Viewpoint: Above The Orange
As part of my duties here at ABC-7, I sometimes get the opportunity to visit places and do things I’ve always wanted to do. Thursday afternoon, as part of a live location scouting trip, I got the chance to enter the tallest time capsule in the Southwest: The Plaza Hotel.
I’d always read about the Hilton / Plaza hotel, its history and its myth. As an amateur 20th Century History guru, I could not resist the chance to step inside one of the crown jewels of the El Paso skyline.
For 80 years, the Plaza hotel has towered over Downtown El Paso, and been witness to many a special event. Now the iconic hotel stands ‘above the orange,’ a beacon in the middle of Miner Orangeville.
Designed by hometown firm Trost & Trost, the Art Deco hotel was the first air conditioned hotel in the Southwest, and even had a ballroom that hosted live radio broadcasts of Big Band concerts. The hotel was even a penthouse home to Liz Taylor for a brief time.
Just beneath the 2-foot-tall PLAZA letters, on what was Ms. Taylor’s patio, I saw El Paso from a whole different perspective.
The way the streets stretch away from the city’s historic heart: San Jacinto Plaza. The rail lines that connect El Paso with the rest of the country, piercing the fall haze to the horizon. The rooftops of buildings that stood for years before the Plaza Hotel stretched into the Southwestern sky. And the barren parking lots where their neighbors once stood.
With a bright orange star guiding UTEP fans to a new era in college basketball, the venerable Plaza Hotel once again bears witness to a new dawn, this one with a warm, orange glow.
Related Links:Link:UTEP-Pacific Game Sells Out; Game To Be Shown On CableLink:Tim Floyd’s Return To Miner OrangevilleLink:El Paso Becomes Miner Orangeville; City To Be Painted Orange For Tim Floyd’s DebutLink:C-USA Player Of The Year Culpepper Leads Senior-Laden MinersLink:Former UTEP Great Greg Foster Returns To Miners As Undergrad Assistant CoachLink:1965-66 Texas Western Squad Changed Basketball Landscape
