CHANDLER, Ariz. — Editor's note: Catch this story on Tuesday, May 11 on 12 News at 10 p.m.
Not every hotel has a self-appointed historian.
But, not every hotel is built on top of mysteries.
“People forget that this building is over 100 years old and there was nothing here when it was built,” Andrew Fishburn said as he stepped across an 18-foot drop.
Fishburn is a manager at the San Marcos Hotel, one of the original buildings in Chandler, built by Dr. AJ Chandler himself. And underneath it are a series of tunnels, stretching out in all directions.
“So right now we are underneath the hotel's restaurant,” Fishburn said, unlocking a plywood door in the basement of the hotel.
On the other side is a dark, concrete block and stone room. The rumors say that the tunnels were used to transport booze, women, even ostriches and bodies.
But those aren’t just rumors.
Fishburn says they’re all true.
Ostrich feathers
It sounds bizarre, but ostriches were one of the main reasons Chandler exists.
Dr. Chandler was a veterinarian and a rancher. At the time there was nothing in Chandler but his hotel and his ranch land, populated by ostriches. He thought ostrich feathers would bee the next big thing in flapper fashion. Ultimately, that didn’t work out, but it’s the reason Chandler has the Ostrich Festival every year.
When the tunnels were rediscovered, there was supposedly a box filled with ostrich feathers down there.
Michael Merendino heard that story when he was looking for a location for a new bar.
“I was down here by myself right we hear all the stories,” Merendino said.
Merendino took that ostrich feather story and converted a section of the forgotten tunnels into The Ostrich bar, a speakeasy-style bar hidden underneath the San Marcos hotel.
“We came around to saying hey, this was a speakeasy at one point,” Merendino said.
Smuggling
This brings us to the less than reputable side of the Chandler tunnels.
They were probably (likely) used for smuggling. The hotel was built during Prohibition, miles away from anything in Arizona.
“It was a luxury hotel in the middle of the desert for rich people during Prohibition,” Fishburn said slyly. ”What happened here?”
The tunnels stretch in different direction from the hotel, but one leads directly the old railroad tracks. That would have given perfect cover to bring in anything from illegal alcohol to…other things off ill repute.
“We've heard the stories of womanizing gambling, drinking during prohibition,” Merendino said.
Historic photos of the San Marcos Hotel
Heating
The least entertaining use for the tunnels was also the most practical.
The San Marcos Hotel had what was the largest heating system around. It had a massive fuel tank embedded in the concrete underneath the hotel. It was so big and heavy that it’s impossible to remove, so it’s still sitting down there.
It generate so much heat that the hotel used some of the tunnels to transfer the heat to other neighboring buildings.
The boiler has long since stopped being used, but it still sits under the hotel.
Cremation
Yes, cremation.
Dr. Chandler was a veterinarian, and the only one for many miles in any direction. Which, in the early 1900’s, meant he may have done more than just administer to animals.
“So, yeah, there was a crematorium in the basement of the San Marcos, they would bring coal, ice and bodies into the basement,” Fishburn said.
Fishburn said the crematorium was installed next to the boiler and the ash pit is still visible. It was built to cremate animals, but Fishburn suspects it was probably used for a person or two.
“He was the only doctor in the east valley when this was built,” Fishburn said.
Those tunnels are now walled up in placed, filled in others. One now dead-ends at the hotel’s pool. The tunnel The Ostrich bar is built in continues on thee other side of the bar’s block wall.
It’s nearly impossible to find out what’s still in them now.
At 110 years old, the San Marcos Hotel still keeps a few secrets.
