travel advisory !!!
3:31 p.m.

having fun here.

got about 40 pics in my SF porftolio now, looking very good.

let's see...last week i finally talked to steve on the phone, i haven't really talked to him much since he was here in april, as he went and fell in love as soon as he got back to ohio! his little latino fiddle player is damn cute.

we got all caught up. he's the wine and beer steward at work now, he has lots more stuff to do. he gets to go to wine tastings and stuff. he may move with his boy next year, when the boy goes to graduate school...arizona, maybe texas, a few other possibilites.

chatted with...kiwi in NZ, sw in iowa, adrienne in NJ.

i really enjoyed the shanty friday night.

maybe i need to check out gay night on sunday at humbrews. and apparently indogo is doing the same, also on sunday. that seems kinda dumb, considering how small the area is. indigo isn't doing so well, i heard.

oh, a long chat at 2 a.m. with aaron last night. it's fun getting to know him. very cool boy. we talked about where we might have dinner WHEN i go down next :) i'm targeting oct. 20 and 21.

his bartending school starts today.

here's something fun. you might remember me saying when i went to the city in april, i knew i wanted to stay out at the ocean. i was going down sloat and saw the days inn...ho-hum. then i saw roberts, which looks like a crack den...then i went around the corner and found the paradise that IS ocean park motel.

well, for my last trip, when it looked like ocean park might not be able to get me a small room, since i was going to the SRL show alone, i looked on tripadvisor.com for reviews....here's why i'm glad i never stayed at roberts...

dec 18, 2002 - a great lodging experience

"Quaint rooms give that cozy comfortable feeling as you take in the ocean breeze and listen to the surf as it peacefully puts you to sleep. Across the street is the zoo and you wake up listing to the animals. The staff is extremely curtious and helpfull. One can see they take pride in providing the best experience for their customers. Very clean. Public transportation to all locations are just a step away from the motel. I recommend Roberts at the Beach to everyone visiting San Francisco."

oct 18, 2003 - look elsewhere!

"Thought I'd try the Robert's Motel since I know the area. Big mistake!!! Manager's teenage daughter came back to the parking lot about 1:30 a.m. with a large group of rowdy friends and decided to have a party! Tried calling office to no avail - had to call SFPD! Poor construction leads to poor night sleep since you can hear your neighbor's televisions. Next time I'll spend the extra ten bucks on the Days Inn a half-block away! Stayed there before and it's much cleaner!!!"

feb. 20, 2004 - never again

"All I can say is that I was warned by the previous reviews. But I made my plans to visit San Francisco at the last moment, and the other hotels close by were either booked up or had only smoking rooms available. So I took the room at Robert's, only to find that my "non-smoking" room reeked of smoke.

Roberts Motel is the loudest, worst motel I have ever stayed in. I could hear the couple in the room next door playing some strange game until after 11:00 p.m.-- she kept shouting, "Seven, seven, seven!"--and then they started arguing with one another at 7:00 a.m. The walls are so paper-thin that I could tell when the woman was speaking while brushing her teeth. I finally banged on the wall when I heard the man clearing the mucus from his throat, spitting it out in the sink, and then burping.

All the information in the previous reviews regarding the noise of cars, trains, buses and diesel trucks is accurate. I was awakened all night long. But I don't think I would have slept anyway with the "pillow" on my bed which was about 1 1/2 inches thick. I rolled it up into a tube and used it as a neck roll.

The only positive thing I can say is that the staff at the desk were polite and efficient. I didn't bother to tell them about my dissatisfaction because nothing short of razing the building to the ground could improve the place."

april 9, 2004 - just bloody awful in every way

"About ten years ago I used to stay here often. It has gone down hill in a big way. I stayed at Roberts Motel on April 6th. I was appalled by how bad is was:Flithy Walls Big globs of snot smeared on the wall No TV remote The most uncomfortable pillows ever, anywhere Peeling paint and huge patches of falling wallpaper Could hear every sound in adjacent room Just awefull in every way!"

sept 21, 2005 - worst motel expereince of my life

"Do NOT let the ocean nearby, sway you into this dump. I booked in advance, was later told my 'room' wouldn't be ready til evening, dispite my request and telling them my time of necessary arrival. Place was awful. Damaged carpet, holes in sheets, staff disregarded my reminding them I'd requested mid day arrival, to fit my schedule. DO NOT take any room before seeeing it first, ever. Shower water pressure was unstable, and weak. I had trouble keeping the temperature in balance, it would fluctuate from hot to cold to tepid, and it was scary and felt dangerous. Sheets had holes in them, one blanket on bed was ratty and old. Place looked like some slummy dump, but I had no time to request money back, or leave, as I had an engagement I couldn't be late for. Otherwise I would have done this immediately.
I was miserable. There were other guests that disturbed me, and upset me greatly. I did not sleep at all, and was ill in the morning from such a bad experience and felt sick and left there sick. My schedule was pressing enough, and this, was a new and horrid nightmare. This place is very old and not kept up. I've traveled before and never had this kind of experience, ever. Motel 6 is five stars over this dump. Do not even think about this place, ever. My booking in advance didn't matter, and I was very specific about my time of arrival, and then left to kill time, til 'they' had my room ready. Which was hrs later forcing me to rush and be stressed even moreso, after traveling, packing, etc. One window was taped with clear postal tape, shut. The other side, was hard to open, to allow fresh air in. It was a dangerous to customer, neglected place, and the worst. I was in fear of my own safety, in fear of being broken into the room, during the night due to the postal taped window, which wasn't repaired, and subjected one to such fear. If I wasn't so pressed for time, I wouldn't have 'settled' for this.. and perhaps I shouldn't have and been late to my engagement, and gone elsewhere... and I sure do regret not doing that. This place needs to be remodeled or condemned, it was just that bad.

DO NOT GO to this place, it was awful and I concurr with others who've reviewed this place and they're correct about their own experience."

jan 1, 2006 - bad motel

"Bad!Bad! Bad! I think that a rating of "terrible" is too good for this hotel. I couldnt get a single minute of sleep because of the foul smell of mildew inside my room. I couldnt go outside either seeing that it was pouring rain. On top of that, the bed sheets were torn and stained, and I found already opened condoms underneath the bed. Upon entering the room, a rat came running out from under the bed into one of the holes in the wall. At around 3:30 in the morning the few people in the hotel that could actually sleep were awakened when a group of about 5 or 6 teenage kids came into the parking lot and tried to break into one of the vending machines with a baseball bat. I was almost scared to death in the morning when I went to fill up the ice chest and I found a homeless man asleep next to the ice machine. A vacant lot next to the back parking lot literally looks like a dump, with a fence all around and all kinds of garbage from tires to dead pigeons to used needles.

I PAID FOR A CLEAN, SAFE PLACE TO SLEEP, NOT A FILTHY, DIRTY HAUNTED HOUSE!!!"

aug 7, 2006 - horrendous motel

You would do much better to sleep out on the sidewalk in front of this place than to pay money and check into one of their rooms. Forget the money part of it for a second...the sidewalk would be cleaner...no less noisy...and actually less depressing. The rooms are dingy and moldy and dank. The beds are squalid...hair and dried fluids all through the bed and on surfaces and the carpet is foul, greasy, stinky and exudes particles into the air when disturbed by somethng as basic as walking upon it. These things however, pale when laid up against what ensued on my stay there. My girlfriend and i checked in for a week and after accomodating the dismal condition of the room...settled in unfortunately. On waking up the third morning we were both covered with what we thought were mosquito bites. Through that day...these bites kept increasing and encroaching in intensity and by the fourth morning...we were both in great duress and shock from these bites which had turned into aggravated welts. I checked the bedding more closely and found little points of fresh blood stains on the sheets and a little dead bug of a type which i hadn't seen before. The welts were running across my body in long staright rows that were deep and red and i was trying to control a feeling of panic. My girlfriend's face was covered with them. She ended up with around 200 bites and i had about 150. Upon doing some investigating...i found that this was a bed bug infestation. As someone who's made a living on the road for 35 years...this was the worst thing I've ever encountered in a sleeping establishment. We checked out on that fourth morning and i required medical treatment and steroids to overcome the danger of these bites. The physical scars are still with both of us six months later. If i had a choice between sleeping on a park bench or sleeping at Roberts By The Beach Motel in San Francisco...i'd take the bench with no second thoughts. Horrible experience indeed."

GOOD LORD!! it just gets worse and worse, doesn't it???

that last review was from just a few days before i was down there.

ocean park has EXCELLENT reviews.

anyhoo, thought that might be fun to share!

ok, gotta get back to work....

MK