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A Time When The Carlyle Offered 'Transient and Residential Accommodations'

Where: 35 E. 76th Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10021

The Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan is one of our favorite "old luxury" hotels and today we stumbled upon something from its heyday--a postcard. You know, the kind that hotels used to stash in the desks so that you could send your friends smarmy "Wish You Were Here" notes?

Sure, lots of hotels are still doing the postcard and stationary thing--probably even the Carlyle still--but in these green days where hotels are eliminating paper waste at every turn (even check-in and check-out!), hotel postcards are a dying breed.

And we're pretty sure that today's modern postcards don't say things like, "Transient and Residential Accommodations" and "Telex" numbers. (For the record, the Carlyle still takes transients, aka hotel guests, and very well-to-do folks still live there.)

Also missing? A website address. These days, that's how you know something is retro.

Click "MORE" to see the back of the Carlyle's old-timey postcard!

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A Taste of Retro California At The Pismo Beach Hotel

Where: 230 Pomeroy Ave [map], Pismo Beach, CA, United States, 93449

See what we mean about retro?

When it comes to road trips, old school is always best. Which is why, when we tok a ride up Highway 1 last weekend, we decided to make an overnight pitstop at Pismo Beach near San Luis Obispo, having been told by the New York Times that it's a “throwback to endless summers gone by”. And we plumped for The Pismo Beach Hotel seeing as it was, at the time of booking, top of the TripAdvisor list and sounded pretty retro with its 1937 building bang in the middle of town. The photos on the website didn't look too appealing, but hey, we thought, it's only for a night and they sounded nice on the phone.

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How Much Did It Used to Cost to Stay at the Ritz Plaza Miami Beach?

Where: 1701 Collins Avenue [map], Miami Beach, FL, United States, 33139

$6.

That's how much it used to cost to spend a night at the Ritz Plaza Miami Beach when the hotel first opened in 1946. Before that, it had been known as the Grossinger Beach Hotel but it always had air-conditioning!

Thanks to our Man in Miami crush, Gregg Rory, who sent this ad to us, we learn that the hotel's $6 rate included complete breakfast and a deluxe full course dinner. At no extra cost, guests also had access to "continuous gaiety" such as weiner roasts, entertainment, water shows, movies, dancing, game nights and a free dance lesson.

The rooms also included radios, private baths or showers, circulating ice water on every floor and free WiFi. Hah! Kidding of course.

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In The Shadow Of The John Hancock Building At The Raffaello Chicago

Where: 201 East Delaware Place [map], Chicago, IL, United States, 60611

Sometimes you stay in hotels because you're on a vacation, and other times you stay in hotels because of a business trip or special occasion, but you never plan for emergencies when you need to stay in a hotel, such as in the case of electrical problems at home. During our recent visit to Chicago, this is exactly what happened to friends of ours, and so we ended up next door in the Raffaello Hotel, a small but four-star property a block off of Michigan Avenue and cuddled right up to the rear of the John Hancock Center.

The hotel, for all its vintage charm and excellent location, is about as under-the-radar as you can get; there were no tour groups checking in, or really any tourists or groups for that matter. The clientele skews older and more sophisticated, like these are the people who have been coming here for years and years, desire a comfortable room and proximity to the lake, prime shopping and downtown, and yet aren't willing to pay Four Seasons prices for it—our king room was $139. You won't find a bar scene—although they do have a small bar off the lobby—and you will not miss the traffic noise of Michigan Ave, since the Raffaello is tucked just far enough back to miss out on that hubbub.

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