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March 3, 2013

[No] Vacancy

aamotelcafe.jpg
In these frightening places we paid ten for twins, flies queued outside at the screenless door and successfully scrambled in,
the ashes of our predecessors still lingered on the ashtrays, a woman's hair lay on the pillow, one heard one's neighbor hanging his coat in a closet, the hangers were ingeniously fixed to their bars by coils of wire so as to thwart theft, and, in crowning insult, the pictures above the twin beds were identical twins. Vladimir Nabokov: from Lolita, 1955 @ TOM CLARK: Caravansary

Posted by gerardvanderleun at March 3, 2013 8:42 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

I remember staying at fleabags like those when I was a kid. My parents were too cheap to spring for a proper hotel (Mom hit the roof at the cost when we had to stay at a Holiday Inn once when all the fleabags were full), so I got used to places like this. My older sister got the other bed, and I made do with the roll-away, when they even had one. We kids heard all kinds of strange things through the paper-thin walls. "Dad, why is that lady moaning? Is she ok?" "She's doing just fine, son. Now go to sleep". Ah, the good old days.

Posted by: waltj at March 3, 2013 11:49 AM

The only way you could find them was to follow the Burma-Shave signs.

Posted by: Vermont Woodchuck at March 3, 2013 3:46 PM

There is at least one no tell motels in my home town. I am sure at one time before the thruway was in they were semi-decent places for people to stay as they traveled the main route through the state. Eventually they had to change their target demographic. On the sign in front of the hotel had two phrases it rotated between. "We cater to every affair" and "Sheets so clean you can eat off of them." Now that is marketing to your target demographic.

One place I worked had a new employee and she was looking for a place to stay until she found an apartment. Someone told her to call one of the hotels, she called and asked about the rates, they asked "Well... how many hours do you want it for?" She learned real quick what kind of people she worked with.

Posted by: Potsie at March 3, 2013 4:06 PM

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