LITTLE ROCK — I live in hotels, tear out the walls.
I have accountants pay for it all.
- Life's Been Good
Joe Walsh
Chere and A. J. Payne aren't rock stars, they just live like them.
Last April, the couple, who are approaching retirement age but are still active in their photography work, sold their downtown Little Rock high-rise condo along with most of their furniture and checked into the Legacy Hotel on Capitol Avenue to plot their next move.
"We were going to stay there until we decided what we wanted to do when we grow up," jokes Chere.
But somewhere along the way, they decided that hotel life suits them just fine, and their "home sweet home" became "hotel suite hotel."
No, the Paynes aren't throwing wild parties, fending off groupies or hurling television sets out their third-floor windows.
So what are they doing?
Enjoying living five blocks from their gallery in the Tower Building at Fourth and Center streets and relishing the daily maid service the hotel affords.
But how do they afford the hotel?
"With all the amenities, it costs little more than owning a condo or leasing a onebedroom apartment," says A.J. "There are no utility bills and phone and cable service for two TVs is included."
The Paynes' two-room suite includes an office-size refrigerator, microwave andcoffee-maker.
And they aren't confined to their suite. Exercise and computer rooms are down the hall. And the Paynes often lounge on lobby sofas, listening to guests playing the grand piano or outside in the courtyard by the shade trees, gazebo, and goldfish pond.
Each morning, there's complimentary continental breakfast and a copy of this paper.
While in the hotel's restaurant, the couple have met a variety of people from this country and from as far away at Australia, Ireland, England and Israel.
The pair recently met a National Geographic writer in town for the Central High commemoration.
"We've traveled quite a bit because of our assignments, and the Legacy reminds us of the kind of small hotels we always sought out in Europe," says A.J.
The Paynes are believed to be the hotel's secondlongest-staying guests, bested only by Gov.
Winthrop Rockefeller, who lived in the penthouse there when it was the Sam Peck, when he arrived in Arkansas and was building the Tower Building and his 18th-floor apartment there.
"It's a good situation which suits our needs in an affordable fashion, and we're having a lot of fun," says A.J.
Last Thursday, a host of horror stars, in town for the convention, checked in.
How many others can boast they've spent the night under the same roof as the girl from The Exorcist (Linda Blair), The Hills Have Eyes' Michael Berryman (who A.J. reports was charming and gracious at breakfast on Friday) and Ari Lehman (the original sludge-covered Jason from Friday the 13th) and lived to tell about it?
Paper Trails appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact Linda Caillouet at (501) 399-3636 or at lcaillouet@arkansasonline.com.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 10/29/2007