Sunday, May 10, 2020

Inside the Plaza by Ward Morehouse III


The delightful piano music of Franz Schubert.






It's been a wretched week.  Due to my lack of diligence my Quaker Sophie flew off and has not returned.  I'm afraid an owl got her.  Well, if one did, I promise you she didn't go down without a fight.  That owl will think twice before tackling a Quaker.  There's a reason why they're illegal in some states.

Hercule has been looking and calling for her.  Well, God has promised to restore the earth and I believe that includes his feathery creations.  I look forward to when the owl and the parrot can lie down together and be friends.

Enough of feeling sorry for myself.  Here's my review.



Inside the Plaza: An Intimate Portrait of the Ultimate HotelInside the Plaza: An Intimate Portrait of the Ultimate Hotel by Ward Morehouse III

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Lately I have gotten interested in the historical hotels in New York. I had first read a couple of books about the Chelsea Hotel with all its hippy drippy occupants, plus its uncertain future.

Reading about the Plaza helped put the Chelsea in perspective. It seemed to me that you had to be pretty rich to live in the Chelsea, even if you were a drug addict, but now I understand that compared to the Plaza, the Chelsea would be vastly more affordable.

If I were to compare the two hotels, both of approximately the same age, both pieces of Art Deco architectural history, I'd say the Plaza was the good child who got a college education, married a doctor and has prospered ever since. The Chelsea was the rebellious child who ran off with her garage band boyfriend and has been living on that ragged edge of Bohemian disaster ever since.

While the Chelsea attracted the artsy, pop culture leaders and followers, the Plaza has always been classy and posh. Part of this would be location, but also darn, good business management by the various owners. The Chelsea had the son of the original owners manage it and he kept the reins loose and free and pretty much turned the hotel into the modern equivalent of an opium den, which may well have delighted the famous clientele that rented rooms there.

The Plaza was and is for the very, very rich. Not that it has not had its financial struggles, but so far it has been able to pull out of them.

Morehouse devotes much of the book to the business side of owning and managing a hotel like the Plaza, which I found a lot more interesting than I thought I would.

The rest is of course describing the famous people who have stayed there since its inception. Because his father, Ward Morehouse, a famous theatre critic and writer lived there with his second wife, he got to meet many of the clientele first hand. Consequently, we get more information about the people he has personally met and more second hand information about the rest.

Still, we get some fairly good stories about F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Beatles, the author of Eloise as well as several famous actors and singers who have since faded into the annals of time. Actually I found that interesting as well, learning about actors and singers I otherwise did not know about and then looking them up online to find out more about them.

Also, there were several movies that were filmed there, the most famous for contemporary audiences would be the Home Alone movies, but also Barefoot in the Park and a number of Hitchcock movies.

While the writing wasn't brilliant, it was good enough for me to give the book three stars. I liked it.



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10 comments:

Brian Joseph said...

So sorry to hear about Quaker Sophie. I hope that she returns home.

I never really thought about the significance of famous hotels before. But your posts are making me think about how their history can tell us something about culture. I like your comparison between children and hotels.

mudpuddle said...

so sorry re Sophie... i wasn't aware that owls lived there... up here is would have most likely been a red-tailed hawk. this book sounds like it would pique one's interest; sometimes it's great to visit places outside our normal purview even if they're in big cities...

Sharon Wilfong said...

Hi mudpuddle.

Thank you, I appreciate it. She was my snuggle bug and so jealous. It may have been a red tailed hawk. Our new house is by a field on the side of which is a thick forest. There are both owls and hawks. Because I never heard her after that night I assumed it was an owl.

I know I will never stay in the Plaza, but I do find the history of famous buildings interesting.

Sharon Wilfong said...

Thanks, Brian.

It was interesting how the two hotels started out the same but acquired different reputations and histories.

Sarah @ All The Book Blog Names Are Taken said...

I am so sorry to hear about Sophie. She may still return <3

I am OBSESSED with hotels and buildings in general in NYC, so thank you thank you thank you for this post! I am going to get the Chelsea book (if it is not on my TBR already!) I requested The Plaza by Julie Satow on NetGalley in the beginning of April and the request is still pending. I fear it will not get approved, as the book was published last year. Might be another good one for you to read, given your interest!

Sharon Wilfong said...

Hi Sarah! I'm so glad to know we share a mutual interest. Reading about the Chelsea Hotel got me started, which led me to the Plaza and now I'm reading about the Dakota. I hope eventually I will read many books about the architecture in New York.

And thanks for the book suggestion. I have not applied to NetGalley. Maybe I should try. It's books for free as long as you review them on commercial sites and your blog, right?

Debbie Nolan said...

Sharon I am truly sorry to read about your Quaker Sophie. It is so hard to lose the pets we love. As for the hotels...what a good subject. One I have never studied before. Thank you always for sharing your insightful reviews. Take care.

Sharon Wilfong said...

Thank you, Debbie. I've been having a hard time missing Sophie. She was my cuddler. My other birds are affectionate, but she liked to snuggle right under my chin and have her head scritched.

Sarah @ All The Book Blog Names Are Taken said...

I read a great one about the Dakota a while back, Life at the Dakota: New York's Most Unusual Address by Stephen Birmingham. Is that the one you are reading, or a different one? I would love to know all the titles you have read so far on the hotels, they're so interesting.

You can apply to NetGalley a couple different ways - at least that's how it was when I applied. As a librarian, teacher, professional reviewer, or a blogger. They have a link so after you post a review there, you can select that to post straight to NetGalley without any extra work. I always post my full review on NetGalley and on my blog, and a shorter blurb on Goodreads.

Sharon Wilfong said...

Hi Sarah, I am currently reading the Birmingham book. I also have another large picture book about the Plaza, which I can't find right now. We moved into this house a couple months ago and I was going to organize all my books alphabetically according to subject. After two hours of shelving books, I stopped caring and just put grabbed books from the box and put them on the closest shelf. Now I don't know where anything is. Sigh.

There is another book about the hotels built in New York during the Gilded Age that I want to buy.

Thanks for the info about netgalley. I'll look into it.