BMW

Just before I was born my parents purchased an old hotel in Alturas, CA.  After extensive restoration and renovation, they opened the Niles Hotel & Saloon.  The 'Hotel' in the name referred to the building's original use; my parents never actually operated it as a hotel.  They began with a saloon, but over the years and after further remodeling they opened a restaurant and a banquet hall as well.  My uncle used one wing of the second floor for his law offices.  The building's many open spaces were filled with my parents' antique collection, making it an interesting cross between entertainment venue and museum.  I won't attempt to describe just how beautiful this building was as a result of my parents' efforts.  Suffice it to say that during the 1980s it was a happening place on a Friday night, and if it were a movie theater, I'd give it five stars.

Seemingly unrelated, in late 1986 my parents subscribed to Premiere Magazine.  In its later years, the magazine became a trivial collection of gossip.  But for most of its twenty year run the magazine had in-depth articles about films, film personalities, and the movie industry.  Most importantly, it had full-page movie posters and artistic close-ups of movie stars.

What do the Niles Hotel and Premiere Magazine have in common?  The third floor of the Niles was closed to the public, allowing my brother and I free reign of its thirty-or-so rooms.  (Awesome.)  One such room I used as a clubroom, called the BMW (my initials backward).  Over the years I decorated the BMW's walls with cut-outs from Premiere.  I began with just one side of the room, but soon had covered all four walls, the door, the closet, and parts of the ceiling.  Just as my decorations were beginning to spill over onto the window blind, my parents sold the building.

I present below a collage of the photos my best friend and I captured of the room before taking down all those wonderful posters.  (Click the picture to enlarge it.)  How many movies can you name?