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Article: Spiffing up Holiday Inn
- Article from:
- THE JOURNAL RECORD
- Article date:
- April 8, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1998 The Journal Record. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The first Holiday Inn, built 46 years ago between a lumberyard and
a two-lane highway in suburban Memphis, Tenn., had a 53-foot-high
sign in front with flashing green lights to lure passing motorists.
And they came, not for the glitz outside but for the
predictability inside. It was the 1950s, the decade of conformity
with a happy face -- from the grin that overlay President Dwight D.
Eisenhower's measured style to the golden arches that shone down on
the sameness of the fare at a new fast-food chain called McDonald's -
- and the Holiday Inn joined the trend by providing a reassuring
uniformity to every room behind the Paul Bunyan-sized welcome mat.
But the cookie-cutter formula that fueled ...