Ever since the large yellow “Motel” sign rose above Highway 101 in 1959, the Skyview Motel attracted many a road-weary traveler — even, supposedly, the Beatles once. But its prominent hilltop perch, where the 33 rooms cast a dim glow at night against the dark expanses of the Los Alamos Valley, also inspired many a creepy feeling, so similar was it to the Bates Motel of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror film Psycho.
It’s in that vein that the new owners of the meticulously renovated property, which is now called the Hotel Skyview, decided to christen the on-site restaurant Norman — as in Norman Bates, the murderous character acted so hauntingly by a young Anthony Perkins in 1960 film.
“You might as well dance with it,” said the restaurant’s manager, Jorge Hernandez, who watched the two-year renovation from across the highway while working at Full of Life Flatbread, Bell Street Farm, and Bob’s Well Bread. “There’s no need to fight that.”