Motel resident John Earls, who turns 80 in June, has been living at the Desert Rose Inn for the last seven years. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Earls came to Reno with his daughter from Las Vegas.

“She talked to different people at different motels. And then she talked to [the manager at Desert Rose Inn] and she really liked Lacey. And so we decided we would move here but it was considered a temporary thing until we found some housing.”

Earls had retired from a job at the post office while his daughter used to manage a limousine company in Vegas. After moving into the Reno motel on West 4th street, Earls lost his daughter. “She had a heart problem. And it was very sudden. In fact, I still live in the same room where she died.”

After his daughter's death, Earls did not feel the need to move from the motel anymore. He also had to put their dog down. “ She got diabetes. I didn't even know dogs could get diabetes…my daughter got her at the pound in Las Vegas.”

Earls remembers that his daughter adopted Scarlett when she was really tiny and was identified as a Chihuahua but then something unusual happened when she took Scarlett to the vet. “The vet said, ‘Where did you get this animal? You're not supposed to have an animal like this.’ It seems that my daughter had adopted a coyote.” But they kept Scarlett for a while as he says she was a very sweet animal.

Earls faces a number of health problems of his own, especially with his gut and digestion.

“The healthcare situation is not so great in this country, but I belong to a union at the post office, and I have really good health insurance. And so anyway, I'm being taken care of. I go to St. Mary's, I go to Renown, have good doctors taking care of me,” he said.

Earls says he has no complaints about the motel so far, and that it’s convenient and affordable for him.

“On the first of every month, I get a direct deposit from from the government for my…I say they call it an annuity, not a pension, because every year they tell you, you get a letter in December, tells you the exact amount of money you will get every month for the following 12 months. This is for life and I also get a little Social Security from other jobs that I've worked.”

Earls says he likes staying in the motel because of the helpful management. He worries that “they want to knock this place down. This outfit called Jacobs Entertainment … they're coming in here, they're gonna suck as much money as they can out of Nevada. And they're gonna go back to where they're from, I think from Colorado. They're just all investment stuff. But they had no sense of, they are not part of the community, they're here to just grab whatever they can.”

Earls said he’s not impressed by the outside developer buying up property all around the Desert Rose Inn, with many lots now vacant. Across from the motel he lives in is the so-called Glow Plaza where a few concerts have been held.

“I don't know why they're not building apartments…But, and to build an amphitheater, which is like an extra thumb. Reno doesn't need this. And you cannot you can't use it in the you know, most of the year. I mean, you can just use it in the summer… why don't they build more housing?...everybody has headphones, everyone has stereo. They don't need to go over here and listen to music. They are building something that nobody needs.”

Our Town Reno reporting by KIngkini Sengupta

Part 1 of this series can be found here or https://www.ourtownreno.com/our-stories-1/2022/4/5/the-last-motel-residents-of-reno-shawn-losing-his-job-during-pandemic

Part 2 of this series can be found here or https://www.ourtownreno.com/our-stories-1/2022/4/14/the-last-motel-residents-of-reno-part-2-skyler-on-parole-and-recovering-from-a-stroke