Pennsylvania Hotel & Pub

You should ride with us sometime, you might see some things that’ll change your mind. Get a killer sunburn in the middle of the night.

There are a couple of things that might pop into your mind whenever Pennsylvania is mentioned – possibly a steel Ray Liotta dealing cocaine to the sounds of Taylor Swift. Or Sylvester Stallone smashing a giant bell with an eagle made out of M. Night Shyamalan. One thing you’re probably not going to think of, though, is Iowa (to which Slipknot eating corn in the middle of fucking nowhere would be your first thought). Well, we’re in Iowa. And we’re in a pub. Because there’s nothing else to do around here except drink and have a fight.

Thankfully, Fox Mulder escaped his visit to the Pennsylvania Hotel & Pub unscathed back in 1993, searching as he was for info about Ruby Morris, a teenage girl who had gone missing at the nearby Lake Okobogee. It’s actually one of the early episodes, this one, so I remember watching it when I was a kid. Before it all just got too complicated and tangled up in itself for me. I think Gillian Anderson having a baby was my own personal cut off point.

Now, this place does already have visual representation in the show, but it is overbearingly neon. So we’ve redeveloped it somewhat, retaining most of the key features of the original. Some writing and a feather, essentially. What’s peculiar is that the venue is kind of a rock-y, metal-y, dive-y type place, but ‘HOTEL & PUB’ is written in an overly Art Deco font. I suspect the clientele care very little as long as the tequila keeps flowing.

The word ‘Pennsylvania’ in the original sign is a bit all over the place. It kind of looks almost hand written, so I’ve gone with something a little bit more robust. On the assumption that they might need letterheaded paper when they have to send back patrons’ teeth they lost the evening prior.

All this violence is guesswork, by the way. I’m sure Iowa is actually fine.