Heavenly Hotel

The Heavenly Hotel.

By Big Daddy Dante

Chapter 1.

Hunter S Thomson, the famous “gonzo” journalist, has just finished writing” Fear and

Loathing in Las Vegas”. Needing to re-stock his dwindling drug supply and refocus his

mind with some good “window pane” “ acid that was going round the Height-Ashbury area

lately, he decides to drive back to San- Francisco through the desert. So the next morning

he sets out. Consuming a handful of his dwindling drug stash, he’s havin a great old time ,

listening to the radio blaring, rollin down the highway, and the radio is blarin out “So bye

bye Miss American pie,drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry ….. them good

old boys were drinkin whiskey and dry,singin . . . .This will be the day that I die, this will be

the day that I die”. Leaning back with his hands outstretched on the steering wheel,

roaring at the top of his voice to the music, he doesn’t see the “Slowdown left hand turn

sign”, and screaming along to the song “This will be the day that I die” ,goes careering off

the embankment ,and not wearing a seat belt, is instantly killed. But being so stoned, he

doesn’t realize he’s dead. So he reverses the car and keeps goin .[Bein a Chevy its hardly

dented] Drivin down the highway again he realizes its gettin late ,and he’s thinkin “Time to

find a place to stop and kick back for the night or kick off ,whatever happens “....After

about 10 Ks he sees a sign” 15 Ks to the Heavenly Hotel” ,and he thinks “How odd,a hotel

in the middle of the desert ,maybe the rednecks round here can’t spell.”. So he drives on

a way ,and there it is ,and he thinks “Fuckin amazing ,an Edwardian style hotel in the

middle of the desert ,it looks just like the Chelsea Hotel in New York, you know, where all

the “popstars” ,Bob Dylan ,Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison ,occasionally live ,party, and have

“jam” sessions. So he drives into the carpark, parks, gets out, grabs his little briefcase

with the stash ,and walks up to the entrance to check in .So he opens the door and steps

into the lobby ,its like he’s stepped back into the 19 20s, beautiful 1920s style décor in the

lobby ,and the lobby music, its “Whiter Shade of Pale”:”, and the room just turned a

ghostly ,turned a whiter shade of pale”. And he thinks “What an amazing place to find in

the middle of the desert , I have to check in here. So he goes up to the check in desk and

rings the bell. Momentarily groovin to the music ,he takes a second look, ”wow, look at the

heavy drapes ,I’m expectin fuckin Mortissia to walk out any moment” .There’s no one at

the desk so he rings the bell again. Out shuffles this old guy that looks like he was born in

the 1920s. So he looks at the guy’s name tag, its half hangin off his jacket, and it says:

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Peter: . And he thinks:”. This shabby guy, but he got this nice smell about him, like

those hippies in the Height -Ashbury district , when they bum that incense, you know, and

do that Hare Krishna shit.. Smells like frankincense,

anyway……………………………………. I want a room, I ‘m tired, I want to lie down

and have a couple of joints”. So he says” Peter, do you have a room?.” and Peter says:”.

Not many people checked in at this time, this is a strange time to check in”. So Hunter

says:.” Yea, but I need a room.” So Peter says:”. I’ll have a look, not many people check

out at this time.” So he looks in the register, and says:”. Where usually full, but I can give

you a room in the basement for two days, we’ll see what happens after that.” Hunter

says:”. That would be great, I only really need a room for the night, just sign me in, I’m

really tired.” So Peter says okay, sign your name in the book, your full name. So he signs

in, Hunter S. Thompson. He gives him- a strange look and tells him:”. Now you walk

through that doorway, turn right, go down the stairs, it’s the second room on the left, room

number six, OK.” So he finishes the check in formalities, takes his key, and walks through

the archway. Looking up at the archway as he walks through it, he sees a beautiful

carving of the birds of paradise around the archway, and in the middle is an inscription,

from Dante’s Divine comedy,”. Give up hope, all ye who enter here.” And he thinks “.

That’s a nice touch, goes with the 1920s decor and the Mortissia shit, I’m expecting the

Munsters to appear any minute, anyway I’m goin down the room to get loaded”. So he

gets down to the room in the basement, it’s a little room with a small window, and he

thinks:” .Fuck this, I’m not staying in here, I’ll just get loaded and go up to the bar.” So he

drops two trips, smokes a couple of joints, and thinks:”. I’ll go up to the bar, see what’s

shakin in this joint, I want to see what kind of dudes hang out in this place, I’m intrigued.”

As Hunter was lying in his room, he thought:”. What an incredible wave we have been

riding on. Starting with Timothy Leary, and Ken Keasey, university professors at the

Berkley campus, they had been engaged in secret work for the CIA, Leary, experimenting

with the new drug LSD, checking out its possible uses as a military weapon, either to

make soldiers fearless in battle, or in the interrogation of prisoners to make them tell the

truth. However when Leary started using the LSD himself, he discovered another use for

it, as Jim Morrison from the Doors had said “open the gates of perception, fight on

through to the other side” Jim Morrison had read Aldous Huxley, and Carlos Castaneda,

and had been mesmerized by the description of his conversations with Mescal, the god of

the Nava Ho Indians. So Timothy Leary went a crusade to turn on “redneck” America,

“Tune in, turn on, drop out.! “. And his” shock troops” of this invasion of suburban

America, were Ken Keasy and his ”Merry pranksters”, touring around mid west America in

their painted psychedelic kombi, the”. Magic bus “. Their terrorist tactics were to drop a

huge amount of LSD into the small town’s water supply, and hang around and watch the

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effects. Timothy Leary had declared war on the military industrial complex, that had

tried to use him for their own purpose. He believed that if everybody in the world took

LSD, then the wave of love this would produce, would sweep away all negativity on the

earth, and bring about peace and harmony. The CIA however saw this in a different light,

this traitor, Leary, must be a Communist agent, recruited by the Russians to subvert the

minds of American youth. He had become public enemy number one by the late 60s, and

the CIA hunted for him relentlessly. His friends managed to fake his death, and whisked

him away to Morocco, with out any one noticing. And there he stayed till a ripe old age.

And it was always a great insider joke, amongst the freaks and hippies in the know; that

Leary had got away from the CIA, and the freaks had beat the system. And even the

Moody blues sung in a concert to thousands and thousands of people,”. Timothy Leary’s

dead, no, he’s out of sight, looking in!” and everyone thought it was just the words to

another rock and roll song. The wave of love that had started in Berkley, California,

spread to the adjoining area of Height- Ashbury, and in the streets there was an everyday

carnival atmosphere, with the Jefferson airplane singing”. Don’t you want some body to

love, don’t you need some body to love, you better find somebody to love.” and now as

Hunter lay there, in the cellar of this weird hotel in the desert, he felt he could almost see

the high mark of the wave, where it had smashed against the desert valleys and finally

dissipated into the sand. The generation of love.

So he drops his trips, smokes a couple of joints, have a couple of shots of whisky, wait

half an hour, and the trip starts to come on. Now he’s feelin real good, so he thinks:”. Ah,

it’s six o’clock, I’ll go up to the bar and have a couple of drinks”. Someone must be up

there by now, is six o’clock, drinking time!”. So he goes up

there, it looks deserted. It’s very dingy, but down the end of the bar there’s one guy so

“this is great, there’s someone there .“. So he walks down the end of the bar, its dingy, but

there is this kind of glow coming from this guy, and he thinks:”. Wow, that acid is really

coming on.” as he gets closer he thinks:”. Hey, I’ve seen this guy before, he looks familiar,

I’ve seen his picture somewhere before.”. And he thinks:

”Naa………………………………………It couldn’t be!”. So he decides to speak to him:” Hi,

my name’s Hunter, I’m a writer and I am really interested in this hotel man, why you have

this Edwardian hotel, 1920s hotel, right in the middle of the desert, well, intriguing don’t

you think?”, so the guy turns around and looks at him and says:”. Why don’t you just leave

me alone”. And Hunter says”. Fuck man what do you mean?”. So the guy says”. Look,

don’t take this the wrong way but I come here to be alone, no one is here at this time, its

fuckin closed, can’t you see there is no bartender here!!”. So Hunter says:” OK, so what

time does it open,” the guy says,” about seven.” So Hunter says: “So what are you doing

here anyway.” and the guy says:”. I come here to get away from people, I’ve been