Back in the ’60s, my mom’s best friend from high school, Gloria, and her husband, Ray, bought The Villa Del Mar Motel at South Lake Tahoe. We had been going to Tahoe for quite a few years – always staying at The Kent Motel. The folks would leave us with my older brother in charge – and they’d head off to the casinos – almost always coming back with a bucket of nickels. Yes, back in those days, they really were one-armed bandits – you put real coins in, pulled the handle, and (hopefully) real money came out.
But I digress…
That changed when Gloria and Ray bought the Motel – we now stayed with them – at a slight discount… We were up there for a few days in July, 1969 and their son, Mike – a year younger than me – and I convinced both sets of parents that I should stay up there for a month and help work at the motel – cleaning rooms, working a PBX switchboard, actually taking reservations – and having fun doing it! Ray and Gloria had 4 kids – Mike was the oldest – but everyone worked. They had no outside staff. It was totally family-operated.
The bottom level, back in those days, was pretty much just storage. Mike and I took the bottom right room – looking at the picture – and turned it into our own little (actually, quite large) teen-cave. We had TV, mini-fridge, beds, clean sheets and towels… It was rough.
There was a drive-in theatre a mile or so from the motel and we’d walk over there and sit in the lot and smoke pot and watch movies. I think I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey a dozen times that summer. And we’d swim in the lake, clean rooms, answer phones, pick up cigarette butts and trash in the parking lot…
And in the middle of all this fun was my 17th Birthday, so I sent my parents a telegram to congratulate them on having me. Yes, I am so old that not only do I remember telegrams, I remember when they were delivered to your house!
Always something silly…
I think I was up there one more time the following winter. That hill next to the house led to a boat dock. That winter, we took sleds and shot down the hill, onto the dock and into the freezing water. Our parents tried to act unamused, but really did see the humor in it.
Fast-forward to 1976… Ray and Gloria had sold the place, and had moved to Grants Pass, Oregon. I was living on the North Shore working first at The Old Post Office in Carnelian Bay and then at the Hyatt Lake Tahoe – in Food and Beverage. I had my fill of room cleaning.
At some [point, the Villa Del Mar became an office building and about 5 or so years ago, it became The Idle Hour Wine Bar. What a difference.
Next time I make it to Tahoe I will definitely be stopping by! The only thing that hasn’t changed is that remarkable view…..