In Praise of Motel 6

The other day I was standing at the counter at the Tone Shop shooting the breeze with a few folks. The subject wandered onto motels, and I diverted for a moment into a spiel of why I like Motel 6.

The first thing people always bring up as "we'll leave the lights on for you" series of radio advertisements featuring Tom Bodette. It makes me laugh because as I tell them, after you've stayed a few times at a Motel 6, the persona reflected in those "lights on for you" commercials begins to dissolve into the reality of what Motel 6 actually is.

That is not to say that Motel 6 is bad. It's just that it's different than those commercials. But in a way they are accurate. They do indeed leave the lights on, in the reception area. There is someone on duty there 24 hours a day.

The key to understanding this feature of Motel 6, and the other features that make it such a good thing, is that Motel 6 has come the best of all the discount hotel chains at perfecting the hotel room as a commodity.

I compare Motel 6 corporation to another corporation I like: Starbucks. Everywhere I go around the country, each Starbucks is different yet they all share certain basic features, within a subset of variations. I can depend on these features being present whether I'm in Minot, N.D., or in Eureka, California, or in Corpus Christi, Texas (all places where I have actually worked in a Starbucks in the past half year).

Plus at a Starbucks it is easy to buy things. You just stand in line, give your order and swipe your card. It's the same everywhere.

Likewise at Motel 6, each reception is nearly identical  The check-in procedure is simplified and standardized. One fills out the same basic form in whatever scrawl you feel like using. One shows an id. One pays by cash or by swiping a card at a terminal with a punch pad.

They hand you a key card in a paper envelope. You have to buy wi-fi, but it is cheap and it always seems to work (just like in Starbucks, by the way). They won't announce your room number outloud in the reception if there are other guests waiting behind you. They say, "the number is on the envelope" and point to it.

You get a standardized room. The furniture is the same everywhere. It is almost always clean to the standards that in raw material terms one is better off than 95% of the people of Africa. There are people in New Jersey who would love to be in a Motel 6 room right now, with hot running water and clean sheets.

Also they post their current basic rate (the real rate, not teasers) on the sign outside. And their Android app rocks.

All the Motel 6es, with a few exceptions, are owned by the Motel 6 corporation. This is why they are so standardized. The employees here and around the country are like Target or Starbucks employees in a way---they all work for the same corporation.

All this being said, there are drawbacks, of course. But I'll talk about them in another post. For now I'm going to finish watching the 49ers-Bears game on this television, under this pale lamp on the wall, and think of Africa.

See ya!

At the Fresno Inn

The Fresno Inn was a nice place to spend election night. I knew it was over quickly, once it was evidence that Obama was ahead in early counting in Florida, and texted a few of my friends saying that Romney was fizzling early. It reminded me of Dukakis in '88.

I went out a couple times, to my car in the parking lot, and at least once after the election results were announced. To get into my trunk I have to unmount the bicycle rack and the bike. When I went in for the night, I decided to leave the bike in its harness alongside the car. In the morning I noticed it was gone. I texted a friend that my bike had been looted.

But I should have expected it. Like many hotels in Fresno, and in much of California, there are clumps of homeless people visible at any time nearby. I wished the appropriator of my property goodwill in my mind, and hoped the bike was being put to good use by its new possessor.

The bed at the Fresno Inn was extraordinary---this is a hallmark of Best Western as a whole, I've noticed. I felt like I was getting a calf massage as I slept. There were five ample pillows fluffed like clouds each afternoon after I came back inside.

Eggs at breakfast---that's probably one of the reasons it's a Best Western Plus..

A great location too. It's along a major thoroughfare between campus and the freeway.

No complaints. But in a way it felt too much like an apartment, like I wanted to settle in and not leave. It made me thirst for the road experience again.

At the Tone Shop

Jennifer with entourage. N. Blackstone Ave. Tue 6 Nov 2012.

Raisins or Wine?

Olive Rd., W. of Fresno. 11/1/12

New Course - Fluids Art Exploration

University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, 10/10/12

Marvelous Trip Through the East Bay

After I left Oakland, I went up to Berkeley and checked into the Rodeway Inn on University Avenue, which had really good reviews online, and was a good price. The rooms were renovated and the parking lot was a nice enclosed courtyard that was like a little oasis along that stretch of University.

Overall I was surprised at how much Berkeley seemed more prosperous than it had when I first saw it.

After a couple nights there, I decided to push my luck, and stay in Berkeley a third night. I booked what I thought was another nice hotel near campus, but later realized the one I booked was a different hotel with a similar name down on San Pablo, in lower Berkeley. When I drove by the hotel, I realized it wasn't my type of place, so I canceled the reservation online and hastily booked a replacement at the Super 8 in El Cerrito.

I drove up San Pablo through plain vanilla Albany, and then checked into the Super 8, which was right by the freeway. In the morning I drove up through Richmond, and to the splendid little town of Port Richmond. I fulfilled my trip  goal of seeing the great Standard Oil refinery there.

Berkeley from Dwight Way

11/2/12. A great place to get to stay for a couple days.

8 Flavors Cafe

Along Van Ness Ave, north of Geary Street, San Francisco. 11/2/12. We parked and looked for the site of the guitar store that had been owned and operated by Rick's grandmother in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  My eye was caught by the sign of this old brakery, now shuttered. The next time I'm back here, the sign may well be gone.

The Native Returns

Outside Children's Hospital, at Cherry and California Streets, San Francisco, 11/2/12