Andy Chase

02/09/2002 - Pink Motel

San Fernando Road (Near Sheldon) • Sun Valley, California

As you drive north into the San Fernando Valley, the grimy suburban sprawl gives way to an industrial wasteland... instead of tract housing the streets are lined with small businesses; foundries, auto shops, special effects shops.

It's a peculiar place, and when I went back there for the first time in a couple of years I was reminded of why I used to hate the Valley so much; I used to work up there, and I grew to hate the drive from the relatively green and shady Sherman Oaks to the sun-baked, dusty Sun Valley.

Even more peculiar is the Pink Motel, which sits on the edge of the most industrial zone. There's nothing up there worth staying in a hotel for (I mean, a hotel that doesn't have hourly rates :P), yet the Pink Motel looks clean and well-maintained, and by the looks of all the cars in the parking lot, well-occupied.