The Purple Hotel, located at the corner of Lincoln Ave and Touhy Avenue, has a place in local lore. Its parking lot was where mobster Allen Dorfman died from an assassin's gunfire in 1983. The crime has never been solved.

The Purple Hotel was built in 1960 by the Hyatt Corp. and was originally called the Lincolnwood Hyatt House. Well known Chicago pianist Myles Greene, who now performs at Tuscany's in Oak Brook, was the first performer to open in the hotel 40 years ago.

After it was a Hyatt, it became a Radisson, and finally a Ramada. Since 2004, it has been independent, simply calling itself by what locals have referred to it as years: the "Purple Hotel." The name came about because of the building's distinctive purple facade, somewhat radical for earth-toned suburbia.

In January 2007, it was announced the hotel was to be closed, with future plans unknown. In May 2007, Chicago-based Sertus Capital Partners LLC entered into a conditional contract to purchase the 8-acre hotel property, with plans to demolish the famed hotel and build residential and retail space.