Roadside Attraction

When Sam and I lived in Palo Alto, California, it was a university town, not yet the epicenter of Silicon Valley. When we go back for visits, I can close my eyes and breathe in the Palo Alto I remember- fast food and car exhaust from nearby El Camino Real- before opening them to a shining sea of Porsches and luxury condos. I miss the old days.

That’s why when we’re in Palo Alto, we stay at Dinah’s Garden Hotel, a circa 1957 cedar-and-glass tribute to the days when folks piled into the family car for vacation.

The décor is a gold mélange of Native American, Asian, and African art, none underwhelming. A faux river runs through the courtyard, featuring fountains and eddies of giant koi and aggressive ducks.

Dinah’s is more than kitschy insulation against the creep of sleek minimalist aesthetic. My favorite thing is to watch generations of families around the kidney-shaped pool. They’ve been coming to Dinah’s for decades, introducing their kids and grandkids to this crazy time capsule, and it makes sense.

Any chain hotel can provide a basic room to the basic American traveler as a necessary service within the hospitality industry. But Dinah’s is and always has been a labor of love with a bold statement: life is a journey and a destination. Refuel, and while you’re at it, make a memory.

We don’t still live in California; our progeny won’t be cannonballing into Dinah’s pool or defense-feeding voracious ducks. But that’s okay. For me and Sam, Dinah’s is a sweet circle-back to the California we landed in long ago, a place we’d never seen and couldn’t have imagined but already loved.