Swimming at the Adams Hotel in 1953, Phoenix, Arizona


Let's go for a swim in the pool of the Adams Hotel in 1953. Put on your bathing cap, the water's fine.

There's a photographer there at the end of the pool, and I'm pretty sure that we're going to be in the picture, maybe on a postcard. The "bathing beauties" have been posing like statues for quite some time. I suppose they're wearing the latest styles, but they aren't doing any swimming. One of the models is even wearing a "Bikini" - how risqué!
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For an old hotel, built in 1911, this isn't bad. Of course they've added a lot of things since then, including this pool. I understand the original Adams Hotel burned down in 1910. It was wood, and this one is concrete, so I feel pretty safe here.

Just north of the hotel is the Professional Building, the headquarters of Valley National Bank. And there's a nice view of the Phoenix Mountains, and Squaw Peak.

Maybe later on we can go drive around Phoenix, which is growing like crazy now that the war is over. The old-timers don't like it much, but the demand for houses is great for the local economy. Might be a good idea to invest in some land way out in the country, like at Bell Road.

Thank you for swimming with me.

Note: The Adams Hotel, which was on the northeast corner of Central and Adams, was demolished in 1973, and the current hotel is called the Renaissance Downtown Phoenix. The Professional Building is still there, and is the Hilton Garden Inn nowadays. And Squaw Peak was renamed to Piestewa Peak after Lori Piestewa, who was the first American woman to die in the Iraq War and first Native American woman soldier to die in U.S. military service in combat on foreign soil.

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