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Salt Lake Tribune (16/Jun/1995) - Hotel will star in 'Psycho' anniversary

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Hotel will star in 'Psycho' anniversary

For years, people passing through Coeur d'Alene have chuckled while driving past the Bates Motel.

The 12-room, classic low-rise motel recently caught the eyes and imagination of a CBS television crew filming a segment on the 35th anniversary of "Psycho."

The Alfred Hitchcock thriller featured a similar, but spookier, motel with the same name.

"We were working on this and I had this idea that there had to be a Bates Motel somewhere," Jay Kernis, a producer for CBS's "Eye to Eye With Connie Chung" said.

So he called the American Hotel/Motel Association in Washington, D.C., which listed only two such businesses.

The other motel was in Vale, Ore., but the owner did not want it appearing on the show. The Bates in Coeur d'Alene jumped at the chance.

The motel has great fun with its "Psycho" association, owner Allen Markizon said. And it is good for business. A lot of dark-humored folks cannot resist staying there.

The business recently emphasized its tie to the movie by putting up a new sign. It depicts a big, scary house similar to the one where Norman Bates' mother "lived." The manor is bordered by jagged lightening bolts.

There are souvenirs, too.

The most popular room is number one, which, in the movie, was where Janet Leigh took her final shower.

Some visitors get a morbid kick out of renting a video player and watching the film in one of the rooms. There's a copy of the tape available at the front desk.

Previous owner Randy Bates, a Coeur d'Alene accountant, knew exactly what he was doing when he gave the motel his name. He ran it from 1987 to 1991.

The Associated Press Is there really a "Bates Motel" — I mean one you can actually stay in? Yes, it's in northern Idaho and the hotel has caught the eyes and imagination of a CBS television crew filming a segment on the 35th anniversary of "Psycho." The Hitchcock thriller (above) featured a similar, but spookier, motel with the same name.

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