Flint Postcards: Elms Motor Lodge

The Elms Motor Lodge in the mid fifties.

UPDATE: The former Elms Motor Lodge went up in flames on February 2, 2012.

Here's the original post from July 5, 2008.

Jim of L-Town comments: It has been a long time since the Elms looked that good. Last time I was there, I was accompanying the Flint vice squad on a prostitution sting for a story in the Journal. The room the decoy was using was so dirty and smelly that no one wanted to sit anywhere for fear that something small would hop on your clothing and hitch a ride outside. I remember thinking about what kind of person would ever put their head on a pillow in such a deranged place. There is a hotel/motel across the street in the same area that rents rooms by the hour/day/week/month. It is actually worse.

Bearing Up in Flint

Here's the freakishly large stuffed bear — courtesy of Flint Journal photographer Bruce Edwards' flamboyant camera angle — in the lobby of the Character Inn c. 2005. Notice the smaller brown bear in the background, stage right. The big guy seems bemused, no doubt wondering how things came to this. One day you're minding your own business in the woods; a few months later you're trapped in Flint surrounded by red carpet and evangelical Christians in a room reminiscent of the L.L. Bean flagship store after a big sale. The dorm rats from UM-Flint would sure have fun with these props — how many shots of Jäger before you jump in the stagnant wading pool with Yogi? — but something tells me they'll be long gone before the students move in. Too many liability issues. Too bad.