HotelChatter - Tag: Hotel History

New York: Before the Empire State Building, There Was a Hotel at 5th Avenue and 34th Street

JetSetCD — 2012-02-07T11:25:15-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/6193/WAhotel34.jpg" class="top"> Here's a fun fact for today: Did you know that the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was in the spot where the Empire State Building now stands? It's true! The first version of the ritzy hotel was a combination of the Waldorf and the Astoria Hotels at 5th Avenue and 33rd/34th Streets, which stood and welcomed the most well-heeled guests from 1893 to 1929, when it was knocked down to begin the skyscraper ESB we now know and love. You won't hear much about that first building of some 1,300 rooms (with bidets) unless you pick a nice documentary from your Netflix queue; we recommend "Modern Marvels: The Empire State Building." Of course, history is history and we all

Chicago: What Happened to the Ambassador East's Secret Tunnel?

juliana — 2011-12-13T13:30:02-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/pumproombasement.JPG" class="top"> A few weeks ago we were chatting with a fellow hotel nerd about the new <a href="">Public Hotel</a> in Chicago, formerly known as the Ambassador East, when the topic of a secret tunnel came up. Yes, we were instantly hooked. Here's what we found out: Way back when there was an Ambassador West which is the building across the street from Ambassador East/Public. At the turn of the new millennium, the building was still a hotel, a Wyndham Hotel, but today it's been turned into luxury condos worth well over a million bucks a piece. But back to the secret tunnel. During the heydey of Ambassador East, the tunnel was use to spirit its rich and famous

London: Salacious WWII-Era Stories of London's West End Gems Spotlighted in New Book

Heidi Atwal — 2011-12-05T16:52:12-05:00

London's undeniably posh West End plays home to some of the city's most impressive—and oftentimes hoity toity—hotels: The Ritz, Langham, and Dorchester all cater to an upper crust clientele who know luxury and expect its delivery in spades.

London: Bells Will Be Ringing...at St. Ermin's Hotel in London

JasonD — 2011-11-16T09:15:01-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/Parliament_Bell.JPG" class="top"> A few weeks ago, we told you about the opening of the <a href="">St. Ermin's Hotel</a>in London that we attended and showed you what our room looked like. Apologies for the lag time, but here's a fun little piece of hotel history. Approaching <a href="">St. Ermin's</a>, the first thing you will notice is the impressive courtyard outside the main entrance, flanked on three sides by the hotel. Restoring the courtyard to its original "grandeur" was an important element of the overall renovation. Then upon walking into the lobby, you step onto mosaic floors, turning left to find reception in the corner. The hotel's public spaces, predominantly the lobby and ballroom, feature extensive white plasterwork, with everything from

Hanoi: Metropole Hotel in Hanoi Discovers Its Vietnam War Bunker

juliana — 2011-10-19T10:36:51-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/metropolehanoibunker.jpg" class="top"> Today's cool hotel history lesson for today involves the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/SOFITEL+METROPOLE+HANOI/local/2795">Metropole Hotel</a> in Hanoi which recently discovered a Vietnam War-era secret bunker that once housed Jane Fonda, Joan Baez and a few others during the 1972 Christmas bombings by American forces. After the bombings and the war, the bunker had been sealed and forgotten. And while the hotel always knew of the shelter, they could never find it. Until over the summer, when during renovations of their poolside bar, a worker's drill hit a piece of concrete. The seven-room, five-foot high bunker had finally been uncovered. <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ipBcFOV6WXEU7_E2GshysbEKRtEw?docId=daf41a75d75e44d39738dfea2e7a8128">Associated Press</a> reports: <blockquote>Since then, workers have been excavating the flooded and low-ceilinged space. Not much has been found in