They don’t make 30 year old windows…

Google 411 is dangerous. Used to be, when I got a wild hair and would want to know a random fact, I would have to wait until I was in front of a computer to search for and get a number. Now, however, all I have to do is hit up Google 411 on my cell.

With a little judicious hacking around, I can find any number I'm looking for.

Today, I finally got an answer for a question I've been asking myself every time I've come to work.

"Why is the Peachtree Plaza Hotel still looking like it has just been in a tornado?"

I asked that of the front desk person and she said that the reason was that the windows on the Peachtree Plaza Hotel are all 30 years old, and nobody makes 30 year old windows.

Nobody is able to create a replacement window that will exactly match the tone of the windows around it.

Isn't that amazing?

As a result, the hotel looks like a tubular version of those old time computer punch cards with lots of punches taken out of it.

Apparently the only working strategy to repair the look of the hotel is to replace every single one of the windows on the outside of the structure. Can you believe that? Every single window replaced!

If it were me, I'd hire an artist to turn the bad windows into some kind of cool design.

Anyway, this could be definitely a big symbol. It means you can't fake authenticity. It means you can't replace old things for new and not suffer.

But it could also be a symbol for a lack of planning. Didn't the hotel think they might one day want replacements for these windows? If so, why didn't they lay in a stash of windows? I suppose they would've needed to be exposed to the same environmental conditions or something, to be exactly the same.

It is definitely a symbol for the current economic times. In younger days, they would've replaced all the windows right away and damn the expense! Not today. Hotels, especially big tall hotels, are probably not as profitable as they once were.

This hotel was for a short time the tallest hotel in the world - it's not at all anymore. It rises up and dominates the Atlanta skyline, though. I love that hotel, and I hope they get it back to looking right again. But I have a feeling it's going to take a few years.

But at least now I won't be wondering every time I pass it by!