Now, here's the same view from June, 2006. There was a city warning on the pool gate regarding a violation of the health code.
That ladder on the second floor appears to have survived these past 40-odd years. A few of the balconies were filled in and the cool signage is long gone (anyone no anything about the ice rink located nearby?) There was once a coffee shop facing the pool and a cocktail lounge to boot.
This tired old inn appears to have slipped into monthly rental mode and looks ripe for the bulldozer...
11 comments:
Wow! This is a very interesting motel. I enjoy this stuff. But only alittle bit. Not like my Dad, "WalterWorks". He's so into this kind of thing. I'm Kelsey! Hiiiiiii!!!!!
Yes, I recall, it was Glacier Falls Ice Arena. The Restaurant was "Scotts Family Restaurant", later renamed, no less, "The Golden Toothpick"!?!
Once my mother got a salad at the aforementioned "establishment" with a small snail voyaging across the lettuce leaf near her sandwich. When she demanded restitution from the waiter he casually remarked.."oh, no worry - we don't charge extra for esargot!"
Seems apropos.
Glacier Falls was there for a long time - speedskating, figureskating & ice hockey. Does anyone remember it??
Anonymous:
Thanks for the info on the Glacier Falls Ice Arena and Golden Toothpick Restaurant.
It really adds a lot when people who were there 'fill in the blanks'.
And that story about your mom and the snail-salad says a lot about the decline of the place.
I think the Caravan was just a little too far away from the park to remain at full occupancy from tourists. So it began to cut corners and hastened it's own decline.
Thanks for reading...I promise to post again soon :)
wow...I cant believe this place is still standing.. Unfortunatley I was part of a family that had to rent from caravan monthly when I was lil @10 in the80's it was a dump then, it brings back horrible memories, bulldoze please!
Hello Anonymous---
Sorry to hear about your experience at the Caravan when you were a kid, sounds like it was absolutely no-fun.
I drove by the motel a couple of months back when I was visiting Disneyland, and it looks like it's still in very rough shape; a bulldozer might be the only rememdy at this point.
Thanks for dropping by---
My uncle owned the Caravan Inn from 1965-73. I spent my summers there during its heyday.
Back in the late 70's early 80's I lived very near this inn, it was full of prostitute's, drug addicts and the likes; only people who had no where to live stayed here, there were no tourists who ever stayed here. I have no idea what its like now.
Thank you Walterworld for your research, and thanks to the commenters for your stories—I've always been curious about this place!!!! I've worked at Disneyland since 2015 and always knew this place as the, "Arena Inn & Suites". Our employee parking lot—which is also gone—called "K-Lot" was directly behind this motel so it became somewhat of an old friend to me having walked, and driven by it hundreds of times. But, sometimes it was kind-of a frightening old friend, because shortly before it was demolished, it served as county subsidized lodging for persons experiencing mental health issues, or homelessness, and often times they'd, amass on the sidewalk in front of the place and scream at folks walking-by; but it only happened to me a few times. The pool was filled-in with concrete around late 2015, motel closed completely in 2017, and was quickly vandalized till it was razed months later. The site was redeveloped into a ritzy, multistory, Hampton Inn & Conference Center which now towers over Katella Avenue and the surrounding businesses. A rather downtrodden end to a long-ago, once kitschy motel.
In the early 80's I worked for a now defunct home improvement store chain. A co-worker needed a ride home after work. And this is where he lived. I knew nothing about the place. He asked if i wanted to hang out. I agreed. And no more than 15 mins. after I'd gotten there we heard yelling. We were on the 2nd floor and stepped outside to the railing. There were 2 guys in the parking lot. One was on top of the other and pounding the back of the other guys head against the black top. Quite a few people were watching. But no one was doing ANYTHING to stop it. I couldn't just stand and watch. I went down and yelled at the guy that he was going to kill the other guy. He stopped. And then he slowly stood up and started coming towards ME. I tried to defuse the situation and said, "Bro, you're gonna' kill him". He then told me that I didn't know what the guy had done to him. But I asked him if it was worth killing the guy. Just at that second the other guy got up. His head bleeding. And called the guy I was talking to an a-hole and a few other choice words. Then he ran away. The guy I was talking to yelled, "See! You don't know what a bleeping bleeper he is". I then apologized to the guy for stopping him. And turned to walk away. I heard a bunch of people start laughing. Never went back again. My quick and lasting impression is that it wasn't a place to feel safe. I hope both of those guys are well and happy. OH! Almost forgot. During the short time I'd been in there my car had been broken into and a case full of cassettes (told you it was a long time ago) had been stolen. And as I remember it, the sign said "Your Friendly Caravan Inn". But "r" was missing in friendly. LOL.
Priceless story about the "F IENDLY CARAVAN INN"!
Being an actor from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania I was dropped off at the Caravan Inn across the street from the main Disneylands front gate. I thought oh, oh, there goes my ride, too! God I thought it would be expensive either this big beautiful pool and if wasn't. Not at all. $20. a night. Back on 1983 turns out Disneyland was only $20. admission as well. I met first thing out by the pool on the steps who was the exact doppelganger of Clark Gable! Yeah, 26 miles outta Hollywood why not. It was his photo double & stand in there st the inn. He thought I was the spitting image of Donald Sutherland, so if you can image those two why didn't I get a picture? That was us every evening drinking a six pack of Budweiser. Great great crew of nice employees. Swimming in Cali first thing in the morning was AWESOME and so was the Caravan Inn. 5☆☆☆☆☆ rating!
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