After walking for about four miles, the Baudelaires still had no luck in finding the perfect, isolated hiding spot. "What do you suggest we do now?" Klaus said to Violet. "You're the inventor, you figure something out."
"Give me time to think about it." said Violet as she pulled her ribbon from her dress to tie her hair up.
But as Sunny suddenly shrieked "Quees!" which most likely meant "Look at that tall gate over there!" Violet realized she had no need to do that right now.
Sunny had indeed spotted a very tall rusted gate alongside the road they were walking on; attached to a tall, long stone wall they had been walking along. The Baudelaires were shocked to find this gate four miles outside of the town. Even more shocking was an eviction notice saying "Condemned on October 31, 1939. Trespassing forbidden." hanging on the gate and a huge chain with a padlock keeping it closed.
"I wonder what's behind this gate, maybe because it's condemned it could be the perfect hiding spot." commented Klaus.
"You are right on that point. But what is behind this gate?" said Violet. "If it is truly a condemned building, I sure would like to know what it is." All three children continued to try and look through the bushes and trees behind the wall and gate. They were desperate to try and get at least a glimpse of whatever condemned building was behind the gate. And it was Klaus who finally spotted something after looking up and peering through the trees.
"Look at that!" he exclaimed and pointed towards the sky. As his sisters looked up towards the direction his finger was pointing, they were just as astonished as he was. For beyond the wall, the gate, and the trees was an old, dilapidated hotel building. Broken neon lights on the front of building spelled out its name, The Hollywood Tower Hotel. A huge burn mark surrounded the lights, indicating lightning had struck the building. Parts of this reddish tan hotel were broken off and crumbling away. Pointy towers decorated the top of the gigantic, run down building. "Well, I think this will do nicely, won't it?" Klaus said sarcastically.
Sunny rolled her eyes at him and squealed "Duchabo." which meant something along the lines of "Whatever, wise guy. Let's just open the gate and get in that building."
"Sunny's right. I'll figure something out." Violet said as she used her ribbon to tie her hair up, indicating she was trying to figure out a way to open up the gate. Looking around for something she could possibly use, she stuck her hand in her coat pocket and felt something in there. She hadn't even realized that she still had this thing, but now that they were in this predicament, she was glad she had it. It was her favorite pen that she always used to sketch invention ideas, and now it would become an invention itself.
Violet help up the pen in her hand and said to Klaus "This is literally our key to opening the gate."
"Just how is that literally our key in?" he asked but Violet didn't respond. She simply walked over to the gate, stuck the tip of the pen in the keyhole of the lock, and jiggled it around. It didn't take long before the lock popped open and fell to the ground.
Violet turned to Klaus and Sunny and said her favorite catchphrase: "There's always something."
Klaus grinned at her and turned to pick up Sunny as Violet untangled the chain and pushed open the gate. She turned to her siblings and asked them "Are you ready to do this?"
"Definitely, let's do this this." Klaus said. They followed Violet inside the gate and as soon as all three were inside, Violet close the gate, then locked the chain back on so it looked like no one had broken in. And with that, off they set towards the Hollywood Tower Hotel.