Scary Silver Lake Motel Doomed?

Silver Lake residents know the Jetsons-era Sunset Pacific Motel has not aged gracefully -- especially since it's been allowed to sit and rot for the past few years, ever since it was shut down as an attractive (!) nuisance. Which is why, with its psycho aura of sex, drugs and menace, and its Bates Street cross-street location, it's earned the "Bates Motel" moniker. Now Curbed L.A. reports that the place may be torn down. Seems it's really become a crime magnet in its afterlife.

Curbed talk to self-styled preservationist Bruce Carroll, of the Franklin Hills Residents Association, "who also has heard chatter that someone may file for landmark status." Still, even he saw no value in keeping the wrecking ball away.

"Really?" Curbed's Dakota cheekily replied. "Couldn't this spot be transformed into that gym that Silver Lake residents are clamoring for? Affordable housing? 'It's so far gone that fixing it up would seem to be a waste of time,' says Carroll. 'The only thing it could be used for is if the sheriff needed more jail cells.'"

Hey, though -- whatever happened to that idea of making it a boutique hotel, or a retro hangout along the line of Beck's Motor Lodge in San Francisco's Castro District?