The front façade of the new Q Inn, a World War II-era Quonset Hut that’s been transformed into a 10-room motel.
Photos by Neil Farrell
Morro Bay’s newest motel is also its most unique.
John and Joan Solu have completed the transformation of a World War II-era Quonset Hut, left over from the Naval training base that used to be in Morro Bay, into the new “Q Inn,” a 10-room, elegant boutique motel built into the old half-shell steel building, located at 1141 Main St. on the edge of Downtown Morro Bay.
With the towering power plant stacks and Morro Rock looming in the distance, the Q Inn is billed as Morro Bay’s only “historic stay.”
The old steel Quonset hut looks much the same on the outside, though its new faux wooden façade and smoked glass doors and windows on either end, certainly dress up the corrugated steel skin and arched steel ribs that has served many functions over its 70-plus years.
Inn in Morro Bay.
The Navy Base had nearly 100 of these huts and many were moved up into town when the base closed after the war. The Q Inn is one of just a handful still standing, still in use.
Inside, the Q Inn is split down the middle with a long tunnel-like corridor with white walls and a cement floor. There are 10 rooms, explains John Solu while giving a short tour, five rooms on each side.
We enter one of the 360-square foot “large” rooms, which boast an elegant and comfy looking bed, forest green bed spread, facing a 55-inch flat screen TV.
The outer walls are curved, following the original hut’s shape, and the glass door leads to a small patio complete with outdoor furniture and a fire pit. All the large rooms on this side have the fire pits, John says.
The bathroom is an elegant, softly lit, tiled space with a walk-in shower and gold fixtures.
The room lighting is subtle and soft as well, giving the room a really comfy feel to it.
On the other side are nearly identical looking rooms, in so far as the furnishings go, but those five are a bit smaller at 250 s.f.
“I had to do that because we had to have a service area and a laundry,” he explains. Those utility rooms, which are at the back of the motel, ate up the extra space on one side and because of the access driveway down that same side; the smaller rooms have a narrow “sitting area” instead of a full on patio.
“This was already here,” he says of the narrow space.
Though the Q Inn has some of the traditional utility rooms one sees at all motels, it’s missing something — a manager’s office and apartment.
Orion Solu, Joan and John’s adult son, who recently graduated from Boise State University, will be running the Q Inn, John says. But you won’t find him stuck behind a desk.
John says the Q Inn will utilize modern check-in methods wherein a proposed guest will book their room online and an electronic confirmation will be sent to their smartphone, including an electronic key or code to enter the rooms.
If a guest doesn’t have a smartphone and needs to check in the old fashioned way, someone will come down “and give you an old fashioned key card.”
And the whole place is wired for remote control. John laughs at the notion that with his smartphone he can turn on the lights, regulate the air conditioning and heater, or unlock your room door literally from anywhere. “I can do this from Istanbul,” he laughs, referring to his native Turkey.
Room rates seem reasonable too. John says the smaller rooms will go for $139 a night on weekdays and $199 for the large rooms. On weekends it’ll “probably be $100 more,” he says. He points out that motel rooms on the Embarcadero are now going for upwards of $500 a night.
And in tribute to the building’s military origins, John says they’re offering a 15% discount to military veterans. They’re also giving a 5% discount for Triple A members and 10% for seniors.
The transformation, which started in March 2025 and was just completed at the end of March 2026, costs the Solus and their business partner Brian Harvey of B.J. Harvey Const., in Atascadero, about $1.3 million, with the property costing another million to buy.
It was a real collaboration, he explains, Joan did all the design and decorating, Harvey’s construction company handled the licenses and contracting, and John did a lot of the work.
The rooms have 10-foot ceilings but the Quonset hut is cavernous, with some 14-feet of empty space above the top of the rooms. The empty space causes a slight echo that you hear when in the corridor.
Getting the project done and opened in a single year has to be some kind of record for this town. Then again the Solus have experience doing this sort of thing. John recounts that they owned, remodeled and sold the old Villager Motel (now Coastal Breeze); the Days Inn (now Harbor House); the Sandpiper (now Beach Bungalows); the Pleasant Inn (still the Pleasant Inn); and the Embarcadero Inn (now 451 Embarcadero). “Plus motels in Solvang and Santa Maria,” he says.
And he’s got his eye on another Morro Bay location too, the former Libertine Pub located in the heart of the Embarcadero.
He’s just waiting for the City to release a RFP as it seeks a new leaseholder with a redevelopment proposal for the old 2-story building, which was originally the Fish Bowl Restaurant.
For more information on and for bookings at the Q Inn, see the website at: theqinn.com.
