Tokyo Hotel

It’s sad to see this place closed — it was a fleabag, but there was nothing like paying 55 for a room downtown and eating dinner on the roof, thanks to the halfarsed fire escape.

The only place inside the Loop that you can stay for $ 55/​night. Also, the only place you can have a picnic dinner and get a little frisky on the 17^th floor roof and then wake up in your room the next morning to an army of ants going in on your picnic leftovers.

Let me begin by saying that there are two kinds of people, those who will give the Tokyo Hotel 5 stars and rave about it to everyone they know, or… people who can’t get past the broken phone, blood stains, beeping fire alarms, peg-​legged receptionist, lack of water pressure, cracked walls, strange smells, questionable elevator, televisions left to die after the digital conversion, and the possibility that the air conditioner may fall out the window at any moment.
That being said, I whole-​heartedly give the Tokyo Hotel 5 stars.
This is not a place to quietly slip in and out of with nothing to show but a faint memory of the imitation Thomas Kinkade painting bolted to the wall above your bed. And, there is no continental breakfast or coffee in the lobby. There are a few vending machines, but I’m pretty sure they wont take change minted after 1970.
Here your senses will be assaulted, and after you leave you will have enough memories to compete with a 1,000 mile road-​trip.
I beg anyone who is even mildly considering staying here to give it a chance. The location is prime. We were able to walk down Michigan Ave and the river-​walk in the middle of the night, all without straying too far from the hotel. There is a grocery store a block away and parking (which may cost more that your hotel room) across the street.
Besides, this place is cheap. Super-​cheap for downtown Chicago. The closest price we found in the area was four times as expensive. But, be sure to grab some cash. They don’t accept credit cards.
Some rules though:
— Say hello to Clifton Jackson, the homeless guy by Jewel-​Osco.
— Buy him a drink, some chicken and look him up on Facebook.
— Stay on the 17 floor. All the way at the top.
— Go out the fire escape (be sure to prop the door open or you’ll have a looong walk down)
— Be very very careful.
— Explore. (Yes, that ladder will hold your weight)
— Be very very careful.
— Don’t be alarmed by any weird noises you hear.
— Spend the night on the roof. 17 stories up, in the heart of Chicago.
— Write your own Unilocal review. I want to see that others are getting the Tokyo Hotel Experience.
— Check out is at noon. Be sure to drink lots of water.
— Spend the next day hung over.
And… Please be careful on the roof.

If you are considering staying here, watch this first:

This place is disgusting, absolutely horrible, it is my second stay here, there is a strange stain on the other side of the bed I stay on, and my friends and I are rendered air conditionless, but it is 55 for downtown Chicago, what am I suppose to do?

I have walked by the Tokyo Hotel countless times. It reminds me of the type place that Peter Parker lives in in the Spiderman movies, Or the sort of place Marla Singer might live in, or maybe it is a carbon copy of the Hotel Zamenhof. Basically it is scuzzy and sleazy, through and through it is a fleabag, and I love it.
Yesterday I finally walked in. I don’t know why. Maybe because I just told my roommates and my landlord that I wouldn’t be signing another lease, essentially leaving me «pre-​homeless». Maybe because earlier that day I told boss that I’m quitting my job at the end of July, leaving me «pre-​unemployed». Maybe because after all this time teetering between living on the edge of salvation and the brink of self destruction, I’m finally choosing my path, I’m hitting bottom. I’m giving up. Shit maybe I’m Nick Cage in Leaving Las Vegas, but where is my Elizabeth Shue? Who will look after me, who will walk me gently into that good night? If I choose to stay in this city, the city I love, then I may just stay in the «Hotel Tokyo». Because if I choose to stay, and that is a big if, then I’m going to need to stay somewhere cheap, with like-​minded vagabonds, vagrants and naredowells. I’ll need help, I’ll need guidance.