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CommentsLa buena vida – for a weekend
The Phoenician resort is all about pampering guests
Ruben Hernandez
(page 1 of 2)
If you’re a longtime Valley resident, you can’t think of The Phoenician resort without thinking of Charley Keating, its creator and original owner.
For newcomers, Charles H. Keating Jr. was a high flying, savings-and-loan financier and developer who later went bust – and to jail – during the 1980s for some shady deals that bilked investors out of millions of dollars.
Keating’s dream was to build the world’s biggest, most grandiose and most spectacular resort in history. When The Phoenician was built in 1988, it was opulent by Arizona standards, with more than $1 million in Native American sculptures on the grounds, gold-leaf trimmings in the décor and exotic plants flown in from as far away as East Africa.
He almost succeeded. Located at a prime location at the base of Camelback Mountain, with views of the surrounding Sonoran desert landscape, The Phoenician is world class, especially for Arizona.
My first experience visiting The Phoenician was as a journalist working for the New Times weekly. I was assigned to interview a then up-and-coming comedian by the name of Paul Rodriguez, who was in town for a gig.
I met him in his spacious room at The Phoenician, we popped open a couple of brews from the house refrigerator, and we toasted. I’m sure he was thinking the same thing I was: That we two Chicanos who grew up on the mean streets of L.A. had made it – we were guzzling frias at one of the fanciest resorts in the world. Salud, baby!
Things have changed. The Starwood Resorts hotel chain now owns The Phoenician.
The grand old dame of Phoenix resorts is undergoing $70 million in renovations. And Paul Rodriguez’s fame trajectory has taken a dive, relegating him to B movies and stand-up comedy these days.
So when I was deciding where Kelly – that’s my “Funpanion” travel buddy -- should take a staycation, The Phoenician became a natural choice.
Funpanion is a grant-writer for a local nonprofit, and both of us work under relentless deadline pressure. So I wanted a place where we could really “escape” from our regular lives and Valley neighborhoods.
