Five years ago, Brian Acosta Arya, who manages the Lincoln Tunnel Motel in North Bergen, set up a camera near the front desk and filmed the first of his enormously popular TikTok videos, chronicling life inside one of New Jersey’s cheapest roadside accommodations.
It took five uploads until his channel “blew up,” Arya said. Part of the intrigue among the commenters was trying to figure out what this place was about – was it a real account, an advertisement, satire? It’s all the above.
Although TikTok users discovered Arya’s channel through his minute-long comedic clips, the ones who stuck around would soon see the channel’s evolution away from purely shtick – think of Arya dancing around in a cockroach suit – to something more autobiographical, kinder, and more penetrating.
“I didn’t start out like that – I don’t think I had an altruistic bone in my body,” Arya said. “I got really serious about it during Covid because I saw how this whole industry was affected.”
Arya’s viewers — he has just shy of a million followers — also identified with his story. After attending acting school in Los Angeles, he came back to New Jersey without his career taking off the way he envisioned it. His father handed him the keys to the family business and Arya figured out a way to turn that detour into an inspiration for his comedy. Now his TikTok channel is inspiring others who refuse to give up on their dreams and decide to forge their own path. Last year, the 36-year-old signed with a talent agency.
Managing a 41-room motel is not an easy line of work. The bulletproof glass in the lobby alone should tell you something about the risks of working a round-the-clock business that deals with the public. At the same time, working at the front desk has brought him face-to-face with people at the worst moments of their lives and taught him the value of a little kindness. As cheap as a room is, some can’t afford even that. In fact, he began a no-questions-asked program giving people in need a free night. What shields Arya is his outlook. At least he can give these people a roof over their heads for a night, he figures. “I hear stories that would make anyone want to help,” Acosta said.
With a bleeding heart sometimes comes problems with guests taking advantage of him. During the pandemic, the Lincoln Motel was overrun by 10 squatters because of the pandemic restrictions on evictions and the backlog in the court systems. A judge finally processed the final eviction last month.
Outside the motel, the drone of cars speeding down Tonnelle Avenue is almost deafening. Arya raises his voice to be heard over the stream of traffic racing in the direction of the Lincoln Tunnel. The building dates back to the 1960s, and it began as a diner. After Acosta’s father, now in his eighties, immigrated to the United States, he pooled his money with seven other investors and bought the property. He eventually bought the other partners out. For a brief time in his childhood, Arya and his family lived in one of the rooms.
Today, it costs $75 per night at the motel. There are other cheap lodgings along Route 1&9, but this one is the cheapest. The last time Acosta raised the price was during the pandemic when he upped it $5. Of course, he has a goal to renovate the entire place. But affordability is a badge of honor.
“Maybe in a few years we’ll raise it again, we’ll see how things go. We’re the most affordable motel on this road and I want to stay that way,” Arya said. “These are all shelters – it doesn’t matter how many stars it has or how many membership points you get.”
