Algonquin Hotel

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For the resort located in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, consult The Algonquin.

The Algonquin Hotel opened in 1902. It is located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues on West 44th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York (59 West 44'th Street). In the early 20th century, its owner-manager, Frank Case, began its tradition of hosting literary and theatrical notables.

In 1919 the hotel became the site of the daily meetings of the Algonquin Round Table, a group of wits who gathered to exchange bon mots over lunch in the main dining room of the hotel. The group met almost daily for the better part of ten years. This infamous circle, as well as the number of literary greats who lodged there, earned the hotel its status as a New York City Historic Literary Landmark. Famed members of The Algonquin Round Table included Dorothy Parker, Alexander Woollcott, George S. Kaufman, Robert Benchley, Marc Connelly, Robert E. Sherwood, Heywood Broun, Neysa McMein, Jane Grant, Ruth Hale and Edna Ferber.

In 1996 the hotel was designated a national literary landmark by [Friends of Libraries USA].

Drama critic Brooks Atkinson is quoted on the plaque establishing the landmark, claiming of the Round Table, "By force of character they changed the nature of American comedy and established the tastes of a new period in the arts and theatre." A 1994 film, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, gives an entertaining celluloid portrait of the group at the Algonquin and elsewhere.

Frank Case wrote Tales of a Wayward Inn and Feeding the Lions (a cookbook) about the place. His daughter, Margaret, penned The Vicious Circle in 1950.

Famed director Preston Sturges died at the hotel in 1959.

The hotel has undergone two renovations in the past century. The first was undertaken the first time the hotel changed hands, and the second was completed in 1998. A recent $8 million renovation was completed in 2004. While these renovations have modernized the hotel, it retains its old-fashioned decor. Currently, each of the 174 rooms is appointed with antique furniture, as well as cable television and complimentary wi-fi internet access in the hotel's public spaces.

The hotel was sold in 2005 for a reported $74 million.

The Algonquin hosts the legendary Oak Room cabaret (celebrating its 25th anniversary in the 2005-06 season), Blue Bar, and Round Table Room restaurant.

In a recent, highly effective ploy to increase its publicity, it is offering a $10,000 martini, which will contain a diamond in the bottom of the glass, and will have to be ordered three days in advance. This "Martini on the Rock" was first ordered and used in a marriage proposal in December 2004. PBS researched this Drink in 2004 by sending a reporter there and found that the diamond contained in this Martini was assessed even above the charged value.

Each fall the hotel is host of "Parkerfest" sponsored by the Dorothy Parker Society.

In keeping with its literary history, The Algonquin currently lends guests iPods loaded with audio books.

References

James R. Gaines, Wit's End: Days and Nights of the Algonquin Round Table (New York: Harcourt, 1977).

Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, A Journey into Dorothy Parker's New York (Berkeley: Roaring Forties Press, 2005).

External links

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