WITH A SENTIMENT that lies somewhere between vintage time capsule and indie-culture clubhouse, this downtown Tucson institution is enough to enthrall both the skinny-jeans set and the most iconoclastic aging hippie.

After all, there’s something for everyone under retro neon sign-topped roof of Hotel Congress: a deliciously multicultural menu at The Cup Café; a dishevelled dance club and concert hall frequented by University of Arizona students; a small, diner-style speakeasy called The Tap that’s been popular since the hotel opened in 1919, and an enclosed sunbathing deck upstairs.

A range of regional art also figures prominently, from Pete Martinez’ black-and-white frontier scenes to the modern creations of local up-and-comers, and even a lobby floor tiled entirely with pennies. Heavily marketed as the place where notorious bank robber John Dillinger was captured, the hotel’s simple rooms are wonderfully stuck in the ’30s as well. Rustic wrought-iron beds and simple wooden antiques are accented with relic radios, light fixtures and an old-school rotary phone that connects to a switchboard downstairs.

The best part is perhaps the absence of televisions (info junkies can access free satellite TV—and free Internet—in the common room), and the bygone social crowd you'll meet as a result.

Rooms start at US$79.