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STILL SEEING STARS RESIDENT RECALLS HOTEL IN HEYDAY |
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From her balcony overlooking the pool, Fran Davidson blinks and turns back the clock 45 years. It was around 1950 -- specifically, 1948 to 1957 -- when she walked in the footsteps of the rich and famous. THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC/THE PHOENIX GAZETTE May 10, 1995 By Mike Padgett, Staff writer Color Photo by Tom Tingle, Staff photographer |
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Davidson was a jack-of-all-trades employee at the Fountain Room in the
Westward Ho Hotel at Central Avenue and Fillmore Street. When one of the
waitresses or cashiers went on vacation, she filled in. Her husband,
Bill, a chef, died in 1964. When the Davidsons worked at the Ho, it was one of the Southwest's premier resorts. It was the place to see and be seen. Big Band music still was popular, and critics dismissed rock 'n' roll as a passing fad. Phoenix was undergoing rapid growth. The Korean War was a recent and painful memory. The hotel register reads like a list of political and entertainment who's who. Phil Harris, Groucho Marx, Margaret Whiting and the King Sisters. Others were Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman. In its heyday, the lobby's intricate gold-leaf ceiling sparkled. Today, the sparkle is buried under white paint. Gracing the high-rise exterior are elegant architectural carvings. Davidson recalled a tale about a millionaire hotelier. After drinking too much, the visitor found his way to the roof, where he walked on the edge. He eventually came down. Hotel manager Pat Fritchey said the Ho closed its doors in the 1970s. Around 1975, previous owners came up with the idea of converting it into retirement housing for the elderly. It took six years to complete the paper work. If the conversion hadn't occurred, the old hotel, built in 1929, likely would have been torn down, Fritchey said. ''They don't make them like this any more,'' he said. ''It's one of a kind.'' Room 318 is Davidson's home at the hotel. President Kennedy reportedly stayed there when he was in Arizona in 1960 during his campaign for president. He stopped in Phoenix for speeches and to meet with Democratic Party leaders. Newspaper accounts say Kennedy met with party officials in a room at the hotel. The reports are unclear whether he stayed overnight. ''Every once in a while, when I'm bathing, I look in the mirror and wonder, did Kennedy shave here?'' Davidson said. She laughs at her wonderings. It was Kennedy who, in April 1963, signed a proclamation establishing Senior Citizens Month. The name was changed in 1980. At 76, Davidson is one of the nation's millions of retirees who are being honored this month, Older Americans Month. Davidson has lived in the hotel since 1981, the year the historic and bankrupt hotel was reincarnated as subsidized housing for the elderly. From her patio, Davidson can look across the hotel's inner courtyard. It's a green sanctuary where the politicians and movie stars and starlets cajoled and wheedled and made deals. Every morning, she works the crossword puzzle in the newspaper. Her happy eyes and quick laugh give her a Cheshire-cat smile. In the summer heat, she uses a wet paper towel, neatly folded, to cool her face. Davidson moved slowly to a chair on her balcony. ''My legs aren't what they used to be,'' she said. ''I need my cane.'' Her bold muumuu is brighter than the flowers she tends in pots in her home. She fussed about her patio. ''My patio's so dusty. I'm sorry about that,'' she said with her Southern accent. Davidson motioned to the hummingbird nest in the overhead wind chime. The nest was busy last year. ''She says she's a hummingbird grandma,'' Fritchey said. ''Yeah!'' Davidson said. ''Lemme show you my pictures of the nest.'' She hopes the hummers return. |