Another Nice Mess —

“Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into.”                                                  (Oliver Hardy to Stan Laurel in “Another Fine Mess” — 1930)

I suppose I should have known better than to book a room in a 100-year old building…..a “3-Star” hotel that has earned only mixed reviews on several travel sites…..a place without on-site parking in a crunched coastal city crowded with holiday visitors…..a property once owned by comedians Laurel and Hardy…..a hotel whose websites promotes “toilet paper” among its featured amenities.

In all, this relatively cheap room in Venice, California cost me an additional 25% in off-site parking and another 35% for a ticket assessed by the Los Angeles Police Department for being illegally parked during the brief moments I was away from the car to register and deliver luggage to the room.

But I assure you it will happen again…..I will frequently and unrepentantly ignore conventional travel advice and book accommodations for myself that I would never recommend for others.

I wanted to feel a bit of the Venice Beach vibe. The old buildings, many of which have external walls painted with imaginative and colorful murals. Near the place where the fitness craze began (Muscle Beach) and US Route 66 ended (Santa Monica Piet). I didn’t want manufactured air condition to conflict with the ocean breezes or cover the night-time sounds of the boardwalk.

I booked a two-room corner “suite.” It came with a musty smell, a one-inch gap between door and floor, drapes that were not quite as wide as the dirty windows they were to cover, and lamps with cords too short to reach the few electrical outlets. But the room also came with a kitchen and a second bed, full size, that pulls smoothly out of a drawer.

And, indeed; the room was equipped with toilet paper.

JER