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.