Blog - Pardon My Hindi

I previously have mentioned one of the projects I’ve been working on with a buddy on mine about Gujarati Motels here in the states (Here, here and here). I’ve been slowly chipping away at that project, trying to make sure it sees the light one of these days.

I was trollin around eBay this weekend and stumbled across this gem, Yep some promotional material for The Arch Motel in Jersey. This is where I spent my early years of my life. I had some crazy birthday parties growing up for sure, I’ll have to find some pictures when I go back to the east coast. It wasn’t just my home and my parents business but also a hub for my extended family (around 30 people) when they first entered the US. My extended family spent months and some years at The Arch before they got on their feet to start their own life in their new country. I see some old Arch Motel material online here and there, but never saw this one, so I had to grab it!

Click the image to enlarge.

I hit the road with Sanjay a couple weeks ago and headed down to L.A.

Amul (Sanjay’s brother) and Minny hooked us up with some cooking lessons. Nothing better than fresh roti w. ghee.

The Hare Krishna’s were out in full form….

Convert.

Motel Living. Hustlin.

First inspiration for Ghee Happy.

Hit up some Paco’s for some garbage burritos. The Patel Bros. original burrito spot.

Side of fries please.

Had some dessert at this place after…

I knew that the author of a book about Patel/Motel history lived down in L.A., so I hit ‘em up for some research for The Arch Motel project. Thanks again Govind Uncle.

Word.

This week and trip#3 are coming to an end. It’s really great to see the project keep evolving.
Hopefully we get some funding soon so we can head out for for #4 in ‘09.

We hung out with the mayor of Boron on Wednesday while we ate and drank margaritas at his restaurant. This guy is a trip, here he is showing us some of the astronauts that ate there.

Nice “McCain ‘08″ button buddy.

The food (and the fast food clientele) on the road was putting a toll on me…..

We hit some great taco trucks, but the real safe havens were the motels with their home made food, I haven’t had proper Guju food in a while. Bomb.

Heading back up from L.A.

Email me if any of you want some *PMH stickers.
chiraag@pardonmyhindi.com

I’ve been on the road this week working on the motel project with Mark.

There’s really some amazing independent motel properties here in California, I seriously might need to purchase one of these. It’s been the  third trip we have taken for the project and we have been meeting some really amazing people so far on #3.

Tonight we got a break from all that road food we’ve been eating and had some homemade Gujarati cooking on the house, it hit the spot. Also people have been cooking some tasty Diwali treats that we’ve been testing for them, I’m missing my moms cooking.

We’ll be in L.A. tomorrow (Thursday) and then heading back up to SF by Sunday.

I saw this video a while ago, thought it was appropriate following the motel post I did last week. Here’s Aaron Draplin, a great designer up in Portland, with a story about a classic American motel sign that went to shit. The video is a teaser from the upcoming documentary about Mr. Draplin himself.

I’m looking forward to seeing the whole film!

I saw a lot of this on my trips for the motel project I’ve been working on with Mark. As a son of a Gujarati immigrant I really believe it is the community’s responsibility to maintain these properties that they own, it’s really not just about money.

I’ll be heading out this Saturday to work on the project for another 10 days. Hopefully I’ll be able to fill you guys in on the road.