Sultana

The building also housed the Sultana Amusement Hall, promoted as the "Swellest Pool and Billiard Resort in Northern Arizona", where you could even get an ice cold soft drink and other refreshments! I'm guessing the "other refreshments" were a big attraction. Then in 1915 prohibition struck the nation! Not to worry, it seems there is a basement that was well suited to house a Speakeasy until prohibition was overturned in 1933. That soon led to the Pool Hall being renamed the Sultana Buffet, and bar, and the acquisition of the first liquor license in Williams. That license is still active, making it the oldest in the state. The Famous Sultana name didn't appear until the 1940s.

In 1913 the local newspaper moved into one of the commercial spaces in the building and the city hall was located in the building for several decades. Over the years the commercial spaces housed a wide varity of businesses.

There used to be a really cool neon sign and Marquee that projected out over the sidewalk centered where the small white sign is in this photo. The marquee covered the space nearly the full width of the building shown this photo. Unfortunately in December of 1967 Williams suffer a 7 day blizzard storm that dumped 60 inches of snow on the town. The weight of the snow caused the marquee to break off the building and crash down on the sidewalk.

The building was built using rusticated and plain cement block. But before they could complete it they and to deal with and underground stream running through what would become the basement, since no one really wants a wet basement they redirected the stream with a new channel and poured a concrete over it, that accomplished the building was finished opened for business in the fall of 2012. In the 1970s many of the original windows in the bar were filled in with plain cement blocks.

Photo(s): 2013