Helloooooo! Some thoughts, and the W Hotel bankruptcy
February 10, 2009 by Frank
Hello all,
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted. As I’ve previously mentioned, I’m over Scottsdale having escaped there two years ago this month. When you’re not surrounded by rude, obnoxious, fake, disgusting, petty Scottsdale people all day long, you just lose the motivation to rail against it online.
Having said that…
The most amusing story I’ve seen recently is the announcement that the W Hotel in Scottsdale has filed for bankruptcy. Well, what the hell did they expect? We all know that nobody in Scottsdale can afford to party there (not anymore, now that the housing ATM is over). And we all know that nobody who can afford to stay in a W with their overpriced rooms actually vacations in Scottsdale. They go to Vegas, SoCal, Hawaii, etc.
Here in SoCal, we’ve been up to the usual. Lots of fun times with lots of friends – more than we ever had in Arizona – and a lot of fun travel mixed in too. We enjoyed a great trip to the Caribbean with friends, and then we’re off to Texas later this week to visit friends there. And keeping busy with work… just signed a new book deal 
Here are some comments that caught my attention when I was reading them just now:
I live happily in Florida and have an arrogant Aunt from Chicago that moved there 20 years ago, that I have to call once a year for Christmas….
My god! Every year, I call just to say “Merry Christmas” and every year all she/they do, is give me an unsolicited Real Estate pitch, telling me how GREAAAAAAT, beautiful, warmer & Better than Florida, Snobsdale is. And how they are not unaffected by the WORLD recession they are. Just Perfect, there… Meanwhile all her Grown ARROGANT Children are losing their Homes, can’t find a job…can’t keep a wife.
Hehe … that cracked me up because we also have an aunt/uncle in Scottsdale and every time we talk to them, we hear the EXACT same thing! How “wonderful” it is and how “terrible” it is where we live – from people who’ve never even lived here! As I’ve pointed out before, Scottsdale is the only place where people are constantly justifying to you, out loud, why they live there. Of course, we all know that if they were actually happy, they wouldn’t have to constantly justify things and overcompensate for their insecurities. But, that’s Scottsdale – a bunch of miserable people who secretly wish they could live somewhere else but want you to believe how “prosperous” and “affluent” they are.
So sad but so true, Frank. I have lived in SoCal for almost 20 years and it is well-known here that AZ is a police state and is to be avoided. You can drive with the flow of traffic here in San Diego at 80 mph and not even get a second look from a cop, whereas in AZ you better smile real perty for the camera, boy. We avoid AZ if at all possible.
Radar cameras just add to the already creepy police-state vibe in AZ. It’s almost like you are in a weird movie. When you look at a place like Scottsdale, which gives off a serious vibe of all flash no substance, you really start to get weirded out.
I guess the world does need places like this for people who want to play big fish in a very tiny pond. It’s funny to watch the playa/high society vibe out in full force in Scottsdale. I get a good chuckle out of that, actually. Everyone knows all the real playas with big game in the southwest region reside in coastal SoCal. Not that SoCal is without its fronters – plenty of em, in fact – but it’s also where the real game is being played and it’s where you are at if you got game and you live in the southwest.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. While there are a few good, decent people living in Scottsdale – the ones who know and accept that it’s a place to live temporarily for work at best, and a refuge for cheap living and a sedentary lifestyle at worst – the vast majority are indeed “people who want to play big fish in a very tiny pond.” It’s a very, very weird place. Even here in SoCal, a surprising number of people are aware of “that Scottsdale thing” and that it’s a bizarre, Twilight Zone-like place full of weirdos and wannabes who are completely wasting their lives trying to live in a fantasy world.
I have a question for everyone: Are people actually still drinking the Scottsdale kool-aid? Even the most hardened Scottsdale phonies seemed to cave in after the real estate credit collapse and admit that there was never any wealth in Scottsdale. Just about all of our friends there have now moved away, or are in the process of moving.
Do the losers in Scottsdale actually still believe their own bullshit? Even now?
I thought I read they are going to open another “W” hotel in Tempe soon. Is this true? If so I am sure it will not be far behind the one in Scottsdale to file for bankruptcy.
My own personal observations: I am finding when I am out and about I seldom encounter the broke but bragging crowd I did from 02-05. No the people now just seem to be hostile and angry. Sort of like drug addicts who have had their supply cut off!!!lol
A bit off topic: I would like to announce that Phoenix has finally managed to become “numero uno” at something. Phoenix is now the kidnapping capitol of the US. Lets all take a moment out of our busy days and thank all the third world invaders and local politicians who made this possible. Diversity has truly been honored now in the city of Phoenix.
Fashion Square was a mess this weekend with all the “fans” here for the All Star Weekend. Armored cops everywhere and a bunch of thugs and street trash.
Phoenix hosting this event once every 15 years is enough for me. The Suns are a mess too, which didn’t make things better. I wasn’t in to it at all this year. 2005, yes, but 2009 was a joke.
The W in Scottsdale is the place to be. They get a lot of classy celebrities. See this article: “An early-morning fight at the W Scottsdale Hotel on Monday landed rap producer Marion “Suge” Knight in the hospital and led to the arrest of two people, including a man who told police that he’s the business manager for hip-hop star Akon. ”
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/02/17/20090217fight0217.html
Greetings to you Frank – it’s been a while since I’ve read the blog. Figured since Scottsdale does such a thorough job of trashing itself, doing on this site seems redundant.
Anyway, check out the story at this link –
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090217/ap_en_tv/rap_fight
Boy do I miss Scottsdale. I mean, where else can you find so many grifters, posers, scumbags, prostitutes and all around undesirables in such a condensed area?
Hope all is well with you, and congrats on the new book deal.
Wish I found this website in 2004 or 2005. I was stupid enough to purchase a condo in DC Ranch. Which is now far below the purchase price. I lost my investment and stuck with this elephant.
Also for all the professional who encouraged me to relocate here from the East coast, all I can say is bullshit. This place is full of lots of phony people who lie with the greatest of ease.
It will take me some time before I can work myself out of this financial hole and move back East. Am considering just walking away from all of it.
Scottsdale is a very transient, phony place. Also the basic level of intelligence and any sense of business integrity is lacking greatly.
The most bullshit place I have ever lived. Looking forward to moving on asap.
you can find shallow people in chicago,california,texas,new york
why is it different in scottsdale
…and gold diggers can be most everywhere
Yes, there are shallow people everywhere if you look hard enough. Some places worse than others (i.e. New York City). But NOWHERE will you find the sheer amount you find in Scottsdale. In normal cities they are the minority. In Scottsdale, fakeness and pretentiousness seems to be in the majority.
Anyone who can’t see that is clearly one of them….
Frank,
The W BK has nothing to do with the patronage and everything to do with Triyar development. There is a huge lawsuit going on between the contractors and the company. The builders went past deadline, not allowing the hotel to open in time for the Superbowl when it was in Arizona last year. The builders claim that Triyar authorized the extra work and the time was needed to fulfill the tasks. Add to the fact the the loans were personally guaranteed by the owners of Triyar and that explains the BK. The W will stick around, it will just be taken over by a new management company.
Maybe so, but still, the demographic just isn’t there anymore. It was there during the peak of the housing bubble when thousands of people were making six-figures as realtors and mortgage whores. Now those same people are back behind the bar and on the stripper pole and the income just isn’t there anymore.
Regardless of the builder’s problems, if there’s no money to spend in the town, the W won’t survive. And with bars and restaurants dropping like flies, there will be no reason for any of the drunken spring break frat types to visit anymore. Scottsdale existed as a cheaper alternative to Vegas for those who wanted to binge drink and get laid easy, but now that it’s died out, they’ll stick with Vegas instead. Or Havasu since that’s closer to the Scottsdale demographic