Imagine a place where caveman bedding, lime green carpeting and hotel rooms named after cultural ethnicities went unquestioned; where the sound of electric waterfalls and squeaking plastic leather seating was welcomed. My friend, you don’t have to imagine anymore, now that you know there’s a place where your inner-kitsch can be free.
Welcome to the The Madonna Inn.
The landmark hotel situation on California’s central coast was first built as just a 12-room motel in 1958 by Alex Madonna, a self-made contractor who designed the inn on the back of a napkin. Today it boasts 110 rooms and sits on approximately 2,200 acres.
The New York Times visited in 1982 and called it, “delightfully vulgar … so completely lacking in restraint … it looks like a wedding cake designed by someone who has just grasped the technique of making rosebuds and rosettes.”
Like an Ali Baba cave of kitsch, each of the 110 guest rooms and suites has its own unique theme and design– some straight out of a 1960s television sitcom and others wouldn’t be out of place at Disneyland (half a century ago). All the rooms are quadruple the size of any normal hotel room you’ve ever seen and some guests stay at the Madonna for a week, changing rooms every night. The first guest to pull a “Goldilocks” and sleep in all 110 rooms did so in 1977. It took her seven years.
Tourists who find the ice cream pie velvet palace just a little too dizzying to sleep in will still make a quick stop if only just to check out the famous rock waterfall urinal in the men’s restroom, designed by Hollywood set designer Harvey Allen Warren.
But enough talk, let’s begin our tour of this kitsch-tastic hotel wonder. Each room has it’s own name of course, some of them
The “Yahoo” Room
“Fabulous Fifties”
The Willheim Tell (a legendary Swiss hero)
The “What’s Left” room
“Rendez-Vous”
“Swiss Belle”
“Safari” Room
The “Merry Go-round”
“Rock Bottom”
“Paris Violets”
“Old Mill”
“Old Mexico”
“Marguerite”
The “Madonna’s Suite”
“Lucky Rock”
“Indian”
“Irish Hills”
“Hearts and Flowers”
“Country Gentleman”
“Gypsy Rock”
“Golfer’s Room”
“Floral Fantasy”
“España”
“Caveman” room
The “Elegance” room (never have quotation marks been more appropriate)
“American Home”
“Fleur de Lis”
“Carin” room (a Swiss term of endearment)
“Harvard Square”
“Just Heaven”
And check out “The Steak House” dining room…
Rooms start at $189 to $599 for the larger suites.
Personally, I think a night at this hotel could be a blast. It’s that once-in-a-lifetime American road trip experience I secretly yearn for!
Would you spend a night at the Madonna Inn?!
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