Waldorf Astoria....still in fashion

The Mighty Waldorf Astoria is not quite what it was during its true glory days, --many places in New York are nor--but it has not exactly become anything less than a classy hotel where the rich and famous stay all the time, either...

The original Waldorf was built in the 1800's. That is quite a story in itself. The modern one up on Park Avenue was created on air rights over the railroad tracks beneath, and its story is pretty grand--this Wikipedia entry is so lengthy I suggest you just read the first part and skim over the list of notable people who have stayed there etc.....

When the new Waldorf Astoria skyscraper was built over air rights of the New York State Realty and Terminal Company on Park Avenue, a cast of well reputed furnishers and decorators was assembled to lend the new hotel a grand yet domestic atmosphere. Former Waldorf manager Lucius M. Boomer had retired to Florida after the original Waldorf-Astoria buildings were demolished, but he retained exclusive rights to the name, which he transferred to the new hotel. Boomer died in an airplane crash in 1947 and Conrad Hilton bought The Waldorf Astoria in 1949.^[6]

Spelling of the name

The hotel was originally known as The Waldorf-Astoria with a single hyphen, as recalled by a popular expression and song, "Meet Me at the Hyphen." The sign was changed to a double hyphen, looking similar to an equals sign, by Conrad Hilton when he purchased the hotel in 1949.^[7] The equals sign was chosen to signify the equality between the Waldorf and Astor families. It also visually represents "Peacock Alley," the hallway between the two hotels that once stood where the Empire State building now stands today. The use of the double hyphen was discontinued shortly after the introduction of the Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts chain by parent company Hilton in 2009.^[8] The hotel has since been known as the Waldorf Astoria New York.
As of 2013, The double hyphen has been removed from the logo and is now recalled as The Waldorf Astoria

Notable residents

Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and Park Avenue with Helmsley Building and Met Life Building in background

• Postmaster General James Farley occupied two adjoining suites 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 landmark's longest housed tenants.^[9]
• During the 1950s and early 1960s, former U.S. president Herbert Hoover and retired U.S. General Douglas MacArthur lived in suites on different floors of the hotel. A plaque affixed to the wall on the 50th Street side commemorates this. There is also a recreation of one of the living room of Hoover's Waldorf-Astoria suite in the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
• Around the time of World War I, inventor Nikola Tesla lived in the earlier Waldorf-Astoria.^[10]
• Gangsters Frank Costello, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and Charles "Lucky" Luciano (room 39c) once lived in the Waldorf-Astoria.
• 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.
• Cole Porter and Linda Lee Thomas had an apartment in the Waldorf Towers, where Thomas died in 1954. Porter's 1934 song "You're the Top," contains the lyric, "You're the top, you're a Waldorf salad..."^[5]
• In 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 for walking out on Fox after creative differences, living at the hotel became too costly and Monroe had to move into a different hotel in New York City.^[11]
• The official residence of the United States' Permanent Representative to the United Nations is located in the Waldorf Towers.^[12]
• During her childhood, Paris Hilton lived with her family in the hotel.^[13]
• From 1992 to 2013, Kenneth, sometimes called the world's first celebrity hairdresser,^[14] famed for creating Jacqueline Kennedy's bouffant in 1961,^[15] was responsible for the hairdressing and beauty salon.^[16]

Notable events

• The investigation into the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 was held at the old Waldorf-Astoria. John Jacob Astor IV, who built the Astoria Hotel, which became part of the old Waldorf-Astoria, died on the Titanic. His second wife Madeline, seven months pregnant, survived the sinking.
• On the evening of November 15, 1926, the National Broadcasting Company broadcast its inaugural program from the grand ballroom of the old 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.^[17]
• On June 21, 1948 a press conference at the hotel introduced the LP record.
• In 1954, Israeli statesman and archaeologist Yigael Yadin met secretly with the Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Mar Samuel in the basement of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel to negotiate the purchase of four Dead Sea Scrolls for Israel. Yadin paid $250,000 for all four.^{[citation needed]}
• Since 1958, the National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Football Hall of Fame have held its Annual Awards Dinner and Hall of Fame Induction ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria's Grand Ballroom. The Waldorf-Astoria has been the site of all but the first NFF Awards Dinner. The NFF's Gold Medal is also given out at the event. Seven U.S. Presidents, five U.S. Generals, three U.S. Admirals, one U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 28 Corporate CEO' s and Chairmen, John Wayne, Jackie Robinson and Bill Cosby have claimed the award.^[18]
• From 1960 until 1978, Guy Lombardo and The Royal Canadians televised their annual New Years Eve show live (in the Eastern and Central time zones) from the Grand Ballroom.
• 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 was held at the Waldorf-Astoria every year between 1981 and 2008, 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^[19] was reserved for the Series Champion. In 2009, NASCAR moved the event to the Wynn in Las Vegas.
• The Metropolitan Opera Guild holds its annual member lunch at the hotel.
• The annual International Debutante Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria is held to formally introduce young high society women.
• On May 1, 2004, the Waldorf-Astoria was the venue for the Grand Europe Ball, a historic black-tie charitable affair co-chaired by Archduke Georg of Austria-Hungary which celebrated the Enlargement of the European Union.
• The Bronx High School of Science, Stuyvesant High School, Xaverian High School and Syosset High School traditionally hold their Senior Proms in the Grand Ballroom of the hotel. Regis High School and Hunter College High School in Manhattan and Pelham Memorial High School have also held their prom in the Starlight Ballroom.^[20][21]
• 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.^[22]
• New York University used to hold 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.^[23]
• In 2011, Bette Midler's 2nd Annual Hulaween Gala to benefit the New York Restoration Project was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on October 31^[24] with singer Gloria Estefan as the headliner, and other acts such as Kathy Griffin and Michael Kors.
• St. John's University holds its annual President's Dinner in the grand ballroom.
• New York Couture Fashion Week is held at the hotel.
• Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York celebrates its annual gala in the grand ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria where the Archbishop of New York presents the Deus Caritas Est Award for philanthropy.
• The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner
• In 2012, an amnesty program was offered for people who had wandered off with hotel property like spoons or coat hangers.^[25]

In popular culture

The classic Waldorf Salad

• Waldorf salad — a salad made with apples, walnuts, celery, grapes, and mayonnaise or a mayonnaise-based dressing — was first created in 1896 at the Waldorf in New York City by Oscar Tschirky, who was the maître d'hôtel. This type of salad featured prominently in the plot of an episode of the British comedy Fawlty Towers.^[26]
• Ginger Rogers headlined an all star ensemble cast in the 1945 movie Week-End at the Waldorf.^[5]
• Cole Porter's Steinway & Sons grand piano is in the lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria.^[27][28]
• Langston Hughes wrote a poem entitled "Advertisement for the Waldorf-Astoria," criticizing the hotel and inviting the jobless and homeless to take over the space of the hotel.^[29]
• Wallace Stevens wrote a poem entitled "Arrival at the Waldorf" in which the poet contrasts the wild country of the jungles of Guatemala to being "back at the Waldorf,/This arrival in the wild country of the soul" (lines 1-2).
• 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 1988 movie Coming To America, the king of Zamunda (played by James Earl Jones) and his family stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria in the final New York–based scene in the movie.
• The 1993 Broadway musical My Favorite Year includes a setting called the Waldorf Hotel in 1954. There is an offstage chorus song dedicated to the "Waldorf Suite," and notably, the musical number "Welcome to Brooklyn" references the Astors.
• In the 2001 film Serendipity, a number of scenes take place between the two main characters in the Waldorf-Astoria.
• 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.

a typical Elevator Indicator located the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City NY. This elevator was made by Otis

• In 1978, a French teenager named Jean Pierre jumped from the 15th floor thinking he was Superman. French Canadian music composer Luc Plamondon wrote a song about this event, later in 1991 Celine Dion sang the song "Le fils de Superman" (Superman's son) in her album Dion chante Plamondon and a live version of this song can be also found in her 1994 album Celine Dion a l'Olympia.
• In Meg Cabot's novel Jinx, the Chapman School Spring Formal takes place in the Waldorf-Astoria. It is at this point that Tory (The main antagonist) reveals Jean's first attempt at a love spell, which served as a catalyst for the novel's events.