—Josh Ocampo

I had just put the proverbial bow on my Valentine’s playlist, naming it after an Angel Olsen song within, when a friend texted me this NYT article [gift link] eulogizing the heart-shaped bathtub. If you, like me, are a “nostalgic person” (how is the way he says that so good?), it’s worth a read—comments section included.

Writer Josh Ocampo chronicles how “sweetheart tubs” proliferated during the Poconos’ honeymoon resort boom of the 60s–80s (creator and electrician/submariner/hotelier Morris Wilkins never got around to patenting it). He rightly interviewed Margaret and Corey Bienert of @aprettycoolhoteltour, an account that’s played a huge part in sharing what’s remained of these resorts in recent years.

Working in hospitality, I think about hotels a lot: what’s in them, and what people want out of them. Last week, I rewatched the 2010 film Blue Valentine (which happens to be shot near the Poconos!). There’s a part where, in an attempt to re-ignite their spark, Ryan Gosling’s character books a night for himself and his wife, played by Michelle Williams, at a theme motel. There’s no heart-shaped tub, but the bed spins.

Mary Beth Barone recently described Blue Valentine as a Rohrschach test. To her, whether or not you deem it a sad movie reflects your current relationship with love. I think the same can be said about the NYT article’s bathtubs. Being put out to Facebook Marketplace pasture can be a sorry fate. But for the Bienerts’ tub, which they “plan to install… in the bedroom of their Michigan home, which they will rent out to vacationers as a romantic getaway,” it’s a chance to be fallen in love with again.

Isn’t that what Valentine’s is all about? Romantic getaways, into music, candlelit restaurants, and hotels. Hearts being shaped, broken, and taken up anew.

Happy listening!