Big State Motel At 5810 Old Spanish Trl.

[tmike]

as best i can recall it was in the 1960's and 1970's that my grandparents owned Big State Motel (5810 OST). I was born in 1961 and remember visiting them there. A big neon sign with a spiked ball on top was lit at night and it was a constant nuisance, always being worked on (and claiming the life of at least one worker due to electrocution). Early on, a house - which I do not remember - sat in the area where later the pool - which i remember well - would later be. the pool was filled-in before my grandparents sold the property, i recall my grandmother saying that it was due to insurance issues. After the house was torn town and the pool was installed, a row of rooms (farthest from the fire station) was convered into living quarters. My grandmother always had work-in-progress oil paintings in the front of the office and she painted there when she could. the office had an old-style switchboard that connected the rooms to the outside with fascinating switches and controls. A door led from the motel office to the residence den, where my grandparents had desks, a sitting area, and television. Through the next door was the kitchen, then a living room, the finally the bedroom. The residence rooms were all the same size, each having been created from one motel room. This remodeling resulted in the disappearance of the first (4? 5?) corresponding rental room numbers.

I'm not sure how my grandparents came to own Big State, and either they didn't own it before 1966 or they didn't live there, because prior to the motel they lived at 2016 Main, which i see opened in 1966 and i have only one vague memory of visiting them there. My grandfather died in 1980 the week before I started college. His family (i don't remember exactly who) were of the Allen family, somehow. I'll have to ask my grandmother about all of that.

Anyhow, i just stumbled upon this discussion and thought i'd add my bit.

regards.