From the Cracker Squire Archives: When I next have to stay overnight in a hotel in Atlanta, it will be at what I will always call the Winecoff.

For Georgians, there will always be a second December 7 that lives in infamy, this one being the Winecoff Hotel fire that occurred on December 7, 1946.

From a 9-23-07 post entitled "When I next have to stay overnight in a hotel in Atlanta, it will be at what I will always call the Winecoff.":

From the A.P.:

The site of the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history - a tragedy that led to nationwide fire safety reforms - will open to guests next month as a new boutique hotel after a $28 million makeover.

The Ellis Hotel is expected to open Oct. 1, said Susan Griffin, owner and partner of Kelco/FB Winecoff LLC, a New York-based real estate group that renovated the 15-floor hotel. In 1946, when the once-luxurious building was called the Winecoff Hotel, 119 people died in a fire that helped forever change fire codes across the country.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for Oct. 17, while a tour of the new hotel is planned for fire survivors in December, on the 61st anniversary of the blaze.