The Block: A special shredders' hotel in Big Bear

By Hugo Martín, Los Angeles Times
06:11 PM PST, March 01, 2007

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I checked into the Block at Big Bear, a 52-room inn in downtown Big Bear Lake promoted as "the world's first snowboarding hotel." It opened in 2005, just after the Block at Lake Tahoe celebrated its grand opening.

The hotels are the brainchild of professional snowboarder Marc Frank Montoya and his brother-in-law, Las Vegas hotelier Liko Smith. Before it became the Block at Big Bear, the building was a modest, family-run inn, resembling a Travelodge. The transition wasn't difficult. Montoya and Smith threw black paint on the outside, put PlayStation 2 game systems in each room, added high-speed Internet, installed a pool table in the front lobby and decorated the rooms with loud colors and snowboarding designs.

In the parking lot, outdoor speakers blared uncensored rap music. Guests of legal drinking age are offered free beer (two cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon per guest), popcorn and DVD movies, including a selection of porn flicks.

No continental breakfast here. You wake up to free energy drinks and power bars.

The most expensive rooms at the hotel, Signature Suites, from $149 and $169 a night, are decorated to promote corporate sponsors, such as a wireless phone provider and a sunglasses manufacturer.

The extra cost gets you a bigger room, but it means you have to sleep under a giant Boost Mobile cellphone insignia.

I checked into the suite sponsored by DVS, the San Francisco sneaker company. I opened the door to a bright red, white and black room, a 56-inch, flat-screen television, a DVD player, a glove and boot drier, a California king bed and small metal locker. The room was sparse and cold. No drawers, no desk, no hair dryer, no mini fridge and no coffee maker.

I took comfort in my free beer.

That chilly breeze I felt came from an inch-wide gap under the room's front door. The manager told me a new door was recently installed but was not fitted properly. Why a new door was needed, I didn't ask, but the next morning I met two guests who said the door to their room looked as though it had been kicked in. (Must have something to do with the Pabst.)

A few days later, I called Smith, who said he and Montoya wanted the Block to be loud and edgy to appeal to young, fun-loving snowboarders. That's why they offer one of the cheapest beers on the market, Smith said. It all goes to that rebellious vibe.

When I suggested that even the Flying Tomato would appreciate a few traditional hotel comforts, like a hot cup of coffee and a muffin in the morning, Smith was ready for me. "When you offer power bars and energy drinks, what you are saying to the hard-core rider is, 'This is for you,' " he said.

Smith is so sure his formula will work that he plans to open five more snowboarding hotels near ski resorts such as Mammoth, Breckenridge, Colo., and Rossland, Canada.