The New Yorker Hotel
This northern hemisphere summer I stayed in The New Yorker Hotel in New York City. It’s an historic art-deco style hotel that has been around since the 1930’s and so it has loads of interesting history.
It’s located in Midtown, so it’s quite central and in between Uptown and Downtown. New York is certainly a ‘walking’ city, and The New Yorker is about a 40-minute walk to Central Park and maybe 25 minutes to Times Square. If you want to get around a lot quicker and use the subway, it’s very conveniently located next to Penn Station.
I was lucky enough to do a private tour of The New Yorker and so here goes with some of the history of this iconic beauty:
1930 The New Yorker opened with 2,503 rooms at $4.50 per night. It towered 43 storeys into the sky and 78 feet below the ground.
1932 The 8th avenue subway line opened giving guests direct access to Penn Station via a private tunnel.
1933 Inventor of the AC power system and Tesla power coil, Nikola Tesla moved into the hotel. He loved there until his death in 1943.
1939 NBC began live broadcasting from The Terrace Room.
1942 Due to its proximity to Penn Station many soldiers during the second world war were housed at The New Yorker en-route to Europe.
1948 The New Yorker installed television sets into 100 rooms, making it one of the first hotels in the USA to do so.
1959 Barack Obama’s father married Ann Dunham.
1972 After years of New York City decline, sadly the New Yorker closed its doors.
1976-1980 The Unification Church purchased The New Yorker and turned it into a mission centre for the Korean religious movement in the USA.
1994 The New Yorker reopened as a hotel under the direction of the The New Yorker Hotel Management Company. Rooms were $45 a night.
2001 The New Yorker donates 10,000 free nights to volunteers in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
2006 Yay! A 3-year renovation project took place restoring the Art Deco heritage of the hotel.
2014-2016 Yes, another renovation took place, whilst still keeping the Art Deco charm.
2016 Hillary Clinton delivered her concession speech from the Grand Ballroom.
2023 This is the year I stayed at The New Yorker with a group of 12 girls. We all had our own rooms, some had views of The Empires State building, and some had beautiful terraces.
Would I stay at The New Yorker again? Yes, I would! To some people it’s considered to be a bit old and a bit tired, but the history of the hotel is what I loved. It also had a gym which you need when you’re jetlagged and waking up at 3am.
In summary, if you’re someone that wants a new ‘schmick’ hotel then maybe The New Yorkers not for you but if you want to stay somewhere with some true New York history then you might like The New Yorker.
Lots of love,
Cheryl xx
