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This article is about the historic Manhattan hotel. For announced hotels and projects, see Chicago Waldorf-Astoria, Beverly Hills Waldorf-Astoria and Orlando Waldorf-Astoria. For information on other Waldorf-Astoria hotels, see The Waldorf=Astoria Collection. For the German company, see Waldorf-Astoria-Zigarettenfabrik. For the schools named after the German company, see Waldorf educationthumb|300px|Park Avenue foyer (in 1988)thumb|right|The hotel's name with the double hyphen on the awning over the Park Avenue entrance.The
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is a famous luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in
New York City. The first, designed by architect
Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the
Empire State Building. The present building at 301
Park Avenue in
Manhattan is a 47 story, 625
ft. (191
m)
Art Deco landmark, designed by architects
Schultze and Weaver and dating from 1931. The Waldorf Astoria New York is a member of Hilton's Luxury and Lifestyle Brands along with
The Waldorf=Astoria Collection, Conrad Hotels & Resorts and Denizen Hotels. The Waldorf Astoria brand consists of the Waldorf Astoria in New York and The Waldorf Astoria Orlando.
The hotel is now branded as the
Waldorf=Astoria, with a
double hyphen, but originally a single hyphen was employed between "Waldorf" and "Astoria," as recalled by a popular expression and song, "Meet Me at the Hyphen".
The modern hotel has three
American and
classic European restaurants, and a beauty parlor located off the main lobby. Several boutiques surround the distinctive lobby, which has won awards for its restoration to the original period character. An even more luxurious, virtual "hotel within a hotel" in its upper section is known as
The Waldorf Towers operated by
Conrad Hotels & Resorts.
The hotel has its own
railway platform as part of
Grand Central Terminal, used by
Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Adlai Stevenson, and
Douglas MacArthur, among others. An elevator large enough for
Franklin D. Roosevelt's automobile provides access to the platform.
Its name is ultimately derived from
Walldorf in Germany and the prominent German-American
Astor family, that originated there.
History
thumb|left|The Waldorf-Astoria at the original location, Fifth Avenue and Thirty-Fourth Street. Charcoal and pastel on brown paper by Joseph Pennell, ca. 1904-1908.
thumb|left|Historical postcard of the Waldorf=Astoria at its second location, Park Avenue (around 1930-1940)An
Astor family feud contributed to the events which led to the construction of the original Waldorf-Astoria on
Fifth Avenue.
It started as two hotels: one owned by
William Waldorf Astor, whose 13-story Waldorf Hotel was opened in 1893 and the other owned by his cousin,
John Jacob Astor IV, called the Astoria Hotel and opened four years later in 1897, four stories higher.
William Astor, motivated in part by a dispute with his aunt,
Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor, built the original Waldorf Hotel next door to her home, on the site of his father's mansion and today's
Empire State Building. The hotel was built to the specifications of founding proprietor
George Boldt; he and his wife Louise had become known as the owners and operators of the Bellevue, an elite boutique hotel in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Broad Street, subsequently expanded and renamed the
Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. Boldt continued to own the Bellevue (and, later, the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel) even after his relationship with the Astors blossomed.
William Astor's construction of a hotel next to his aunt's home worsened his feud with her, but, with Boldt's help, John Astor persuaded his aunt to move uptown. John Astor then built the Astoria Hotel and leased it to Boldt. Initially foreseen as two separate entities, Boldt had planned the new structure so it could be connected to the old by means that became known as Peacock Alley. The combined Waldorf=Astoria became the largest hotel in the world at the time,
while maintaining the original Waldorf's high standards.
The Waldorf=Astoria is historically significant for transforming the contemporary hotel, then a facility for transients, into a social center of the city as well as a prestigious destination for visitors and a part of
popular culture.
The Waldorf=Astoria was influential in advancing the status of women, who were admitted singly without escorts. Founding proprietor,
George C. Boldt, became wealthy and prominent internationally, if not so much a popular celebrity as his famous employee,
Oscar Tschirky, "Oscar of the Waldorf." Boldt built one of American's most ambitious houses,
Boldt Castle, on one of the
Thousand Islands. George Boldt's wife,
Louise Kehrer Boldt, was influential in evolving the idea of the grand urban hotel as a social center, particularly in making it appealing to women as a venue for social events.
When the new skyscraper Waldorf=Astoria was built on
Park Avenue, under the guidance of Lucius Boomer, the manager of the old Waldorf, a cast of furnishers and decorators with good reputations was assembled, to give it a grand yet domestic atmosphere. Boomer retired to
Florida after the old Waldorf Astoria was demolished, but he had retained exclusive rights to use the name "Waldorf-Astoria", which he transferred to the new hotel. He died in an airplane crash in 1947, and
Conrad Hilton bought the Waldorf Astoria in 1949.
In 2006,
Hilton Hotels announced plans to build a second Waldorf=Astoria near
Walt Disney World in Florida, and in 2007, plans were announced that another Waldorf-Astoria will be built in
Beverly Hills, where
Santa Monica Boulevard and
Wilshire Boulevard cross. A combination hotel and condominium
Waldorf=Astoria Hotel and Residence Tower has been announced by third parties to be developed for Hilton in
Chicago.
On August 24, 2007, Dimension Development Company of
Natchitoches, Louisiana announced the purchase of the New Orleans Fairmont Hotel and plans to convert the hotel into a Waldorf-Astoria. It was not immediately known whether the name would be changed to Waldorf Astoria or whether it would revert to its former name, The Roosevelt, with the tagline, a Waldorf=Astoria Collection Hotel. In the 1940s, '50s and '60s, The Roosevelt was home to the World Famous "Blue Room" which brought—for the first time—the best Hollywood and Las Vegas talent to the
Deep South on a regular basis.
Beverly Hills Waldorf Astoria
In November 2008, a referendum in
Beverly Hills, California was voted on to determine whether developer Oasis West Realty LLC will be allowed to expand the nine-acre site of the Beverly Hilton Hotel, recently owned by the late
Merv Griffin, at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards. Expansion plans include removing some buildings and adding an 8-story condo, a Waldorf=Astoria named 12-story hotel, and another 18-story condo tower. The Beverly Hills City Council had approved the $500 million project by a 3-2 vote. Local resident opponents led by a group called gathered enough signatures to place the referendum on the November 4, 2008, ballot with the argument "It's Just Too Big." Los Angeles County election officials reported a week after the vote that local Measure H was losing by 68 votes, with provisional ballots yet to be counted. On December 2, 2008, yes on H passed by 129 votes. Yes: 7972. No: 7834.
Notable residents
- Postmaster General James Farley occupied two adjoining suits in the Waldorf-Astoria Towers during his tenure as the Chairman of the Board of Coca-Cola's International division from 1940 until his death in 1976, arguably one of the landmarks longest housed tenants.
- Bertie Charles Forbes, Scottish immigrant and founder of Forbes Magazine, became a regular at the Waldorf-Astoria with his savings from writing for Hearst in order to form the close relationships with prominent businessmen needed to start his own business publication.
- In the 1955, Marilyn Monroe stayed at the hotel, for several months, but due to costs of trying to finance her production company "Marilyn Monroe Productions", only being paid $1,500 a week for her role in The Seven Year Itch and being suspended from 20th Century Fox because of walking out on Fox and refusing to star in a picture with Frank Sinatra because she was not allowed to read the script, living at the hotel became too costly and she had to move into a different hotel in New York City.
Notable events
- The investigation into the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 was held at the Waldorf-Astoria. Coincidentally, John Jacob Astor IV, who built the Astoria Hotel, which became part of the Waldorf-Astoria, died on Titanic, and his seven month pregant second wife, Madeline survived the sinking.
- On the evening of November 15, 1926, the National Broadcasting Company broadcast its inaugural program from the grand ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria. Among the entertainers heard by radio listeners was Will Rogers. The network became the Red Network on January 1, 1927 when NBC launched its second network, designated the Blue Network. It was sold in the early 1940s and became the American Broadcasting Company.
- After a New York ticker-tape parade in his honor for winning four Olympic gold medals, Jesse Owens had to ride the freight elevator to attend a reception for him at the Waldorf-Astoria due to its segregation policies.
- In 1985, the NBA held its first-ever draft lottery between non-playoff teams at the Starlight Room. The lottery was for the 1985 NBA Draft in which Patrick Ewing was the consensus number one pick. The New York Knicks wound up winning the right to select Ewing, an occurrence that many feel was fixed in New York's favor.
- The NASCAR Sprint Cup end-of-season awards banquet has been held at the Waldorf-Astoria every year since 1981, initially in the Starlight Room, but since 1985 in the Grand Ballroom, except 2001 and 2002. A formal awards ceremony (not a banquet) was held in those two years, with the 2002 awards ceremony being held at Hammerstein Ballroom, with the pre-show banquet held at the Waldorf-Astoria. The Presidential Suite is reserved for the Series Champion.
- The Metropolitan Opera Guild holds its annual member lunch at the hotel.
- Since 2006, Russian Children's Welfare Society (RCWS) hosts black tie gala - the "Petroushka Ball" - to raise funds to support orphaned and disabled children in Russia.
- New York University holds its annual International Hospitality Industry Conference, with the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management, at this hotel. It is the largest-known annual gathering of hotel management professionals and hospitality business leaders.
References in popular culture
- In the 1970 movie The Out-of-Towners, Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis make their way to the Waldorf-Astoria on foot past tons of garbage in a torrential downpour, to discover their reservation - guaranteed for a 10:00pm arrival - has been given away, and the hotel - like every other one in the city - is booked to capacity due to the strikes.
- In the 1988 movie Coming To America the king of Zamunda (played by James Earl Jones) and his family stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria; one joke in the movie showed the King "punishing" Semi, the prince's servant, by ordering him to confine himself to the hotel's royal suite.
- The 1978 musical revue Ain't Misbehavin features the song Lounging at the Waldorf, about the hotel's past as a whites-only club and hotel for high society.
- In the 2001 film Serendipity, a number of scenes take place between the two main characters in the Waldorf-Astoria.
- In the 2002 movie Hart's War one of the characters makes the sarcasm of comparing the POW camp to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
- Statler and Waldorf, a pair of Muppet characters, are named after posh New York City hotels, the Statler Hotel (now Hotel Pennsylvania) and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Waldorf's wife, Astoria, looks like Statler in drag.
- The 2002 film Maid in Manhattan takes place at the Waldorf-Astoria, but the hotel is renamed The Beresford Hotel in the movie.
- In Neal Shusterman's novel Everlost, the Waldorf=Astoria is a "Forever Place," which Allie stops by, only to leave quickly because the desertedness of it gives her the creeps.
- In one episode of Johnny Bravo, Johnny decided to spend a night at the Waldorf-Histeria without paying because he thought time in world suddenly stood still and that no one would mind whatever he does.
- In the tenth book in the Princess Diaries series, "Ten Out of Ten", the senior prom takes place in the Waldorf Astoria ballroom which Mia attends with J.P. and where a number of plot-changing events take place that finally lead to a dramatic but happy ending.
- In the Portuguese novel Codex 632, the Professor Tomás Noronha stays in the Waldorf-Austoria Hotel during his sojourn in New York.
- In the 2009 film remake of The Taking of Pelham 123, Garber (played by Denzel Washington) follows the train hijackers through the emergency exit underneath the Waldorf-Astoria in his attempt to pursue these men before they escape with the hostage money.
- In the AMC network television series Mad Men, hotelier Conrad Hilton meets with advertising executive Don Draper at the Waldorf for a late-night drink in a season 3 episode.
See also
