A Lesson in Frugality: The Tower Motel

In preparation for our recent California trip, and in a typical attempt to be cheap, Brock and I booked a Long Beach hotel via Hotels.com. It was called the "Carlton"(not to be confused with the Ritz Carlton, although the owner was probably hoping for just that) and while we knew it wouldn't be the Marriot (or Ritz for that matter), for $40/night all we expected was a relatively disease-free bed and mainly leak-free roof over our heads. It's not like we were planning on spending much time there anyway. We had an ocean to swim in and high speed roller coasters to ride, right?

After a long and satisfying beach day, Google maps led us to The Carlton. It surprisingly didn't look that bad! It was down the street from a nice little LDS church, in fact. Aside from a heap of stained living room furniture in the corner of the parking lot, the place looked quite upstanding. I waited in the car while Brock went to the office to check us in. I patiently waited in the car, admiring the glittery font "Carlton Motel" was written in on the side of the building.

After about ten minutes, Brock came back to the car with no room key. Apparently the Middle Eastern man in the office (who spoke about ten words of English and apparently actually lived in the hotel office-there was a sweaty looking cot and a bunch of old blankets/clothes behind the front desk) told Brock that our reservation had been moved to another hotel about five minutes away called the Tower Motel. There was no room in the inn for these lowly travelers.

We drove to the address the man had given us. At first we weren't too worried, but as we drove further and further into downtown Long Beach, we grew increasingly apprehensive. The street was getting pretty ghetto- there were payday loan centers and tattoo parlors everywhere. Not to mention the hoodrats hanging out on every corner. We pulled up to the Tower Motel, conveniently located right between an auto parts store and a bus stop. The bus stop was housing what seemed to be the cast of a Dr. Dre rap video. They leered at us creepily as we passed. (Or at least, in my mind they did.) I wanted to snap a picture, but I didn't want a gun pulled on us. We didn't even slow down. This just wasn't gonna work. The picture doesn't do the place justice- I'm pretty sure there was an actual drug deal going on across the street. Needless to stay, we aborted that mission and booked a last minute room at the Marriott. Maybe it was a bit more than $40/night, but hey I'll take a slightly lighter (but most importantly- still in my posession) wallet over a case of Syphilis any day.