The Arizona Hotel: Where “Sudden Service” Nelson Once Worked His Magic in Downtown Phoenix
At the southwest corner of Third Avenue and Washington Street stands the 305 Garage, with space for 1,450 vehicles, along with Crazy Jim’s restaurant. But over a century ago, that corner was home to the city’s newest lodgings, the Arizona Hotel, and to one of Phoenix’s most renowned soda jerks, who, during Prohibition, enjoyed cult status akin to today’s craft bartenders.
“’Sudden Service’ Nelson Wants to See You [at the] Arizona Hotel Pharmacy," declared a 1923 ad in The Arizona Republican. “I have leased the soda fountain... and have installed the latest equipment for quick and efficient lunch service [and offer] safe, sane, sanitary, soda service using only the purest grade of syrups and fruits.”
Nelson must have had quite the following, as the ad notes, “Extra police to keep traffic open.”
The Arizona Hotel was constructed for $180,000 and opened in late 1922, featuring 105 rooms in a five-story brick building. In addition to a pharmacy, the hotel featured a café called the Arizona Grill, a lounge, a beauty salon, and a Western Union office.
Other upscale hotels were built in Downtown Phoenix during the Roaring ‘20s, necessitating upgrades in 1935. The renovation included a Carrier-Brunswick air-conditioning system, an enlarged lobby with an additional entrance on Washington, new furnishings, and a two-story hotel annex.
Ted Brookhart, who worked across the street at Phoenix City Hall, ate lunch frequently at the hotel's restaurant after being hired in 1965. “I recall it was kind of dark, with a dated 1930s décor and lacked the elegance of the Adams and San Carlos hotels,” he says. “The furnishings were a bit worn, but the food wasn’t bad.”
In 1967, the City of Phoenix purchased the Arizona Hotel as part of a six-block acquisition to develop a complex of buildings. The hotel was to be demolished after its furnishings were auctioned.
Before demolition could begin, the city was found to be in violation of its own new sign ordinance, which required that signs on buildings no longer in use be removed. The citation also cited rooftop skeleton signs on buildings along Van Buren, then the major highway through Phoenix, that directed motorists to the Arizona Hotel.
Two days later, the hotel’s furnishings, including divans, chairs, tables, desks, beds, mattresses, drawers, lamps, and gas ranges, were offered at auction. In 1968, the hotel was demolished, and a parking lot was later built on the site.
Brookhart was sad to see it go. “The loss of the Arizona Hotel and the Luhrs Hotel is a testament to the lack of vision of our City Councils over the years,” he says. “Saving these two as ‘boutique’ hostels along with the Fox Theater and the Victorian homes near the Rosson House would have added a distinct vibe to downtown, lacking in so many cities. I am thankful for the buildings that were saved, but we could have done so much more.”
And what happened to “Sudden Service” Nelson? Over a handful of years, the soda jerk moved his operations among five pharmacies: the Adams, the High School, the Arizona Hotel, Dunn’s Adams, and finally to Boehmer’s Fountain, before his name ceased to appear in the newspaper.
The articles indicate that his wife was a great cook known as Mrs. “Sudden Smith” Nelson, and they had a son in 1923, known as “Super Service” Nelson. But the mystery remains of what this trio’s actual first names were and what happened to them. But we do know that “Sudden Smith” Nelson was touted as “…a real mixer of both fancy drinks and with the public.”
Douglas C. Towne is the editor of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine, www.arizcc.com