Grand Motel

While driving about the U.S. in the early 19405 gathering material for a weekly syndicated travel column, husky (6 ft. 2 in.) Warren Bayley worked up an explosive head of steam against short beds, rock-hard mattresses and drafty bathrooms. He made up his mind that some day he was going to build a place of his own where travelers could spend the night in comfort.

Last week, after persuading 1,700 Californians to invest $1,320,000, Bayley, now 53 > finally opened his dream inn, one of the biggest motels (329 bedrooms) in the U.S. At his tile-roofed, Mediterranean-style Hacienda in Fresno, Calif, (pop. 91,669), Bayley has king-size (6 ft. 8 in.) beds, individual room air conditioning. A $1,000,000 "activities center" houses a coffee shop, restaurant, banquet rooms, two bars. One of the Hacienda's two swimming pools has a glass wall so that patrons in a basement bar get an underwater view of the swimmers.

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