Two points:
If you don't want to manage locations then locations support should be turned off.¶

Second how did you get to that state? Once you don't have a location then it will ask you to create one. The only time this might happen is when you are in an org context that has no locations? And not in a location context?

IMHO the solution is to create a location

This is foretello: Orgs & locations are enabled. On first login I created a location, cleverly named "location."

The source of the issue, I believe, is that the "new host" UI location dropdown does not have a blank entry. This means every new host must belong to a location, which then means all resources that are referenced by this host must also be in a location.

This behavior is, I believe, incorrect and a new host need not be required to belong to a location. Correct?

I set priority as "high" since it impacts new user experience greatly when first host created cannot find any of the resources set up previously during the tutorial.

Several locations were created. The problem is that there is not a way to select a "blank" location. This makes the location for a new host, when locations are enabled, as required.

if locations are enabled, a user is expected to select one, this is by design, hence closing.. thank you!