My love affair with California motels — cheap, comfy and not a shootout in sight

Every motel worth its salt has a lagoon pool (Picture: Sadie Whitelocks)

Thanks to Hollywood, American motels have a branding problem.

They’re the backdrop to shootouts, seedy rendezvous and the sort of places where fugitives lie low while detectives ask questions at reception. 

After years of seeing them on screen, I had a pretty vivid idea of what awaited me on a California road trip: threadbare curtains, questionable carpets and, if the films were to be believed, the possibility of a body hidden somewhere nearby.

So when my friend and I found ourselves needing a cheap place to stay while driving the Golden State’s spectacular coastline, checking into a motel was...