 El Cortez Hotel
San Diego, CA
Photo courtesy Ken Lux
Look up toward the El Cortez Hotel in San Diego and there's a familiar name high above the street. Opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1927, the hotel brought a little Spanish Renaissance Revival grandeur to the skyline. The rooftop neon arrived in 1937, making the place even harder to overlook.
The hotel later added a glass elevator called the Starlite Express and a moving pedestrian bridge known as the Travolator. Apparently getting around could be part of the attraction. The old building eventually traded overnight guests for permanent residents.
UPDATE: The El Cortez Hotel has been turned into condos (expensive and highly
sought after!) but at the time they were constructing them, they also
restored the giant red neon sign up top. It cycles through the letters E-L
C-O-R-T-E-Z, then flashes a few times. You can see it for miles and it is
gorgeous. Many thanks to Matt J. for update. 10-05
UPDATE: The El Cortez survives as residential condominiums. Its red rooftop neon was restored and relit in February 2022, returning the familiar name to San Diego's nighttime skyline. 10-26 |
 Simmons
Hotel (Closed)
San Diego, CA
Photo courtesy Ken Lux
Above the entrance, the Simmons Hotel in downtown San Diego still has a marquee worth checking out. The old brick building dates to 1906, although the Simmons name came along much later. Quite a few guests passed through under different names before this lettering appeared.
The property was known as the Burbank, Sixth Street Rooms, the Prescott, and Hotel North before becoming the Simmons in 1965. That's several changes of identity for the same address. The modest entrance sign offers a glimpse of one chapter in that long lodging history.
UPDATE: The Simmons now serves as residential single-room-occupancy housing rather than a nightly tourist hotel. Its familiar marquee survives above the entrance on Sixth Avenue. 10-26
 Hotel Churchill (Closed)
San Diego, CA
Photo courtesy Ken Lux
No need to get right up to the doorway to spot the Hotel Churchill in San Diego. Its large rooftop sign announces the old hotel from blocks away, giving downtown visitors something to look for above the street. 06-07
Built in 1914, the hotel was ready for travelers arriving for the following year's Panama-California Exposition. Decades later, the building fell vacant, leaving the rooftop name above a hotel that wasn't checking anyone in.
UPDATE: The Hotel Churchill was restored and reopened in September 2016 as permanent supportive housing, with 72 studio apartments. Its rooftop sign was restored during the project, keeping the old hotel name above a building with a new purpose. 10-26
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