The Heart of Phoenix: Three Iterations of the Hotel Adams
By Douglas Towne Great hotel nicknames are usually the result of innovative marketing campaigns or are obvious, such as San Diego's Hotel del Coronado, known as "the Del." But one Downtown Phoenix building branded itself. As the soaring rooftop sign atop the Hotel Adams flickered to life one evening in the 1950s, four letters malfunctioned and remained dark. The crimson neon spelled out, “HOT DAM.” The phrase sums up the love affair between Arizona and three iterations of the