Me too. I grew up around there and we used to drive by it all the time. The bathrooms are definitely worth a peek.
One time we had two Japanese exchange students with us–teenage girls–and when we drove by they nearly had hysterics. (It was the 80’s and Madonna was big.) They were kind of disappointed when we explained.
I think I had breakfast…but all I remember is that the sugar was pink. Pat was delighted.
I’ve never heard the Luis pronounced in any other way than “lu-EEZ”, btw. People kinda run the whole name together, so it comes out as “sanluEEZaBISpo”.
I’ve been to San Luis Obispo but I did not know about the Madonna Inn. I understood their main tourist attraction to be this.
Clearly this little town is at the vortex of weirdness.
You think there is some consensus about how to pronounce “Louis”? :dubious: The French (who ought to know if anyone does) do, pretty much, pronounce it “Loo-ey.”
Kyla, aren’t you from Santa Cruz or something like that? I’ve spent plenty of time in SLOtown and I’ve never heard it pronounced anything other than than san-LEWIS-oh-bis-poh. I’ve only been there once when I was about 10 and barfed on myself due to carsickness. It was a huge ordeal for me to wear my pajama top into the restaurant but I had the best crab louie of my life and did indeed piss in the waterwheel urinal.
As a matter of fact, I’m heading up to the mid-state fair on Wednesday to see Judas Priest and Whitesnake! Heavy Metal Parking Lot, dude!
Re the pronunciation of San Luis Obispo:
I mentioned it because a lot of people pronounce it “Loo-ees” instead of “Louis”. This is wrong, even though it would make sense. We locals will cringe and correct you if you say “Loo-ees”. You may also call it “San Luis” or “SLO” (“Slow”) if you like.
San Luis Obispo means “Saint Louis, Bishop”. The mission was named for Saint Louis of Toulouse, France and is called “Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa”. I don’t know why the de Tolosa got dropped and the Obispo didn’t. It would make life much easier if the city was just called “San Luis.”
How disappointing. I figured Luis Obispo was one of the early Spanish monks who was made a saint. :o
What a cool place! Thanks for sharing. That steakhouse dining room looks like a good place to eat some shrooms and hang out!
This is the only correct answer.
From the article: “occasionally someone will hang a condom from the wall in hopes to disgust passers-by” :dubious:
I am already so grossed out by the thought of all that filthy chewed gum that the used condom wouldn’t bother me in the least!
Cool hotel, though.
Hm, this is v. odd. Anyway, I grew up in the North Bay, but I went to UC Santa Cruz, so I’ve spent a lot of time on the Central Coast. But I guess I didn’t venture that far south very often.
This thread made Threadspotting!!! :eek: 
2nd time (that I know of) in my SDMB career that one of my threads has made Threadspotting!
This is how I pronounce it, and how I hear others pronounce it as well, although SLO is so much easier.
Umm, no. “As a result there is no recognized pronunciation which is accepted as correct”.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/452408
I have freinds down there, and have heard it both ways- English and Spanish pronunciation.
The food is good. A little overpriced in my mind, but it’s definitely good food. In keeping with the pink theme, they even tint their sugar pink… but the inside of the restaurant is really a lot more comfortable and less pink than many people think at first.
They also sell cakes, which are to die for. Growing up, the black forest cake was a standard for birthdays. If you click on thumbnails of the picture, you can see other cakes, including the equally amazing Toffee Crunch. Although… the pictures really do not do them justice, partly because you lose a sense of the scale without any good comparison.
I went to college in SLO and then lived there another 4 or 5 years. It is an awesome part of CA and if you are ever driving in the area you should make time for at least a day trip of the area.
RE the pronunciation: either SLO (“slow”), San Lewis Obispo, or if you are going by the Spanish pronunciation it is San Loo-ees Obeespo. If you say San Looey the locals will kill you. I saw Jello Biafra speak there and he kept saying San Looey and someone from the audience actually yelled out to him the correct pronunciation. He quipped something about he just remembers it as the back woods hillbilly town where he got arrested for inciting a riot when DK played there. Back in the '80s I think.
My cousin had her reception at the Madonna Inn. The catered food was pretty good but I’ve never eaten at the restaraunt. I imagine it is much like the Space Needle. Ok food but over priced. My aunt stayed in the What’s Left room. Very weird to say the least.
If you go a little north to Templeton there is a place called AJ Spurs that is pretty good. There is also a pretty famous steak house just sound of SLO I think it is in Arroyo Grande but I don’t remember the name.*
*ETA: found it. F. McLintocks
What?? That’s ridiculous. It may be named after a French saint, but “San Luis” is Spanish. And in Spanish it absolutely is pronounced loo-EESE, with the stress on the second syllable. Pronouncing it like “Louis” is obviously a gringo adaptation, which is fine if that’s how you want to call your town, but to say the original pronunciation is wrong is silly.
It’s like how we call Los Angeles loss ANH-gell-iss but some native Spanish speakers will say lows ANH-hell-iss (sorry if my phonetics are crappy), and they certainly are not “wrong”.
This is probably a little more accurate than my response, especially the part about “San Loo-ey”. I’ve never heard a local say “Loo-ees”, but you’re probably not risking death if you say it.
Weird hotel aside, it is a really nice area - lots of hills to hike, beautiful valleys, great weather, excellent downtown, among many other things.
Back in 1981 (28 years ago. Gah!!) my girlfriend decided she wanted us to stay at the Madonna Inn on Valentine’s day. Knowing that would be a popular time, I made reservations right after New Year’s. We drove down 101 arriving about two in the afternoon. As we were climbing out of my battered Volkswagen, a Porsche wheeled up with a stereotypical yuppie couple in it, and the woman jumped out to hustle to the office before we could get there. Strolling in some moments later we caught the end of the desk clerk telling her that they were booked solid, but she could get on a waiting list and hang around until 4:30 when they would release the no-shows. Disappointed she started looking thru the rack of room-interior post cards while the clerk turned her attention to me. I announced, a little louder than I had to, that I was claiming a reservation I’d made six weeks ago (I’m so evil).
We were in Cuernavaca, not the most unusual room there, but I sure don’t remember any other motel rooms from a generation ago. The story I heard was that Alex Madonna was a contractor and the first rooms were built out of leftover materials which is why they were so eclectic.
The Madonnas are definitely involved in construction. Madonna’s company got the contract to build the road in front of the hotel (paid for by the state, of course).
But I think he and/or his wife are just a little eccentric without any need for a practical explanation. They had been grazing ostriches and llamas on a lot out in front of the hotel for quite a few years when I left. Alex Madonna kept threatening to build a pig farm across from a family neighborhood because the city wouldn’t rezone it and he’d decided that pig farm was the most obnoxious thing he could legally put there.
The food isn’t great, but also not awful. Think of Stuckeys if it were run by Zsa Zsa Gabor. The men’s room is impressive, and the rest of the place is a bit jaw-droppingly awful (although less so since they toned down the bright pink exterior that it used to sport). Still, it is a dim candle in comparison to The Gobbler in Wisconsin off the I-94. At least in California after all the rocket fuel and nuclear emissions released by SSFL and AFRL, it is surprising residents of Southern California didn’t start sporting extra appendages from their foreheads. I don’t know what excuse Wisconsinites have.
Stranger