On the balcony of the Holloway Motel on the iconic Route 66 in West Hollywood, a man would sit with a laptop in front of him, drinking wine. The motel hadn’t been in use for a while and was in the process of changing hands to become interim housing for the homeless. Filmmaker Ramiel Petros would often walk past the motel and see this man, and then one day he decided to speak to him.

The man was Tony Powell, a former professional footballer for Norwich City in the UK. Powell had had a very successful career in the UK, but upon retiring from the game and following the divorce from his wife, in 1984, he upped sticks and left his life behind for a new one in California. ‘The Last Guest of the Hollway Motel’ tells the story of what led Tony to make this move and what happened in the interim four decades.

We learn early on that while Tony had a successful footballing career, a family, a wife, and children, he was also hiding a secret, that he was gay.

As of January 2026, there are only five out gay footballers in the world (that’s out of an estimated 130,000 players in the men’s game).  In 1990, there was one, and he was forced out by ‘The Sun’ (a widely despised publication in the UK). His name was Justin Fashanu, and he’d been Tony’s team-mate at Norwich City.  Jusrin would ultimately die by suicide on 2 May 1998.

As the documentary begins, we find Tony with his beloved chihuahua Samantha packing up his life and preparing to leave his job and home for the past 20 or so years.

This is an emotional and at times heartbreaking watch as Tony continues to grieve the death of his partner David, still clearly so deeply felt decades later. He seems like a broken man; he’s drinking heavily, largely keeping to his own company except a few friends like former assistant Erica and, of course, Samantha.

‘The Last Guest of the Hollway Motel’ is a story of hope and forgiveness. As the documentary progresses, we come to understand Tony and watch as he reclaims the connections he’d abandoned with some very tearful reconciliations.  I found it curious that such a seemingly secretive man agreed to this documentary, and it’s to the credit that the film-makers were able to help him reveal his story. I believe this entire process may have saved Tony.

At first glance, Tony’s decision to leave everything behind seems callous. However, as the factors that led to him walking away from everything and everyone he ever knew become clear, it makes perfect sense. He knew he could never live an authentic life if he stayed in the UK. He’d seen firsthand how his teammate John struggled before coming out, and his death years later must have only served as a confirmation that he’d made the right decision. He started afresh, moved to West Hollywood, and rejected everyone before they rejected him (or so he assumed).

This documentary shines a light on where the queer community has come from and the journey we’ve taken to reach this point. Lately, we’ve been accused of being ‘too’ visible, which has somehow led to an increase in hate, but ‘The Last Guest of the Holloway Motel’, shows what happens when we’re invisible and our lives are diminished. Despite an increasingly right-wing society and the problems we’re now encountering, it seems preferable to be visible and happy, with equal rights and hated by a minority, than invisible and unhappy with no rights and hated by the majority.  As we watch them try, and in some areas succeed, in rolling back our rights, it’s worth remembering how few rights we had before. We got them once; we can do it again.