photos of an eight-room abandoned motel on Highway 127 in Shoshone, CA. Research has revealed it was built in the 1930s, but the name is unknown, as there is no sign, which is the opposite of the problem plaguing the Cavalier Motel. Not to play matchmaker, but maybe these two should hook up?
Aptly Named Fluids Dept.
Over at Hotel Me More, Alysia perfectly describes our recent visit to Death Valley, during which it received over half its annual rainfall in one day. The view from the terrace of the Furnace Creek Inn as brand-new rivers sprang into being is captured in this photo she posted, which features a tiny road sign towards the bottom left:
No joke, here is a close up of that very sign:
Sign closeup from davestravelcorner.com
No joke, here is a close up of that very sign:
Sign closeup from davestravelcorner.com
The Devil's Coin Purse
Driving in Oak Glen, CA, one comes across many roadside farms and apple stands. But nothing prepared me for the deliciousness to be found at Snow-Line Orchard. Behold the miracle that is the tiny, warm bag of cinnamon-sprinkled apple cider donuts:
It was like my mouth died and went to Mouth Heaven. But I should have known they were popular when I saw this posted outside, for what other confection requires signs for crowd control?
It was like my mouth died and went to Mouth Heaven. But I should have known they were popular when I saw this posted outside, for what other confection requires signs for crowd control?
Chew On This
Praises must be sung for Bubble Gum Alley, an unlikely tourist attraction in San Luis Obispo, CA. Located between 733 and 734 Higuera Street, it is an entire alley covered with old chewing gum, providing a perfect snapshot of our world for future archaeologists who have chosen to specialize in things that are absolutely disgusting. Here is a mercifully distant long-shot:
And here is an unnecessarily cruel close-up:
And here's me taking a picture of a happy family who asked me to capture the moment for them:
I don't know about you, but I'd really like to see their photo albums.
And here is an unnecessarily cruel close-up:
And here's me taking a picture of a happy family who asked me to capture the moment for them:
I don't know about you, but I'd really like to see their photo albums.
What A Lovely Daughter You Have
The Farmer's Daughter motel, across from the Farmers Market in Los Angeles:
Not only do they offer the closest Market-adjacent beds in town, there is an employee who conducts "Contestant Orientations" for folks headed to The Price Is Right at CBS Television City, also across the street. Plus the Daughter is where Alysia and I voted in the 2003 California Recall Election, thereby completing the lodging/game show prep/democracy trifecta.
But mostly, I just love the icon. Steve Wynn might have had a little more success if his hotels boasted his saucy silhouette.
Not only do they offer the closest Market-adjacent beds in town, there is an employee who conducts "Contestant Orientations" for folks headed to The Price Is Right at CBS Television City, also across the street. Plus the Daughter is where Alysia and I voted in the 2003 California Recall Election, thereby completing the lodging/game show prep/democracy trifecta.But mostly, I just love the icon. Steve Wynn might have had a little more success if his hotels boasted his saucy silhouette.
You Deserve A Break Today, Just Not Here
I love me a good Egg McMuffin. And when you're on the road, McDonald's bathrooms are plentiful and cleaner than rest stops or gas stations, which can be scary places for those with an aversion to unfathomable filth. But you can get neither food nor relief at this McDonald's in City of Industry, CA, because it isn't real:
Just off the Pomona Freeway on Green Drive, surrounded by shipping and receiving warehouses, this is a freestanding set -- a completely fake Mickey D's -- where McDonald's shoots many of its TV commercials. The signs are adjustable to different heights and/or on wheels, and storage lockers nearby hold uniforms and furniture decor to simulate any McDonald's in the world.
Just off the Pomona Freeway on Green Drive, surrounded by shipping and receiving warehouses, this is a freestanding set -- a completely fake Mickey D's -- where McDonald's shoots many of its TV commercials. The signs are adjustable to different heights and/or on wheels, and storage lockers nearby hold uniforms and furniture decor to simulate any McDonald's in the world.That's me in front, pining for a McRib that I will never get.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
