The man was telling John Ashley he wanted to lease the Stardust Motel in Rapid City, S.D., for his movie but Ashley didn’t believe he was a director. So Alexander Payne (“Sideways,” “The Descendants,”) picked up his cell phone and got George Clooney on the phone. The actor, who was laughing, confirmed that yes, Payne was a director.
The movie Payne was talking to Ashley about was “Nebraska,” which went on to earn six Academy Award nominations, including for Payne and lead actor, Bruce Dern. And there was a reason why Payne wanted that motel in the movie.

For Ashley, it started another chapter in an interesting life as a businessman and collector. The lifelong resident of South Dakota started as a financial planner but soon transitioned to full-time entrepreneur. Over the years he has started, bought and sold carwashes, strip malls, and payday loans companies, co-owned the Posse’s basketball team, operated the franchise for Nathan’s Hotdogs carts, and run the #1 AirBnB in South Dakota. He’s also developed a lot of properties, most recently converting hotels to apartments.
The Stardust Motel is one of them. It features a large red and yellow neon sign. Its design has something akin to a fat arrow around it with a big star on top. Payne liked it for strong lines and distinction between colors. Because he was shooting in black and white he wanted contrast and he knew that would translate well. It also had the look and feel he wanted for “Nebraska,” even though it was in South Dakota.
The scenes at the Stardust Motel were shot in a single day, albeit a very long one. The call time was 4:30 am it ended at midnight. It was also the last day of principal photography. There was a full crew there along with guests like actress Laura Dern, who was on set to visit her father and Payne.
Ashley marveled at how much time they spent decorating the set, moving things around and trying different elements. “I could have done it in half an hour,” he said. The set decorator painstakingly put it together, every item carefully thought through. Payne approved.
A movie poster of “Nebraska” hangs near the entrance of Ashley’s office but he has other artifacts from that day, including a signed script. He’s most proud of the two baseballs that sit on his desk, one signed by Bruce Dern and the other by Will Forte, the other lead actor in the movie.
Ashley had bonded with the men over baseball between scenes. Ashley gave Forte a used jersey worn by Dusty Baker, manager of the Oakland A’s, and the signed baseball was his reply. But Dern, clearly a Dodger’s fan, wrote the better inscription: “Giant Fans Rule – Assholes.”
The de facto trade with Forte is telling for another reason: Most of Ashley’s sizable collection has been by barter. It’s a wide assortment of things dominated by sports, although he has more than a thousand autographed publicity photos of actors.
The walls of his office are lined with unique items, many of them with signatures. There’s Ted Williams hitting a home run, a Barry Bonds #25 jersey on the wall, and a poster of baseball greats that includes Mickey Mantle — all autographed.
Golf is also a mainstay interest. One framed picture includes a black and white image of very young players Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, both smoking cigars. It includes separate autographs. It reads, “Smoking at the Tee, 1962 PGA Championship, Aronimink Golf Club, Newtown Square, Pa.“
Ashley also has a signed Salvador Dali lithograph, although he used to have two. Someone stole one of them, which brought in law enforcement including the FBI. It was determined to be an inside job. His home had undergone a significant renovation when it disappeared. That spawned a state-of-the-art security system.
That Ashley collected the majority of items through trading with others goes back to his childhood. His first collection was marbles. He played with the other kids in the neighborhood and amassed a fortune of them. Then he moved on to baseball cards. Evidence of the longevity of that focus remains in the large binders that sit on a coffee table. In that mix is a Willie Mays rookie card.
But the most interesting thing he has might be a baseball bat signed by Pete Rose, because of the other signature on it. That belongs to Ron Peters, the bookie who turned Rose in when he wouldn’t pay the $36,000 he owed on lost wagers. Peters took proof of Rose’ gambling to the commissioner of baseball, which lead to his being banned from the Baseball Hall of Fame. The bookie, who has since died, resisted signing the bat. He was still miffed by being stiffed by Rose all those years later and didn’t want the catcher to make a dime off of him. Ashley promised he wouldn’t sell the bat.
He won’t trade it, either.