"Welcome back to the Dark Hotel. Now that the police have left, it seems o.k. to open the doors again. As returning visitors already know -- and first time visitors are about to find out -- The Dark Hotel is one of San Francisco's most legendary resident's hotels now sadly gone to seed. In San Francisco, the Dark Hotel has been where the action has been at ever since Elfro Jefferson -- California's first Afro-American millionaire -- first launched this concern in a blaze of gunfire back in the Edwardian dawn of 1893. For more of this detail the visitor is invited to visit Hotel History,and the Previous Stories Index, as well as all of the links to be found at the bottom of this page.

As this new season begins we find Drago Drugilovic, our beloved Night Manager and perhaps the darkest in a long line of American dark horse Presidential candidates, strung out on heroin again, alas, inside a tacky men's room somewhere near Cleveland, Ohio. How could this happen to the most promising figure to come along in American politics in a long, long time, you might wonder? Have you been paying close attention to the NASDAQ lately ? Never mind. As this final installment of our election year saga, The Big Dream, concludes, to say that there are still more surprises in store for Drago may be the understatement of the year. So , come on in. Whatever you do: remember to chew your food. Live will never again be the same. Consider that a warning.

-- The Management

Enter Welcome to the Dark Hotel. For four seasons now, we've been offering the best noir comics serials on- or offline, served up from our decaying -- yet well-policed! -- building on the edge of Chinatown. For our esteemed returning guests, we've placed an extra mint on your pillowcase. (We'll be washing the pillowcases themselves sometime next week.) For you newcomers, please come right in. Check out our six earlier stories, brought to you by some of the legendary names in underground comics. And make sure to stop by the registration desk and say hi to Drago Drugilovic, our strange night manager.

Drago has had a checkered history -- heroin addict, clarinet virtuoso, lover boy, pitchfork killer, night manager in a sordid Boho dive. Now, in our current story, The Big Dream, he's reaped the rewards of his colorful past to become the ultimate dark horse presidential candidate. This episode closes out Part One of our story. The Hotel will be closed for a few months because of a regrettable vice-squad investigation (we were set up like a bowling pin), but make sure to look for the wild conclusion of the strangest chapter in American political history in Part Two, "If He Should Fall From Grace With God," coming in July.

-- The (Innocent) Management

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