Destinations

DESTINATIONS

ROUNDUP

Union Hotel

Los Alamos, California Los ALAMOS, A SNOOZY town of 700 located in central California just off Highway 101, is an easy-enough place to blitz past. With a gas station, a couple of bars and a smattering of antique stores, there seems to be little to lure the motorcyclist intent on reaching the pleasures of the Pacific Coast Highway, which begins 50 miles to the north.

It’s worth a delay, though, to spend the night at Los Alamos in the Union Hotel, perhaps the most-entertaining bedand-breakfast establishment in all of California. Owned by Dick Langdon, who in 1972 gave up a very successful meatpacking business and a fast-track, Los Angeles lifestyle to move to Los Alamos, the hotel has been restored to the way it appeared in 1880. Today there are 16 upstairs rooms-each authentically outfitted with antique furniture and handmade quilts—available for overnight guests, at either $81 or $98. Downstairs are the lobby, saloon and dining room, the latter of which serves generous portions of home-style cooking ($ 15 per person) to hotel guests and the general public. Like the rest of the hotel, though, the dining room is only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday. “Three days is fun; beyond that, it becomes work,” says Landon. That fun becomes infectious as you sit around the 150year-old African mahogony bar and let Langdon regale you with the trials and tribulations of bringing a century-old hotel back to life.

For more information or to make reservations, contact the Union Hotel at PO. Box 616, Los Alamos, CA 93440; (805) 928-3838.

David Edwards