Just because I love this stuff:
The abandoned motel is the former North Shore Motel in Mecca, Ca. Built in 1959 by architect Albert Frey, of Loewy House fame, the nearby North Shore Beach and yacht club (the boat-inspired building across the street) as well as the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway Valley Station building (Pala Springs Tramway in Paleto) were also his designs that made it into the game. Despite the location within Sandy Shores that largely represents Bombay Beach, in real life the motel and marina are located about 15mi Northwest of Bombay Beach. In its prime from the 1960s-early 80s the motel and marina were frequented by such stars as The Beach Boys, Jerry Lewis, and the Marx Brothers, who kept boats docked there. Demolition of the building began in Nov 2008, although for those curious you can still take a virtual ride by as the google street view for the location was taken in Feb 2008 when the building still remained as it appears in game. Very cool area(not temperature wise, can stay over 100° F all night long at times), with some interesting history for those who enjoy that sort of thing.
The North Shore Beach and Yacht Club building across the street that looks like a vessel, although still derelict, was repainted in 2005 for use in the film "The Island." It then sat further until restoration began in 2010, upon which it was the location for the Salton Sea History Museum for a short time before being repurposed by the county for community events.
Uniquely enough, this information was largely compiled nearly four years ago for a project in game that I once worked on, and has now seemed to make it into documentation elsewhere on the internet.
