Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Doubletree, Santa Monica, California





Ah, the Doubletree. This little wonder poses an interesting conundrum to the intrepid chronicler-of-hotel-hallways; viz.: It doesn't have halls, per se. They're open on one side. And this blog isn't "Hotel Half-Hallways". So let's treat these like full, adult hallways with two walls, and not a railing and one wall. A couple of interesting notes: 1) You can see other hallways simultaneously. 2) There is an interesting design element that made sense to someone, but not to me. You see, the architect specified a nice big window next to the "hallway", which makes sense on one hand, because it lets in light. On the other, leaving the curtain open (to let in said light) prevents you from having any privacy whatsoever, particularly, (as noted above) since you can see into that window from multiple floors and/or vantage points. So if you value keeping your business your business, you need to close the curtain to the window, which reduces its light-passing capabilities to the point of unusability. It was a nice thought, however.

That can't be said about the oddball carpet "pattern interruptus" you see in the bottom photo. I can't decide whether this was done on purpose ("my vision! my vision!" quoth the interior designer) or because they didn't order quite enough carpet to cover the floor, and had to fill in with remnants that "sort of" matched the main pattern. I say "sort of" because not much ties it to the main swirly pattern beyond the fact that it is a) made of carpeting and b) is the same nap length as the patterny bits. Is there a logic to this that I'm not quite understanding?

What's that white blobby thing in the middle photo?

And why on earth did they call a chain of hotels "Doubletree"? Were the owners (now Hilton, as in "Doubletree by Hilton"), overly wowed by the Doublemint twins as youngsters? Did they think a double tree sounds more impressive than a single tree? If so, why stop with two? Why not Tripletree or Quadratree? I actually found a definition (sketchy, but the best I could do with a short-ish web search) for doubletree, since its definition didn't spring to mind. Here it is:

"Doubletree. A pivoted bar with a whippletree attached to each end, used in harnessing two animals abreast to pull a wagon, plow, etc."

That says comfortable lodging, doesn't it? (I don't know what a whippletree is, either). Ah, but here's something to think about. I will do the logic for you, and let you draw your own conclusions. A) Paris and Nicky Hilton B) (From the definition above): "Harnessing two animals abreast to pull a wagon." There you go. Mystery solved.

Thanks to Casey (I'm an angry man) Ingle for the photos.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

[Q] …or because they didn't order quite enough carpet to cover the floor, and had to fill in with remnants that "sort of" matched the main pattern.
[A] My guess is it's covering some type of bodily fluid spillage.

[Q] What's that white blobby thing in the middle photo?
[A] Ectoplasm.

[Q] And why on earth did they call a chain of hotels "Doubletree"?
[A] Only a true business accelerator, 3-5 years ahead of the world would know.

Jennifer at Design Hole said...

I'm reminded of this stuff you could buy on TV. You chopped up some leftovers of the thing you burned a hole in, added the "magic mix" and ironed it. Miraculously, the hole disappeared! Maybe they should have tried this instead of going for the remnant and the BIG LIE. "No one will notice."

propaganda1980 said...

i always try to be nice to you people, and all i get is crap. why me ? whyyyyyyyy meeeeee?

Anonymous said...

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www.hamptoninnblows.com