Little A’Le’Inn

The remote desert town of Rachel, Nevada, has one establishment for visitors: a busy motel and adjoining restaurant, committed to welcoming earthlings and unidentified flying objects. Originally the venue was called Rachel’s Bar & Grill, but the owners had a contest for a catchier name and landed on Little A’Le’Inn, a nod (or beam) to its greatest significance: proximity to Area 51.

Since 1955, the CIA and subsequent military have (allegedly) used the top-secret Area 51 for testing aircraft. Aerial activity in the region increased, corresponding with a drastic spike in reported UFO sightings. Presumptions and paranoia might have been stifled had the government officially acknowledged Area 51 before 2013. But they didn’t, so for decades public imagination was given infinite space to speculate on the highly secured site. Former employees insisted that Area 51’s testing explained the eerie visions in the night sky, but rumors remained that Area 51 was being used to study alien spacecraft. The buzz made the vicinity a hotspot for UFO hunters, curious road-trippers, Hollywood producers, and conspiracy theorists…who have recently been vindicated by the government’s confirmation of alien life.

The Little A’Le’Inn, run by mother-daughter team Pat and Connie West, fully supports the intrigue that has brought in droves of visitors for over three decades. Business got a boost in 1996, when the state of Nevada formally renamed Rachel’s thoroughfare (Route 375) the Extraterrestrial Highway. Intergalactic wonder is encouraged at the inn: the menu features Saucer Burgers and Alien Amber Ale, merch of little green men is on proud display, and their website declares: “the unknown is what we live for.”

Though valet parking is not offered, all species are invited to dine and stay at the Little A’Le’Inn. If their twelve rooms are booked, campsites are available for those prepared to sleep beneath the stars, perhaps giving them an unobstructed view of our cosmic cousins hovering above.

📖 Full Story Page 18