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If Only Lindsay Lohan Could Serve Drinks in Five Languages

Hotel bars have really evolved over time. What used to simply be attached to the hotel's restaurant, has become more important than the restaurant and in some cases the hotel itself.

Take for instance THOR's Members Only lounge which is apparently the size of a port-a-potty but requires an exclusive invite to enter with the exception of hotel guests. Then there's the Rande Gerber lounges found in W Hotels, Red Rock Las Vegas and the Sofitel LA with its celebrity-studded opening parties. And we certainly cannot forget the Tropicana Bar and the VIP lounge Teddy's, at the Hotel Roosevelt which ruled the Hollywood scene for a whole entire summer and essentially eclipsed the hotel's long-awaited comeback.

Well Business Week has had enough. They started to get all nostalgic about the hotel bar's good old days where guests weren't left fighting for a seat.

Their first trip down memory lane includes the Oak Bar in the Plaza Hotel in New York, which is as we speak being converted into condos. The bar will remain and is one of the survivors of a few in the U.S., places that remind us of a different time, according to the article:

Once, bars in the best hotels served as a de facto clubhouse for travelers. These were places where the bartenders could take an order in at least five languages and the guests could usually depend on finding someone interesting to trade stories with while they relaxed after a day on the road.

Aside from the Oak Bar, some other historically noted are the Menger Hotel bar in San Antonio, the Babcock & Story Bar in the Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California, and Mayflower Park Hotel's Oliver's Lounge in Seattle. These hotel bars are at least 50 years old, most likely home to secrets of American history and have seen notable figures pass through several times.

We agree that the disappearance of hotel bars rich with history and oozing a seductive feeling of the old world, with their ancient oak or mahogany bars, their oil paintings, and their reputations alone, is a sad thing. However, call us shallow but the chance of possibly spying Jessica Simpson or Lindsay Lohan making out with their latest movie co-stars in a hotel bar is a little more gratifying than a bartender who can speak five languages. So, vive evolution!

Image via FotoBlue/Flickr

Related Stories:
· Drinking with History [BusinessWeek]