The Clown Motel

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The small town of Tonopah is located on Highway 6 in the southern half of Nevada. Its existence is the result of a silver strike. Population peaked at 10,000 people in the early at 1900’s. More than 100 years later, it is not exactly going strong, as the many vacant and neglected buildings attest. But it is known for a couple of attractions – the Tonopah Historic Mining Park, and the Clown Motel.

There is no mistaking you’ve arrived at the Clown Motel. A colorful sign welcomes you, and at night it’s particularly attractive because of the blinking lights all around it. Below the sign a large wooden clown points to another sign which reads “FREE INTERNET. TRUCKERS [with a thumbs up]. GOOD RATES. PETS OK.”

           

The turquoise walls and white railings are just quirky and weathered enough to feel like an old friend you haven’t met. Each door has a wooden clown attached. The lobby is topped with a huge sign with “CLOWN MOTEL” in bold red letters. My favorite part of the outdoor view, however, may be the wooden clown on a motorcycle over the words “BIKERS WELCOME. SECURE PARKING.”

While the outside is sure to attract attention of the average passerby, it pops even more inside the lobby. Clowns, many of them porcelain, line several shelves on two sides. A couple of tall clowns, including Ronald McDonald, and assorted paraphernalia, such as the clown bookends, also have their places. An old, little TV is on. There are portraits, photos, newspaper clippings, red noses, and smiles everywhere. On one side stands a pair of cabinets with items for sale, and additional knick-knacks are present on the counter and in other spaces of the room. With a thick light brown carpet and a glass-top coffee table added, it is among the homiest of motel lobbies you will ever find.

For a nice price, you get a big, comfy room – mine had two queen beds, a TV, a round table and chairs, and a fridge. A few framed pictures of clowns hang around the room. The friendliness with every employee interaction is an added bonus.

I spoke with Bob, the owner of the Clown Motel. He purchased it 22 years ago. “The Clown Motel has been that from the beginning,” Bob says. The original owners, a brother and sister, built the motel in the mid-1980’s, next to the cemetery where their father was buried. They had a clown collection, and brought them into the motel.

According to Bob, when he bought it there were about 150 clowns; now there are some 600. “People come from San Diego, Seattle, and Salt Lake just to see it and spend the night.”

            

 

            

 

An appearance on the TV show “Ghost Hunters” a few years ago helped boost attendance. Rumors of paranormal activity and hauntings – in part spurned by the presence of the old cemetery (largely containing souls who perished in the early 20^th century from mine disasters or plague) – are abound. Certainly some visitors come out of that interest, while others such as myself just like clowns.

In fact, the large majority of the clowns on display were donated by patrons from around the world. When someone who donated stays, they get the clown back for the duration of their stay – then the clown is returned to the shelf.

Bob, 79, is a lifelong resident of the area. He has eight children and 14 grandchildren, enough for a circus to be sure. He’s put the motel up for sale with a price tag of $900,000. “I was ready to retire, and now I’m ready to re-retire.”

And when he does re-retire, you can be sure the Clown Motel will remain the Clown Motel. He has put a lot of work into it, expanded the collection, and is adamant it retain the theme and charm it has today, going so far as to put conditions in the contract. It’s an institution, after all.

           

 

Additional source: https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-nevada/for-sale-one-nevada-clown-motel-possibly-haunted-video/