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Health & Fitness

Hotel memories with no reservations

If only you could reserve a room in 1940's New York

One week after the sale I reported on in Bethlehem (see the video here),  I continue to uncover some of interesting items discovered in the attic there.  Because I don’t collect anything specific, I usually look for a common theme to emerge in the piles of paper I purchase. One of the themes came to me immediately - hotel memorabilia.

We have all experienced stopping at some lodging establishment –hotels, motels, cabins, etc.  While there we enjoyed whatever amenities they offered and before leaving may have considered taking a memento.  

Towel theft may have been popular early on, but then most places got wise to this and now stock their rooms with towels that are just good-enough to use, but not to take. Some places go to great lengths to find the right color sandpaper and hang it on the towel rack to thwart would-be collectors – ouch!  

I’m not sure which came first, but due to the popularity of smoking, book matches with the establishment’s were early promotional items. After that it seemed as though everything had the hotel's name on it. However, after finding a pen, which accepts a metal nib and required dipping in an ink well, I wonder now if these didn't come first. The Hotel Miller in Great Barrington, MA is long gone, but what may be the first-ever “stolen” hotel pen is now in my possession. (see images)  

Also in the box of papers were 2 brochures for prominent hotels of the 1940’s. The Hotel Astoria and the New Yorker Hotel were both excellent examples of the glitzy nightlife New York offered to travelers.  They cost millions to build and seemed to hold more rooms than were possible to fill. It’s hard to believe that at one point Hotel rooms started at $3.85 a night.  

Included with the Astoria brochure was a blotter advertising some of that nightlife arranged by the staff for guest’s enjoyment. Both brochures offer maps with cute caricatures of famous tourist spots of the day. You can read more about these 2 well known hotels on Wikipedia.

Take a look on the main site for another treasure from the attic, a very fumy story, otherwise known as an Old Chestnut.  

Greg Van Antwerp is a Brookfield resident and blogger, who can be found on the weekends in search of a good “dig” or a good story.  You can read more about his adventures by visiting his blog: www.videomartyr.blogspot.com   

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