Places to Stay

Once I said to my daughter, "I could live in a hotel." She said, "You just figured that out?"

Thousands of rooms ago and perhaps the first hotel I ever stayed in was the Rector in Hollywood, CA. If you're familiar with this hotel, I'd like to hear more about your life! This was what is known, in kinder terms, as a "residential" hotel. Most people stayed by the week, some for years and almost everyone was retired, poor and had had a better life.

There were big front windows in the lobby facing directly onto Hollywood Boulevard (not an elite area), a TV and large over stuffed easy chairs. Sometimes between social security checks, when the residents couldn't pay their bill, the desk clerk would confiscate their belongings as a deposit and let them sleep in the lobby for a night or two. After that it was "on the street". Pretty difficult to see and understand why a 70 year old woman with successful professional children had to sleep all night on a bus bench for lack of $50.

In addition to an education on our shameful and negligent treatment of the elderly, the Rector gave lessons in how to survive a hotel fire from peoples carelessness or a stickup. The place provided one calamity after another.

There was a drugstore on the corner with a small lunch counter. One year I had Christmas dinner there. Turkey, mashed potatoes and fluorescent yellow gravy. My counter mates were on duty California motorcycle cops.

Although every time I got paid, I'd eat Veal Marsala at the Italian place or some duck dish at the Chinese. You won't read about these restaurants in our Food Talk section.

We'll keep adding to our list (again, write faster) encompassing all types of accommodations from Richard Bransons Necker Island in the BVI to a few hovels. I've had wonderful opportunities to experience, explore and enjoy all styles of accommodation plus a little adventure here and there.

Regards,

Mary Gallagher

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