With their growing constellation of updated roadside motels, husband and wife team, Kenny Osehan and Chris Sewell of hospitality group Shelter Social Club, are making the case that even when the journey exceeds the destination, there are still plenty of reasons to make pit stops along the way. Their noted project, Ojai Rancho Inn, at the foot of the Southern Californian Topatopa Mountains, quickly became a gathering spot for stylish wanderers and local artisans. Similarly infused with the designs of talented friends, their latest venture, Alamo Motel, is no different: the makeover of a 1940s motel located in Los Alamos - a small Californian town along Highway 101 with fewer than 2,000 residents - Osehan explains that the property is inspired by the ‘soft and dramatic desert landscape and the western agricultural setting’. Mindful of that, details include plywood furniture, brass sconces by lighting studio Atelier de Troupe and bed throws by textile artist Marissa Macias, whom Osehan and Sewell met when she stayed at another Shelter Social Club property with her mother. ‘We’ve been coming through Los Alamos for years,’ says Osehan. ‘Everyone is super-friendly with a good wine buzz,’ she adds. ‘It’s exciting to take a property with good bones in a cool environment and tie everything together, including the community.’
