For some people, the little South Side motel was a market for cocaine and prostitutes, a place where violence lived.
For others, it was just home.
About 20 people were displaced when El Camino Motel was condemned Tuesday by the city of South Tucson and the Pima County Health Department, after inspectors found multiple code violations. Red signs on every door read: "Do not enter. Unsafe to occupy."
People paid $25 a day to live at El Camino, 297 E. Benson Highway, on Interstate 10 near South Fourth Avenue.
Tuesday's events began when an officer went to the motel to investigate a call about a fight, said Sgt. Richard Muñoz, a spokesman for the South Tucson Police Department. The officer smelled gas, so police called in the utility companies and health inspectors.
Southwest Gas inspectors found leaks and turned off the gas to the property. The city manager ordered the power shut off, too.
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Muñoz said there has been at least a decade of problems at the motel, which has about 18 rooms and was built in 1945 as a roadside stop for travelers.
"It's a problem area not only with the code violations and the health violations, but also with the criminal activity that takes place here," Muñoz said. "We're here all the time for drug-related activity."
A tour of the room where Grace Gonzales, 44, had lived with her husband since March 1 revealed a front window held onto its frame with tape and a back window replaced by a board she bought. A broken mirror rested against a wall in the room. The only working outlet was in the bathroom and a damaged extension cord ran into the living area. Wires on an overhead fixture were bare. The shower had to be turned on and off with a wrench. A cabinet looked as if it had been kicked in. The carpet was torn. The air conditioner wasn't working. And it had "roaches galore," she said.
"The whole reason we moved into this place is because it was cheap enough for my husband and I to afford," she said, weeping. "Now, I don't know where we are going to go and I am just so angry right now."
She said she believed the owner when he told her he would improve the motel. She even offered to help.
"We have skills," she said. "We could have painted and fixed the electricity, but he wanted to leave it how it was."
The couple had paid to live there through April 30, she said. She didn't know if their money will be reimbursed or if she will be able to move her belongings quickly.
"For someone to look you in the eye, and tell you, 'Things are going to get better,' we all believed him," she said as she stood outside, barefoot.
The owner said nothing more could have been done.
"It's going to get broken again no matter how many times you fix it," said Gautam "Andy" Patel, who has owned El Camino for 15 years. He also owns the D-M Motel, 2131 S. Craycroft Road.
The area around El Camino is infested with drugs and violence, he said. A lot of times, people can't pay rent and won't leave, he said, and police don't help him with problem tenants.
He said helping people who lived there was like "inviting trouble."
Police were called to El Camino daily, Muñoz said. Police often found drugs and prostitutes there, he said. They also found a lot of "crack rides," stolen cars used in drug deals and then dumped in the parking lot. And sometimes crimes that started at El Camino turned violent in the city, he said.
The motel will be closed until a licensed contractor brings the property up to code, Muñoz said, and everyone was told to leave by Tuesday night.
"A lot of the people living here are good people living here out of need, out of necessity," said South Tucson Police Chief Sixto Molina. "It's hard to find affordable housing, but affordable housing needs to be safe, and this place wasn't safe."
