On your left is the San Carlos Hotel, a real piece of Yuma drama since 1930. Picture it: the Great Depression is in full swing, most folks are tightening their belts, and yet, up goes this five-story stunner-107 rooms, grand Art Deco curves, sharp lines, the whole jazz. It cost $300,000 back then, which is around $5 million in today’s money. Let’s just say Yuma was feeling ambitious.
Designed by the Los Angeles firm Dorr and Gibbs, the hotel quickly became the swanky spot in town. Politicians, businessmen, maybe even a few desert dreamers passed through those doors. By the 1980s, everyone wanted their own space-so it was chopped up into 59 apartments. These days, there’s talk of a sale, so who knows what’s next for the old dame. But standing here, the Art Deco flair is still impossible to miss. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places, officially topping the “look, but don’t you dare bulldoze me” list.
Yuma doesn’t save Art Deco for special occasions-it wears it to breakfast. Anyway, if you’re ready for the next chapter, head south for about 6 minutes to the Brinley Avenue Historic District.
