He wants you to love motels as much as he does. His enthusiasm is infectious

It’s a Saturday day successful Pasadena, and Barkev Msrlyan is talking astir however overmuch helium likes toilets.

Not conscionable immoderate toilets, though. Vintage ones, similar the pink, greenish and purple commodes they merchantability astatine Pasadena Architectural Salvage, wherever Msrlyan has acceptable up successful a country amid the retailer’s reclaimed materials to peddle aerial fresheners, stickers and pins he’s made featuring those nonstop toilets. It’s portion of a collaboration betwixt his brand, Merch Motel, and the store, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

The motel turns 100. Explore the state’s champion roadside havens — and the coolest stops on the way.

The toilet pins were the blistery point that day, Msrlyan said, though helium besides was selling rather a fewer Los Angeles hats and Altadena keychains. People loved the vintage look of the pinkish toilets, which hark backmost to a clip erstwhile bathrooms — full houses, truly — weren’t rather truthful bland and boring.

Msrlyan makes enamel pins and different goods inspired by motel civilization and does merchandise collaborations with L.A. businesses and organizations.

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)

“Our cities person mislaid truthful overmuch color, and I deliberation that’s affected people,” Msrlyan said. “Everything we’re getting present is conscionable gray, gray, gray.”

It’s surely affected Msrlyan, who for the past fewer years has made a full-time surviving celebrating Los Angeles’ kitschy past. The Pasadena autochthonal grew up admiring his city’s architectural past and successful peculiar its galore Route 66 motels, but erstwhile helium went to look for motel-themed merch online, helium recovered the enactment a small lacking. After designing toys and merchandise for Hasbro and Disney, Msrlyan decided to merge his manufacturing cognition and his idiosyncratic interest, designing motel-themed stickers and buttons to merchantability to like-minded vintage aficionados.

He named the marque Merch Motel due to the fact that helium recovered the operation descriptive and liked its alliteration. Now, 7 years later, the concern has expanded acold beyond its archetypal roadside-related boundaries, extending to collaborative merchandise lines with established brands similar the Academy Museum, Bob Baker Marionette Theater and Canter’s Deli.

A miniature McDonald’s connected show astatine Msrlyan’s Pasadena home.

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)

Msrlyan uses his brand’s Instagram not lone to hawk his latest wares but besides to stock pictures of his favourite vintage attractions, similar Pomona’s Mr. Milk Bottle roadside motion oregon the Brolly Hut, a charmingly and somewhat confoundingly umbrella-themed fast-food associated successful Inglewood. It’s earned him a robust pursuing of astir 90,000 retro lovers based successful L.A. and each implicit the country.

“Since COVID, I think, there’s been this immense resurgence successful appreciation for vintage design,” Msrlyan said. “So overmuch of it has disappeared that what’s near feels truthful peculiar and important that if there’s immoderate benignant of alteration done to it, you spot a large nationalist backlash, like, ‘Please don’t interaction this. It’s each we person left.’ People are realizing that these places are indispensable pieces of Americana.”

Even erstwhile Msrlyan was little, helium had an appreciation for classical architecture. In part, helium credits his involvement successful historical buildings to his years attending Altadena’s Sahag-Mesrob Armenian Christian School, which was destroyed by the Eaton fire. The school, which occupied a monolithic location that patent medicine entrepreneur and Civil War surgeon Col. George G. Green built for his girl successful 1912, was afloat of intact archetypal details, similar decorative tiles successful the module bathroom, bronze sconces successful the hallways and an aged intercom system.

Msrlyan poses extracurricular La Casa Inn successful Pasadena.

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)

Other buildings successful the country fascinated Msrlyan arsenic well, similar Connal’s, a walk-up fast-food associated that’s been astir for much than 60 years, and the In-N-Out connected Colorado Boulevard, which has the favoritism of being the oldest operating outlet of the chain. “That gathering is truthful cute and charming, with an animated neon motion connected top,” Msrlyan said. “When I’d comparison thing similar that to thing not arsenic pretty, similar a modern fast-food spot, I started to truly recognize what I did and didn’t like.”

As Msrlyan grew up and the buildings and objects he’d erstwhile loved began to disappear, helium said helium felt an astir instinctual impulse to effort to sphere what was, if lone for himself. As soon arsenic helium got a smartphone, helium started taking pictures of everything that sparked his interest, from neon signs to run-down motels. “I saw a doorknob I liked somewhere, and erstwhile I went back, it was gone. I thought, ‘I privation I had a representation of that, conscionable truthful I could person appreciated it more,’” Msrlyan explained. “So I started taking those pictures, and past astatine immoderate constituent I thought, ‘I’m going to marque my obsession everyone’s obsession, conscionable truthful I tin amusement radical however fantastic these places are.’”

Vintage collectibles connected show astatine Msrlyan’s location observe iconic L.A. businesses similar Idle Hour and Bob’s Big Boy.

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)

He’d instrumentality friends and household to his favourite spots, talking their ears disconnected astir archetypal details oregon architectural integrity. Often, they were places others whitethorn person driven past hundreds of times without giving overmuch thought to their origins oregon design, similar the Saga Motor Hotel connected Colorado Boulevard successful Pasadena, which Msrlyan says has a beauteous archetypal mosaic mural conscionable extracurricular its lobby, oregon the Macy’s connected Lake Avenue, which is perfectly packed with chill midcentury features. He says he’s traversed astir 80% of Route 66 astatine this point, often conscionable taking disconnected down the parent roadworthy with nary wide extremity different than the tendency to spot wherever helium lands and instrumentality successful everything helium views on the way.

On these roadworthy trips, Msrlyan ne'er books a motel successful advance, alternatively choosing to thrust until fatigue sets in; past he’ll extremity up uncovering determination intriguing to stay. That signifier has yielded immoderate amusive experiences, similar the nights helium spent astatine the World Famous Clown Motel successful Tonopah, Nev., oregon the Wigwam Motel successful Holbrook, Ariz. “People mightiness telephone immoderate of those types of motels ‘run-down,’ but those are the coolest ones due to the fact that they inactive person each their archetypal plan features,” Msrlyan said.

“Old motels are fun, and I love, love, emotion aged motel neon signs [from the midcentury period],” helium adds, citing “living” examples similar the Saga oregon decommissioned signs similar those successful the postulation astatine Glendale’s Museum of Neon Art. “They’re often hand-crafted, and each 1 is unsocial to the property. It would beryllium benignant of a contention among motels to spot who’d person the biggest, astir extravagant motion to entice drivers to propulsion over. There was nary internet. The neon motion was each those places had to get you successful the door.”

“People are realizing that these places are indispensable pieces of Americana,” said Msrlyan of the vintage establishments that animate him.

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)

Msrlyan has made specified a sanction for himself among vintage aficionados that he’s go a nationally recognized adept connected some midcentury plan and retro motels. He occasionally gives walking tours astir L.A., advertizing them connected his Instagram account, and operates pop-up shops astatine museums and section businesses similar Pasadena Architectural Salvage.

Earlier this year, helium was invited to springiness a presumption connected “Marvelous Motels” astatine Palm Springs’ Modernism Week; helium took the accidental to showcase immoderate of his section favorites, similar the Saga, and better-known motels turned hotels, similar the Madonna Inn. Some of the establishments are inactive around, but others, Msrlyan said, are agelong gone.

“It’s brainsick to maine however galore communities inactive don’t recognize what they have,” helium said with a sigh. “But then, thing you’ve seen your full beingness volition conscionable disappear, similar you thrust by and it’s gone. Luckily, I deliberation much and much radical are starting to say, ‘We’ve had capable of these beauteous places disappearing,’ particularly present that the fires took retired thousands of irreplaceable buildings. We’ve got to larn to admit and admit what we inactive have, alternatively than holding connected to the choler and vexation astir what we’ve lost.”

Msrlyn peeks retired from down a curtain astatine his home, which besides serves arsenic Merch Motel’s HQ.

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)