Hotel rooms?

[ShoreRoadLady]

ShoreRoad, I will have to go the library and look for those mysteries. I have a feeling they'll help me figure out some other stuff, too.

Mysteries are good for hotel rooms. You might have an easier time finding (newer) paperback copies on Ebay, though - the A.A. Fair stories are *really* difficult to find at the library!

 

[Story]

http://www.gallimauphry.com/Decor/40s.html
Drop the website owner a line, he might have additional resources.

Such high theory would probably have annoyed the determinedly anti-intellectual American artist, Edward Hopper. But he, like Kracauer, was fascinated by overlooked places: drug stores, automats, diners, and a variety of hotel settings, including, the hotel lobby, the subject of a 1943 painting, entitled Hotel Lobby. This coincidence of interest centres on the way in which, for Kracauer and Hopper, the hotel lobby was part of the interior visual transformation of the modern city in Germany and the United States, specifically in the cities of New York and Berlin. It is quite fitting that Kracauer should have made for the United States when he was fleeing from Germany in the early 1940s because the hotel lobby is just one of a number of modern spaces which figure often, and in illuminating ways, in American popular culture, notably film and detective fiction. And just as Kracauer's essay is most insightful when he introduces occasional examples to make theoretical points so Hopper's interest in, and painting of, a bit of Americana offers theoretical knowledge, albeit differently presented.
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/3cities/tallack1.htm

 

[AmateisGal]

Wow, great resource. Thanks, Story!

 

[Story]

http://images.google.com/hosted/lif...q=BAR+source:life&start=20&ndsp=20&hl=en&sa=N

Interior of Old Crystal Bar at Angels Hotel.
Location: CA, US
Date taken: 1944
Photographer: Peter Stackpole

From the LIFE collection on Google Images

 

[AmateisGal]

GREAT picture, Story! Thanks so much.

 

[leicanthrope]

Sorting through the ream of photos on my hard drive from the Fairmont in San Francisco, here are the few period relevant shots that I have of the interior.

Here's a couple of a restaurant/lounge from around 1910ish:

The hotel's primary ballroom. This one was around 1911, if I remember correctly. Very little changed over the years in this room, other than the replacement of the hardwood floor with carpet.

Same room, uncertain of the date:

A shot of the lobby, circa 1908:

A rather strange merry go round themed restaurant, circa late 1940's to the 1950's:

The resident tiki bar, circa more or less the same as the previous photo:

 

[leicanthrope]

Here's a postcard showing the front of the hotel at about the right era. Oddly enough, this is the back of the hotel now.

Postcards are definitely going to be one of the best and easiest ways to get images of old hotels as they were during this era. There are a lot to be found if you poke through eBay listings, and a lot of sellers will have decent sized images up with the auction. Shots of the interior of rooms are going to be difficult to come by, perhaps with the exception of some really high end suites that made it into marketing materials of the day. I worked up there for a couple of years, and tried to track down vintage photographs and the like whenever possible. The hotel was originally due to open in 1906, but a little earthquake delayed things (i.e. leveled most of the city) by a year. A lot of what I found was from the early days of the hotel, and then again from the later 1950's on. I was never really able to dig up much from the 1920's to the 1940's.

Anyhow, there would be some pretty significant differences even in an upscale hotel between the regular rooms and the suites. Unlike most modern hotels, where the suites are just slightly more luxurious versions of regular rooms, many of the older suites were appointed so that you could reasonably live in them for long periods. A number of really wealthy people did just that. The amenities between the two differ significantly. The higher end rooms would have certainly had their own bathrooms. Not sure about the regular rooms, but I suspect they did. I found some rooms that are now storage rooms on the guest floors that used to be bathrooms long ago, but I am inclined to think that they were intended for the maids and service staff at the time.

 

[AmateisGal]

WOW, leicanthrope, these are just amazing! Thank you so much for taking the time to post them. I really appreciate it!

 

[Big Man]

Ask, and you will receive ...

Interesting topic. Does anyone have any photos of vintage hotels? Either the rooms, lobbies, hallways, etc...or preferably all of the above?

Here is a photo from my great uncle Briscoe's collection. While there is no specific notation that this is a hotel room, it would be my presumption that it was. The picture is in an album he compiled of his cross-country trip from his home in Napa, CA to the brown family reunion in Sugar Hill, NC in August, 1928. This picture was with a group of pictures from "Shasta Springs".

It looks like there is a calendar on the door, but I can't make out the date. This picture could pre-date 1928, but from all the other pictures in this album of his (that I can date to 1928) I would seriously doubt it.

Hope this helps.

 

[HadleyH]

A bedroom suite at the Plaza Hotel, New York ,1946.-

 

[MissJeanavive]

South Beach Florida

I just got back from South Beach Florida and saw many Art Deco hotels during my visit.

THE VICTOR LOBBY

One thing that was pointed out that Art Deco was the cheapest form of architecture of the time. However Art Deco furniture was not so interiors were often not complete with the furniture of the age and was more the common mans decor - see the picture from the 'Winter Haven'...

 

[vitanola]

The radio set appears to be a home-brew, perhaps a Fada kit of 1923 or 1924 vintage. The loudspeaker might date just a bit later. I wouldn't think that such a battery set would be found in a hotel room, as these sets were very expensive to operate, and an inexperienced operator could quite easily send a $30.00 set of tubes in to their reward in an hour's listening.

It is much more likely that this photo is of a room in a private home.

 

[Story]

More inspiration

Camino Real, El Paso TX
The Dome Bar...

This hotel was nicknamed "Showplace of the West" by spectators witnessing its grand opening in 1912. The hotel quickly became a favored place to watch the Mexican Revolution and Pancho Villa across the river. Today, it boasts the most photographed grand staircase in the Southwest and the famous original Tiffany cut glass dome, 25-feet in diameter, suspended from the ceiling of the Dome Bar.

http://www.caminoreal.com/elpaso_i/index.html

 

[Big Man]

The radio set appears to be a home-brew, perhaps a Fada kit of 1923 or 1924 vintage. The loudspeaker might date just a bit later. I wouldn't think that such a battery set would be found in a hotel room, as these sets were very expensive to operate, and an inexperienced operator could quite easily send a $30.00 set of tubes in to their reward in an hour's listening.

It is much more likely that this photo is of a room in a private home.

Thanks for the information. I have no idea where the picture was taken, other than it was in an album of my great uncles and included with a group of pictures from his 1928 trip. It appears that all the other pictures in that old album are in some type of order, so I assumed that this was some place he stayed during his journey (it was with a few pictures of Shasta Springs).

I guess I'll never know where it was taken. But, again, thanks for the information. That's very interesting (and provokes more thought about his trip).

 

[raiderrescuer]

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=11648

In the above thread I had posted some pictures of the Oregon Caves Chalet.
I don't know if that helps.

 

[AmateisGal]

Don't know why I haven't checked this thread in awhile :eusa_doh: but so glad I finally did. Lots of great pictures here. You guys are terrific.

 

[BinkieBaumont]

Burgh Island Hotel

Mermaid Suite, drawing room

Bedroom in the "Josephine Baker" suite



Classic Bathroom in the "Fruity Metcalf" suite


Bedroom in the "Agatha Christie" suite[/COLOR][/COLOR]

bedroom in the "Garden Suite"

Drawing room in the Garden suite"

 

[AmateisGal]

Binkie, these are great! Wow.

 

[docneg]

I stayed in a number of older hotels when I was younger, and several had shared bathrooms between two rooms and embarrassing things happened when you forgot to lock the neighbor's door to the bathroom before doing your business!

On the radio topic, I remember one place that had a wooden speaker cabinet with rounded edges (I'm sure you know what I mean) mounted on the wall. A selector switch allowed you to tune in to either of two radio stations.

A good movie to watch in order to catch the look and feel of a nice hotel in the '40s is "Knock On Any Door", a good film with Richard Widmark (and a non-glamorous, powerful performance by Marilyn Monroe).