Ray’s Den Motel

Our first time staying at this motel. Friendly motel owner «Linda», good rates, clean room & bath and good beds. A/​C works well. Restful night and will stay here again. What a great find !
Dab & Bev

We enjoyed our stay at Ray’s Den very much. Nice and clean, friendly people at the front desk. Excellent lodging for a very nice price.

Stayed here for three nights.
The owner is very personable and loaded with local knowledge. I am used to brisk interactions with chain hotels, so this was a treat to have a friendly and eager owner who was very present in her business.
The room was very clean (and came with two York peppermint patties!) and even though it was close to the freeway, I hardly heard anything.
The bathroom is a decent size and outside of each room is two nice patio chairs to relax in the cooler nights.
Also, right behind the hotel is a little park (if you are traveling with kids and pets) and there is a short trail to a nearby museum.
And the area is very quiet at night and SAFE! I had most of my belongings in the car, and was relieved to find them safe and sound each morning.
It was also the cheapest hotel in the area and I would highly recommend staying here-​there are only 5 rooms so call in advance

Best out of 37 hotels I have stayed at in the last couple months!
CLEAN
Friendly
Kind
Great price
Awesome
Stayed 4 days instead of two.
Owner & mother Shirley outstanding !!
Loved staying here. :)

the rooms were great, very comfortable with ac, fridge, etc. the owner was very accommodating and worked around our schedule so we could show up late and depart early. also, I compared this motel with several others in lone pine and independence, and it was ten bucks cheaper. I would stay here again and again.

This place is great. Simple, clean and the owner is amazing.

This motel is the best motel i have stayed in. The owner, Linda was friendly and had good information about the surrounding areas. She had a row of books in the office and let me borrow one to read over night. Thanks to her, i learned of other interesting sites we decided to visit.
Our room was organized and clean. We didn’t feel like being in a motel. Magazines on the surrounding areas, fridge, wifi, microwave, air conditioner, quality toilet paper (no tissue thin stuff here!), nice thick towels, coffee and tea, good bath and body products… I am returning to this nice cozy den when in the area.

PRO: Clean, well priced, and easy to deal with.
CON: NONE!
I book a night here for a night after reading the reviews. When I reserved the room, it was pleasant. Just needed my name and credit card. Pretty normal.
When we got there, checking in was quick and no hassle at all. Our room was clean and immaculate. The other reviews wasn’t lying.
Since we were going to leave at 5am in the morning, Linda said to just leave the key in the room and shut off the heater/​lights and it was as simple as that.
I would recommend this place to anyone staying near the area.

After 10 hours in the car, Independence, California was a pleasant surprise. Ray’s Den was a sweet, clean motel. It was nice place to crash for the night. It was within walking distance of a few places to eat. The bed was comfortable and the room was warm. We could hear the faint sound of passing cars out the window but it wasn’t loud enough to bother us.

Ray’ Den is a fantastic place. Very clean, quiet and enjoyable. Linda is great. I plan to return to Ray’s Den many times to come. It is a perfect place to say while exploring the Owens Valley and the town of Independence has everything I needed.

I stayed at Ray’s Den as a guest of the Museum in Independence. I have stayed in many motels in the area, Ray’s Den with owner Linda moves right to the top! CLEAN! CLEAN! CLEAN!!! Nice beds, clean bathrooms. My senior parents were with me, they enjoyed every minute of their stay. I would not hesitate staying here again!!! Loved it!

We must have stayed here 20 times over the last 8 years. Consistently clean room. Fun that it has only 8 rooms. Linda, the owner, is a wonderfully friendly person. I have recommedend Ray’s Den Motel to many of my friends and they love it as well. A few miles south is a Unilocaler’s delight for a restaurant, The Seasons. As good a restaurant as you’ll find in any big city. Walking the residential streets of little Independence is a pleasure early in the morning.

Linda, the den mother of Ray’s Den Motel is awesome. This little motel is a one-​woman operation and that woman is amazing. The rooms are dated and simple, but positively immaculate. The outside of the motel is adorable, with flowers and well tended plants.
The rates are reasonable and we will most definitely be back. Don’t expect loads of bells and whistles, but do expect clean rooms, a super nice owner and a comfy bed to sleep in.

The owner, Linda, was a fantastic person to meet. Her credit card machine was on the fritz, so she just said to worry about it in the morning, (it ended up working a few minutes later). The rooms are immaculately clean, and simple. A bed, shower, bathroom, and TV is pretty much what you’ll get. For the price, you can’t find a better place. We’ll be back!

I read a lot of great review about this standard mom and pop motel in remote Independence and was frankly a bit disappointed. I specifically decided to stay in Independence for the Still Life Café, which was a awful! Do not bother going to this café. The owner innkeeper here at Rays Den was pleasant enough (and has eco-​liberal sensibilities) but no one was there when I checked in, had to call on the phone and luckily she was nearby. This motel is right on highway 395, so is a bit noisy, luckily the traffic dies down in the evening. Bed was quite comfortable and granted, room was spotlessly clean. I love vintage décor but this room is dated and there is a big difference. Only thing vintage is the cool neon sign out front. I did like the simple continental breakfast served on reception counter which I ate sitting on the provided Adirondack chairs in front of each room.
I think next time I would stay in Lone Pine and spend more time in the Alabama Hills, great Visitor Center and Manzanar National Park.

If you ever pass by Independence and need a place to stay, this is THE best place ever!
We visited Independence simply because we went to go visit Manzanar NP. Since we live in Los Angeles, the drive was going to be roughly six hours after work. We left L.A. at around 7PM. I called Ray’s Den and let them know that I would get there around 1 in the morning. Linda (the manager of the motel) said that no one will be up at this time (this is a small town, after all), but that she would leave the key under the welcome mat and we can take care of payment the following morning?
Who does that? I mean, Linda, not ever meeting me trusts a complete stranger to a room, and not even needing any type of payment, allowed me and my girlfriend to stay for the night. She really bent over backwards to ensure that we would have a night’s rest. Her room rate was $ 75.00/night in June (which changes depending on season).
The next morning, we went to the front desk and paid for the room. She makes awesome blueberry muffins. I thanked her for the wonderful service and we went on our way to Manzanar NP.
I would definitely recommend this place if you want to visit Manzanar, Onion Valley or any other landmark in this area. Linda makes sure that your stay is a pleasant one. You’ll definitely feel the small town hospitality!