Hotel Nipton

One of our best all-around bed and breakfast experiences years ago was at the Corncroft in Witney, a couple of hours from London. Tom stayed at the Corncroft for many weeks as he was working at a pharmaceutical company to install some equipment.  I was able to stay there with him for a few days when I visited in the summertime.  Even though I was there for a short period of time, the Corncroft won me over because of Richard, the host, the inn’s comfortable furnishings, and its delicious English breakfasts.

But this blog post is not about the Corncroft.  At the other extreme of our experiences was Hotel Nipton, which we had also visited a while back.  Nipton is located off of I-15 in California, fairly close to the Nevada border on the way to Las Vegas from Southern California.  It’s a desert town near the railroad and has much history attached to it.

Clara Bow, a silent movie star of the 1920s and 1930s, would stop in at the hotel to collect her fan mail (as many as 45,000 letters a month) and then stay overnight in Room #3 at Hotel Nipton with her husband Rex Bell.  They were living at their desert property some miles away.  Nipton was simply an easy location to access her mail in those days because of the nearby railroad.

Since Tom and I enjoy staying at historical hotels, we decided we would stay in Room #3, the Clara Bow room, if we could.  When we first arrived at Hotel Nipton, the place was empty.  After retrieving the room key from a mailbox out front, we settled into our plain, but adequate room.  (The only downsides at that point?  The double bed was smaller than a normal-sized double bed.  Also, we would need to share the restroom with other guests.)

Later Tom and I went outside to relax on the patio when the couple of all couples arrived.  They sat down on the patio with us and we visited for a bit when I suddenly remembered having met this lady many years earlier!  She had asked me to develop a résumé for her, but I had refused.  What were the chances I would ever meet her again and in such an isolated place?

My part-time job in Anaheim for the North Orange County Community College District in the late 1980s had included developing résumés for people who needed a job.  After “Lisa” had submitted information for hers, I tried to corroborate her employment and academic background.  This wasn’t the normal procedure, but there were a few things about her that  seemed phony.

It turned out that her college degree with honors and her places of employment were completely fabricated.  She also claimed that at the age of seventeen, she was already the mother of triplets.  That was beside the point, but hard to believe.  I turned down her request in a rather awkward meeting because, ethically, I couldn’t do it.

Fast forward to Hotel Nipton.  She was now married and in her 30s.  As we continued visiting on the patio, I could sense that she didn’t remember me.  Some of the same lies from years ago were cropping up in the conversation.  I didn’t let on that I recognized her, though.  My previous experience with her had not been pleasant and I didn’t want to revisit it.

I made some excuse to go back inside to explain to Tom who she was.  (“How do you meet these people?”)  Later we went back out to get something from the car.  Her husband approached us to ask whether we would go skinny-dipping with them in the spa that evening.  (Um…no!)

By the way, there was only one other couple staying at Hotel Nipton that evening and they spoke very little English.  We could have just left at that point, but we didn’t.   We stayed overnight and got up early to get some food in the café.  We quickly ate, hoping to avoid the couple before they reappeared.

As we were leaving the café, we met them face-to-face on the walkway. There they were with one more request.  Would we join them to see the Grand Canyon?  We quickly declined and left as soon as we could.  We have not seen them since and hope not to.

In the last few years, Nipton has gained some notoriety.  In 2017, a cannabis company bought the whole town for $5 million. Because of problems with new cannabis regulations, the town went back on the market for $2.75 million in November, 2020.  For that amount, the buyer would receive the five-room hotel, the café, a general store, five eco-cabins, some teepees, a schoolhouse, and an RV park.  Nipton has clearly expanded since we were there.

Driving through Nipton again would be fine, but staying overnight there has no appeal for me.  In all fairness, our experience with the strange couple could have happened anywhere, not just in Nipton.  But as we are thinking about some short road trips in later 2021, Nipton definitely won’t be appearing on my overnight wishlist.