Look ahead and you’ll spot a tall, sharply-stepped brown high-rise, topped with a tan, octagonal crown-that’s the Hyatt Regency Houston Downtown, rising unmistakably from the street corner.
Alright, take in this towering slice of ‘70s Houston-thirty stories clad in brown brick, looking a bit like a giant modern ziggurat with a party hat. When the Hyatt Regency first opened in December 1972, folks couldn’t believe its size. Still today, at 401 feet, nobody’s managed to top it as Houston’s tallest hotel. Now, you see that odd shape at the top? That used to be Spindletop, a revolving restaurant that slowly spun diners dizzy as they looked out over downtown. These days, it hosts swanky events, but the memory of the spinning steakhouse lives on. The real jaw-dropper, though, is inside-a 29-story open atrium so dramatic, it made its way into the 1976 sci-fi classic Logan’s Run. Over the years, this hotel has played host to everything from economic summits to political conventions-basically, Houston’s version of the international red carpet. And after a $40 million facelift in 2008, it’s even got the only Shula’s Steakhouse in Texas. Now that’s what I call hospitality-Houston-style.
