You've stated it beautifully, Lawrence -- that's the kind of setting that
seethes with noir potential. Not the Holiday Inns or Ramadas of today, but
the old roadside court motels, owned by a mom-and-pop...or a lady with a
dark and deadly secret. One floor of attached units, two floors at most.
Maybe a couple dozen units...though less is better. Ahh, they just don't
make 'em -- or write 'em -- like that anymore.
Ron C.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com [mailto:rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com] On
> Behalf Of Lawrence William Coates
> Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2009 6:16 PM
> To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: RARA-AVIS: Re: Motel Noir
>
> I just love getting emails with Motel Noir in the subject line. I think
there's
> something inherently noir about motels. I was just reading a Stark novel,
and
> Parker thinks about how, while he's working, he likes motels where they
take his
> cash, show him the ice machine and leave him alone. And I think of motels
as
> places where people can be anonymous, like those motels on the coast where
the
> Black Dahlia went for her various assignations. Or all those motels along
the El
> Camino Real, the old ones with keys attached to diamonds of plastic
requesting
> that you drop it in a mailbox if you forgot to turn it in, the motels with
fake Spanish
> tile roofs that all seemed to be named El Rancho.
>
> Here in the town where I'm currently living, an old motel with the name
Angel Motel
> was torn down and replaced with a KFC. Maybe better for the local
economy, but
> not so good for storytelling opportunities. Well, we've still got the
Buckeye Budget
> Inn on the edge of town.
>
> Lawrence
>
> ________________________________________
> From: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com [rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of
> Kent Morgan [tkmorgan@shaw.ca]
> Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2009 2:35 PM
> To: Rara-Avis
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: Motel Noir
>
> While it's books with a motel setting that Ron Clinton is looking for, I
> can't help thinking that he and others on the list would enjoy the photo
> series titled The Life and Times of the American Motel that has been
running
> on the blog If Charlie Parker was a Gunslinger, There's be a Whole Lot of
> Dead Copycats. Motel #11 was posted July 5th. The website is
> http://tsutpen.blogspot.com/
>
> Kent Morgan
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 12 Jul 2009 EDT