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The 'Pink Hotel' in San Luis Obispo has a lot more color inside | Bartell's Backroads

Located in San Luis Obispo, this 110-room hotel and restaurant attracts vacationers of all kinds, because each one of the rooms has a different theme.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Pink is the color of passion — at least according to Aerosmith — and The Madonna Inn has a whole lot of pink and passion.

Located in San Luis Obispo, this 110-room hotel and restaurant attracts vacationers of all kinds, because each one of the rooms has a different theme.

Tour guide Audrey Pearce says locally The Madonna Inn is known as "The Pink Hotel" for good reason.

"Mr. Madonna loved when Mrs. Madonna wore pink," Pearce explained. "He thought it was the best color on her and thought it was a color that made people happy."

Mr. Alex Madonna was a contractor and enterprise, and Mrs. Phillis Madonna was a beauty queen turned artist. The couple built the place back in 1958 to attract curious travelers on HWY 101.

The cotton candy-colored rooms appeal to a variety of vacationers including numerous Instagram enthusiasts and celebrities.

"Katy Perry stayed here once," Pearce said.

It takes an eccentric mind to build an eccentric place. The Madonna Inn sits on over 1,000 acres, and many of the features are built using several large boulders weighing over 200 tons each, including a giant man-made waterfall that runs into the cliff’s edge pool.

"Our waterfall runs at full capacity every hour on the hour," says Pearce.

That’s not the only waterfall on the property. Inside the men’s restrooms is waterfall urinal which is a popular. Pearce says many women request to look at it when it’s not in use.

Colorful relics litter the property. Between the fine dining, the cliff side pool and the rugged horseback trails, there’s no way I can tell you about everything at the Madonna Inn.

“You are not guaranteed to see it all, that’s why you have to come back," Pearce said.

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