Travelogue: Phoenix
Downtown Phoenix 2021
Downtown Phoenix this spring was sunny, hot and coming back to life. Lockdown was lifting after a period of time with devastating impact on local business, trade and travel, especially in the hospitality, commercial and private aviation and tourism industries. Downtown Phoenix lacks shade, water fountains, public toilets at public transportation stations and other urban desert essentials.
But my stay at the Westin Downtown Phoenix by Arizona State University’s downtown campus, the historic Westward Ho hotel, Art Deco post office, Heritage Square, Hotel San Carlos and other points of interest was pleasant. The visit started with a hotel lobby bar happy hour manned by a bartender from Bangladesh named Shamit. He’d invented several cocktails, including what he dubbed the Better Basic, which really does taste better.
Shamit’s since moved on to Flint, a bar at the Arizona Biltmore, which I’ve visited a few times (previously reviewed fo…
