If you choose your hotels based on their workout rooms, pools, saunas, Jacuzzis, restaurants, free hot breakfasts, room service, easy parking and modern amenities, you would not like the hotel I stayed at last weekend in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It has absolutely none of these things. But what it does have is history.

The Hotel San Carlos was built in 1928 as the most luxurious, expensive hotel in Phoenix. It was the favorite of many movie stars, including Clark Gable, who now has a room named after him on the fourth floor. It’s a corner room overlooking Central Avenue and Monroe Street, and as the story goes, he would spend hours there seated by the window “getting acting tips by studying ordinary people on the street below.”

Clark Gable was not the only movie star that liked to stay at the San Carlos. Mimicking Hollywood, there are brass stars on the sidewalk outside etched with signatures of other celebrities who have stayed here — Marilyn Monroe, Mae West, Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy, Carole Lombard, and Ingrid Bergman. On the sidewalk in downtown Phoenix? Yep. And while I was reading the stars there was an old black man in a wheelchair reading the names out loud. “I’ve lived here for 40 years,” he said, excitedly, “and I never knew this was here.”

I love the way they cover for the fact that the furniture at this hotel now is banged up and the rugs are stained and lumpy by stating: “We kindly ask for your respect for the historic fixtures, decor, and unique architectural details — some features may differ from modern expectations, but they are part of the story we are proud to share.”

In other words, we haven’t done a thing to this place in years, but just look around; doesn’t it look like the 1930s? I like it because I wouldn’t use any of those other amenities if they had them, and because without them, the room costs about the same as a Best Western or Motel 6.

Hey, you know what? I bet I could say the same thing about myself these days. “I kindly ask for your respect … some of my features may differ from modern expectations, but they are part of the story I am proud to share.”

Actually, couldn’t we all say the same thing? This is not just related to our age, it’s related to our humanity and what we have have been through so far in our lives. We all demand respect because we are alive, and we have been made in God’s image, and we each have a story that is unique to us and worth telling. This has to do with respect for ourselves and even more so with respect for others. Remember, “some features may differ from modern expectations, but they are part of the story we are proud to share.”