On an afternoon in 1919 Edna Ferber, the novelist, arrived at the Algonquin Hotel in a new suit not unlike the one composer Noel Coward was wearing that day. "You look almost like a man," Noel said to her, "So do you," Ferber quickly retorted. That story, among the many that tumble through the history of what is claimed to be New York's oldest operating hotel, makes for part of a legend that continues to draw bibliophiles, art and history lovers, and connoisseurs who know what makes life good.
The Algonquin, opened its Beaux- Arts-inspired main structure in 1902, three-years later adding a cafe and restaurant through a conversion of the nineteenth century stable next door. Throughout its history, it has remained a place to gather, starting with the group that gathered there first and immortalized themselves and the Hotel, the "Round Table, " headed up by regulars Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and Robert E. Sherwood. The marketing genius behind molding a hotel into more than a building with rooms was Frank Case, who in 1919 treated a group of young, low-paid, albeit talented writers to free celery and popovers and provided them with their own table and waiter, guaranteeing their daily return. An experiential enterprise was born. These influential people exchanged ideas and gossip that found its way into the New York papers of the day and created a cache that helped draw renowned personalities from throughout the world to the hotel's rooms and dining facilities for years to come.
The Rose Room, which was the hotel's original main dining room and the restaurant where the original Round Table met was lost to lobby expansion in 1998 during a major renovation of the hotel. But the Round Table remains as the Round Table Restaurant at the rear of the lobby of the hotel. Overlooking the Table today is the "Vicious Circle," a 2002 painting of the group who brought the Algonquin it's landmark status.
There are tours of the hotel available through Algonquin Walking Tours or just pass through by yourself, and for a real treat have lunch with the "Vicious Circle" at the Round Table. And just maybe you'll get a glimpse of the hotel's special guest -- the Algonquin Cat. From the 1930s, one furry traveler has been chosen for this unique position. Female cats have been named Matilda , males, Hamlet, a name insisted upon for the first resident feline by John Barrymore.
- William Faulkner wrote his 1950 Nobel Prize speech in a suite there
- The Oak Room in the Algonquin launched the careers of Harry Connick, Jr, Diana Krall, Andrea Marcovicci, Michael Finestein and many others
- Lerner and Lowe are said to have written My Fair Lady in Lerner's suite at the Algonquin
- Harold Ross secured funding for the New Yorker Magazine at the hotel from a fellow poker player
- Contrary to popular myth, Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and their fellow Round Table members never drank at the Round Table because it was Prohibition
- The Algonquin is the home of the $10,000 martini. It comes with a piece of ice -- a diamond from the in-house jeweler
- The Algonquin was the first leading New York hotel to welcome ladies traveling alone
The Algonquin, opened its Beaux- Arts-inspired main structure in 1902, three-years later adding a cafe and restaurant through a conversion of the nineteenth century stable next door. Throughout its history, it has remained a place to gather, starting with the group that gathered there first and immortalized themselves and the Hotel, the "Round Table, " headed up by regulars Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and Robert E. Sherwood. The marketing genius behind molding a hotel into more than a building with rooms was Frank Case, who in 1919 treated a group of young, low-paid, albeit talented writers to free celery and popovers and provided them with their own table and waiter, guaranteeing their daily return. An experiential enterprise was born. These influential people exchanged ideas and gossip that found its way into the New York papers of the day and created a cache that helped draw renowned personalities from throughout the world to the hotel's rooms and dining facilities for years to come. 
The Rose Room, which was the hotel's original main dining room and the restaurant where the original Round Table met was lost to lobby expansion in 1998 during a major renovation of the hotel. But the Round Table remains as the Round Table Restaurant at the rear of the lobby of the hotel. Overlooking the Table today is the "Vicious Circle," a 2002 painting of the group who brought the Algonquin it's landmark status. 
There are tours of the hotel available through Algonquin Walking Tours or just pass through by yourself, and for a real treat have lunch with the "Vicious Circle" at the Round Table. And just maybe you'll get a glimpse of the hotel's special guest -- the Algonquin Cat. From the 1930s, one furry traveler has been chosen for this unique position. Female cats have been named Matilda , males, Hamlet, a name insisted upon for the first resident feline by John Barrymore. 
No comments:
Post a Comment