Whew: so I wasn't the only person who swiped this stuff.

I'd like to say I assembled this small collection over years of careful bidding on eBay, but it's not something I went out of my way to get. At the antique store one day there was the remnants of some traveling salesman's collection, and I bought the lot. A year later a few more examples popped up - with postcards AND matchbooks. Someone really wanted to memorialize his stay in these big blocks, perhaps as a reminder that the life of a salesman had its compensations. You may tire of hotels eventually, but there's something enjoyable about checking into a place you've never known in a city you've never visited.

Most of these places still exist, but the smaller ones aren't hotels anymore. They're often homes for the aged - the people who may have attended a ball or meeting in the hotel when they were young, and thought it would be glamorous to live in a hotel. Well, now they know.

--Lileks

03.21.16

PS: There are 13 pages; more coming in the summer of 2018.