Utah Motel Motor Park – Salt Lake City – Hotel Bar Soap

“Traveling Salesman”

Another hotel bar soap with Cashmere Bouquet inside. The star of this one is the simple line-drawing on the wrapper, thin red lines, suggesting the motel. It’s barely a representation of anything, but the horizontal lines put you in mind of a Fifties-style motor hotel, one or two stories. It says Motor Park on the “roof”—which indicates you can either park in a carport or right up to your door. There’s a vertical “Motel” sign, suggesting “space age” up-to-date-ness, such as TV, AC, and a shower. And then there’s another vertical sign that says: “Utah”—this part is shaded light yellow—intimating considerable class (for a motel)—the sign increasing in size as it ascends—U on top—with horizontal arrows running through it. The whole thing conjures neon lights as much as a soap wrapper can. Salt Lake City on bottom is the only location clue. I’m guessing the place is either long gone or has a different name, because a quick search turns up nothing. Once again, the soap itself—from the Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Co. in Jersey City—is incredibly nostalgic as only smells can be—a solid clue that this particular fragrance was a vivid part of my lost childhood.

Soap Review No. 201