The Desert Dispatch passed on some encouraging news — the historic El Rancho Motel on Route 66 in Barstow, Calif., is undergoing renovations and improvements after a long slide into mediocrity and worse.
Since the motel changed ownership about a year ago, general manager Tracey Ellison said motel staff have embarked on a process of cleaning up the place. Rooms are getting a facelift, with new carpets and paint, and the roof of the motel’s west wing is being retiled.
More than that, Ellison said the atmosphere of the motel has changed, moving from seedy to quiet. […]
… Ellison, who lived in the motel before she worked there, said she is familiar with many of the faces that have been evicted over the years. When they walk into the office, she turns them away. Increasingly, she now rents to senior citizens, who are quieter and have a guaranteed source of income in the form of Social Security, she said.
“They pay their rent on time and just take care of their business,” she said.
This goes to show that even if motels conduct business with long-term renters, they can still be desirable places.