|
Server : Apache/2.4.62 System : FreeBSD fbsdweb2.web.rcn.net 14.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE releng/14.1-n267679-10e31f0946d8 GENERIC amd64 User : www ( 80) PHP Version : 8.3.8 Disable Function : NONE Directory : /domains/nostrada/McCarthy/ |
Upload File : |
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0">
<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
<title>Memories of Manhattan's Hotel Paris from the days before it was turned
into luxury apartments</title>
<meta name="Microsoft Theme" content="tvtoons 111">
<meta name="Microsoft Border" content="t">
</head>
<body background="_themes/tvtoons/tvbkgnd.gif" bgcolor="#6633CC" text="#FFFFFF" link="#99FF99" vlink="#FFCC00" alink="#CC66CC"><!--msnavigation--><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial, Arial, Helvetica">
<p align="center"><font size="6"><strong><img src="_derived/hotelparis.htm_cmp_tvtoons110_bnr.gif" width="605" height="65" border="0" alt="Hotel Paris"></strong></font></p>
<!--mstheme--></font></td></tr><!--msnavigation--></table><!--msnavigation--><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><!--msnavigation--><td valign="top"><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial, Arial, Helvetica">
<p align="center"><b><i>Memories of the Hotel Paris from the days before it was
converted into luxury apartments.</i></b></p>
<p>Rumor had it that the Hotel Paris was built as some sort of club in which
businessmen such as traveling salesmen could stay inexpensively while in
the city (much like staying at the YMCA). It had a rooftop solarium and pool, and
amazingly small rooms, each with private bath. In the 60s and 70s, the glory
days were long past but the pool, solarium and spacious lobby (with mezzanine)
remained. A gentle seediness hung over the place, much like the many other
residential hotels typical of the neighborhood. In its last years, the Paris
started attracting busloads of tourists on cheap package tours, like a hostel.
The prostitutes came next, along with the smell of urine in the elevators. The
Paris had become little better than an SRO ("single room occupancy"
dwelling) or welfare hotel. By the 80s, it had been closed, renovated and turned
into luxury rentals.</p>
<p> </p>
<p align="center"><img src="paris.jpg" VALIGN="MIDDLE" alt="Hotel Paris" width="216" height="365"></p>
<p align="center"><font size="+1"><i><b>Hotel Paris<br>
97th STREET AND WEST END AVENUE</b></i></font></p>
<p align="left">Text: A few steps from Riverside Drive, conveniently situated, with
express subway station and Fifth Avenue buses practically at the door.
Surrounded by facilities for outside sports and with a 50 foot swimming pool for
indoor enjoyment. Every room has private bath and radio. T.V. and air
conditioning available. There are beautiful lounges and a spacious solarium. One
block from 95-96th Street exit of West Side Highway. [Postcard picture and text
from http://pages.map.com/rclark/tabloid_trash/paris.htm 1-3-06 link
broken] [Link to <a href="http://www.cardcow.com/50587/hotel-paris-west-end-avenue-at-97th-street-us-state-town-views-new-york-other-new-york-cities/">another
postcard</a>.]</p>
<h2 align="left"><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFCC00">From the Web<!--mstheme--></font></h2>
<p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFFFFF">My
Great Grandfather, Samuel Gross was the architect of this garnet colored edifice
erected around the late 1920's,early thirties. It's visible from the West Side
High Way and is easy to recognize because of the its turrets and oversized flag
pole centered on the roof. It is no longer a hotel, it is an apartment building.
I had the pleasure of first visiting it last year with my daughters and
grandaughter (Sam's Great, Great, Great Granddaughter!)And it was her first time
in a NYC building.<br>
Anyway, when we first entered the lobby, there were the pink
marble walls my mother had told me about. we spoke to the concierge and he gave
us permission to take the elevator to the top floor. The corridor was narrow by
today's standards but the view was magnificent. When we returned to the lobby,
we toured the Health Club that now occupies the former banquet hall. Finally we
were escorted downstairs to see the original indoor swimming pool still in
operation!<br>
Wondering where to find some original interior photos? <br>
</font>[from <a href="http://www.gothamcenter.org/discussions/viewthread.cfm?ID=824&ForumID=30">http://www.gothamcenter.org/discussions/viewthread.cfm?ID=824&ForumID=30</a>]</p>
<h2><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFCC00">Via email<!--mstheme--></font></h2>
<h5 align="left"><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFCC00"><i>From an email dated 6/18/2005. Used by
permission:</i><!--mstheme--></font></h5>
<p>Hello..</p>
I was just surfing the net and found your site. I lived in the Hotel Paris
from 1960-1963. Although I was born in NYC, we moved to Florida when I was
a baby and somehow we became destitute. The extended family sent us money
to come back up to NYC and we all lived in one room at the Hotel Paris. I
was only three, but I remember it. After a few months, we had enough money
to move into a two room apartment. It was a corner room on the fifth
floor. It had a front room that faced West End Avenue and 97th St.
My parents slept in there. My brother and I slept in the other room. My mother cooked over a hot plate. I went to P.S. 75 for kindergarten.
In the summer of '63 we moved to a regular apartment on 90th and Broadway where
I lived for 17 years.
<p>As fate would have it, my father managed to pull himself together financially
and eventually owned the little store on the corner of 96th St. and West End
Avenue. When I was 10 (1967), my parents decided that I needed to learn
how to swim, so they paid $60 for ten swimming lessons at the Hotel Paris.
I remember the pool very well. It had an observation deck which I thought
was kind of cool! There was a lot of chlorine in that pool. After
each lesson, I would then go to my dad's store for a snack. Two or three
years later, I got an annual membership to the pool for about $20.
<p>Another memory I had was of the lobby. You went up some stairs and
there was an area to read or do work and they had this old typewriter. I
was fascinated by it and enjoyed playing on it. I recently read Stephen
King's "On Writing" and there was a section about him going to a hotel
lobby to type and I had visions of the Hotel Paris.
<p>Well, there are my early memories.
<p>Roberta Strenka<h5><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFCC00"><i>From emails 8/2006. Used by permission:</i><!--mstheme--></font></h5>
<p>I have been searching for a hotel that was in the vicinity of 96th and West End Avenue. After reading your website, I think the Hotel Paris fits the location. My great-grandmother, whom I never met, was the head housekeeper at a luxury hotel in this location. Her name was Margaret Norris. I noticed the email from Roberta Strenka which was particularly interesting since she lived in that neighborhood. Can you tell me of any hotels in that area that might fit the description? I am from Texas and am researching my father's side of the family.<br>
<br>
My great-grandmother immigrated to New York prior to 1902, when my grandmother was born. My Aunt told me that they would go visit her when she was a girl, and she is now 84. She said they thought she was very wealthy, because she lived in this high-rise hotel and had servants, but she was really the head housekeeper. I figure it was around 1930, or thereabouts.<br>
<br>
Lisa Mayfield
<h5><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFCC00">My answer:<!--mstheme--></font></h5>
<p>I'm no historian but I think the Paris is your hotel.<br>
<br>
1. The building boom on WEA was in the 20s and 30s, by my observation of cornerstones and confirmed by this site:
<a href="http://www.bloomingdale.org/history.htm">http://www.bloomingdale.org/history.htm</a>
<p>2. Virtually all the buildings of that era along WEA in that neighborhood are still standing. <br>
<br>
3. I've neither seen evidence nor heard of any hotels or other large buildings there that predate the boom.<br>
<br>
4. I think that leaves the Paris as great-grandma's hotel.<br>
<br>
While I would not call the Paris "luxurious," it did attract a nice clientele, had an impressive lobby, and had full hotel services.<br>
<br>
You can view a pretty complete list of Manhattan hotels 1919-1940 here:<br>
<a href="https://www.nyhistory.org/templates/library/hotelguide.html">https://www.nyhistory.org/templates/library/hotelguide.html</a>
<h5><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFCC00"><i>From an email sent by Richard Young 10/25/06:</i><!--mstheme--></font></h5>
<p>I was in New York this past weekend and was reminded of my visit to the Paris
Hotel back in 1967. A few of my UW college friends, including a
girlfriend, stayed at the Paris at Easter time. I recall taking my girlfriend to
the Persian room in the Plaza Hotel, running out of cab money and walking her in
the rain from Central Park South to 96th and West End. The Paris was at that
time on the "edge of respectability," as one New Yorker characterized
it. The lobby was large and tired. The rules were strict. I was not allowed,
under any circumstances, to accompany my girlfriend to her room. They clearly
were trying to keep it reputable. Tired as the lobby was, it nonetheless had
character, and I thought that it must have been beautiful thirty years earlier.
I'm delighted to hear it is still standing. This past weekend we stayed next
door to the Plaza, which is undergoing a condo conversion. Another sad passing
of a truly grand hotel.<h5><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFCC00"><i>From an email received 8/16/2007 (used by
permission):</i><!--mstheme--></font></h5>
<p>My name is Janet Kestenberg and my father was the manager of the Paris, not
the owner. My fondest memory was in the 1950's when my father decided to
elaborate the dining room with a mirrored internal garden. The mirrors reflected
back on each other so that it looked as though the little garden had 100
fountains.<h5><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFCC00"><i>An email received January 20, 2007, from Peter Selgin:</i><!--mstheme--></font></h5>
I was delighted to find your website on the Hotel Paris. I stayed there
with my father in the sixties, when he would go to the city on business trips. I
loved that hotel. I have a distinct memory of the lobby, and of the small
attached restaurant, the small rooms and florid hallway carpeting. I�m a
fiction writer, and a description of the hotel has wormed its way into a
recent story:
<blockquote>
<p>�At the hotel where my papa and I slept, a black woman with fire engine
red hair let me man the elevator controls. At each floor the
elevator�s caged doors opened to different hallway carpeting, with
each pattern a teeming city unto itself, arabesques of bright color that
seemed to mirror the thrilling chaos outdoors.�</p>
</blockquote>
<h5><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFCC00"><i>An email from "Tink," dated 12/3/2007:</i><!--mstheme--></font></h5>
<p>Goddesses know how or why I found your website today . . . guess I'm getting
sentimental upon moving from my 2nd house since leaving the City, but anyway,
here goes . . .<br>
<br>
I moved into 752 WEA in 1980. It was still a bit of a "sketchy" area
at that time, but hey, I was in my early 30's and working at Atlantic Records,
so all was "cool." I can remember a bodega on the corner of WEA and
96th (roaches all over the place, no one spoke English, but late at night when
you needed cigs, who cared), there was an original GAP on the corner of 96th and
Broadway, with a Latin club, upstairs where Tito Puente would often play, and a
restaurant named The Library on Broadway (95-94th). It had tons of old books on
the walls and was a great place to brunch by oneself. A deli on 95-94 B'way that
was always good for Nova and cream cheese on a bagel with tomato and red onion
even at 2:00 AM, and the newstand on 96 and B'way for 1:00am pick up of the NY
Times on Sundays. Ashford and Simpson lived on 96th and CPW and I would often
see them on the bus.<br>
<br>
OK, to the building itself. I remember it as being a beautiful piece of Art Deco
architecture, a VERY deep red brick, and very tall -- 23 floors I think, then
the penthouse. When you came in the front doors, there were the buzzers, then
after getting into the HUGE lobby the mailboxes were to the left. There were 2
elevators in the lobby facing you as you came in and a balcony above that (where
you could get the stairs on either side, and I often did as the elevators were
always breaking down and living on the 19th floor, I can REMEMBER that very
well). To the left of the elevators was a door that led to the basement. The
lobby was a pinkish color (oh geez, this is really taking me back) and again,
HUGE! As I said I lived on the 19th floor, 19G to be exact. I had a 1 bedroom
apt. and was paying $850.00 in 1980. My bedroom had a window that overlooked the
Hudson and you could see the GW bridge to the right. The other 2 windows looked
onto 97th St. (mostly water towers as I was higher up than them. From the
den/living/dining room, the same (97th) and also a window facing the park where
you could actually almost see to the East side. The kitchen was yellow and small
with an occasional roach or 20 or 30 . . . I would just name them, say goodnight
and they'd be gone in the morning.<br>
<br>
On the few times I would take a cab home and I would say "West End between
96th and 97th," the older cabbies would refer to it as the "old Paris
Hotel." And then give me the shpiel about it having had a rep in the old
days as a "house of ill repute" and asked if it were still the same. Very
funny. I would tell them no, it's quite lovely right now.</p>
<h5><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFCC00"><i>David Campbell wrote on 3/23/2008:</i><!--mstheme--></font></h5>
<p>I have had for many years a wooden coat hanger in my closet that I probably
received through my family. It has printed on it "Hotel
Paris----97th St. & West End Avenue---A Knott Hotel."</p>
<p>Curious, I was surfing the internet and was pleased to have come upon your
website. I know that when my father was about 14 years old he drove
chickens from Kentucky to New York City to sell them. That would have been
ca. 1930. I wonder if he might have stayed at the Hotel Paris while he was
there? He passed away in 2003 and I never heard him remark as to<br>
where he stayed on those trips, but he DID tell me stories about going to the
Yankees games and seeing some of the old Yankee legends play ball.<br>
<br>
Are these hangers numerous? Also, are there registers still existent
whereby I might determine whether my father stayed in the Paris while in New
York City? Just wondering whether he might have picked up the hanger on
one of his trips?</p>
<p>[If you know anything about old Hotel Paris registers, drop me a note and
I'll pass it on to David. Also, he was kind enough to photograph the hanger for
us. At one time, Knott was a pretty big hotel chain; it later was acquired by
Trusthouse Forte, Inc.] <br>
</p>
<p><img border="0" src="images/PICT0311.JPG" width="685" height="520" alt="Hotel Paris hanger"></p>
<h5><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFCC00"><i>Jean wrote May 3, 2008:</i><!--mstheme--></font></h5>
<p>I had part of my Peace Corps training in NYC in November and December of
1969. We were lodged in the Paris Hotel; I had to share a room with the
only other single woman in our group which was destined to go to Lesotho as
secondary school teachers. It was very cold that winter, and I remember dodging
frozen dog poops on the sidewalks. There was a bag lady around the corner from
the hotel who had set up a kind of shelter; her name was Beatrice, and she
said she used to be a ballerina, but had recently been in a hospital due to
mental problems. I told her where I was staying and said if she ever needed
anything, to drop by. Surprisingly, she did, just once, and she chatted
with me and my roommate. I believe the high school where I did my teacher
training was named something like Bishop Dubois [<a href="http://www.bishopdubois.org/">perhaps
this one</a>]; it was an all-boy high school, and I have no idea where it was,
but managed to get there somehow.</p>
<p>Back to the Hotel Paris, it was where I had my first encounter with
cockroaches; they would scurry away whenever the lights were turned on at night.
One day the elevator operators [ed: I don't think there were elevator operators]
were on strike, and one elevator did not work, so everyone crushed into one, and
it couldn't stop at the first floor, but sank, and opened to a brick wall.
Scary. I was so delighted to find an old picture postcard of the hotel among my
mother's collection of cards--I guess I'd given it to her or left it there.
[Jean says the card was the same as the one pictured at the top of this page.]</p>
<h2><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFCC00">Parisites<!--mstheme--></font></h2>
<!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<!--msthemelist--><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img src="_themes/tvtoons/atvbull1.gif" width="15" height="15" hspace="13"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial, Arial, Helvetica">
<p align="left"><a href="http://time.arts.ucla.edu/terminals/schneemann/pileggi.html">Frank
Pileggi</a><!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--></td></tr>
<!--msthemelist--><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img src="_themes/tvtoons/atvbull1.gif" width="15" height="15" hspace="13"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial, Arial, Helvetica"><p align="left">Joseph Tunick [link to
http://tunicks.com/WC03/WC03_446.HTML is broken, 1-3-06] (could be related to photographer Spencer Tunick)<!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--></td></tr>
<!--msthemelist--><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img src="_themes/tvtoons/atvbull1.gif" width="15" height="15" hspace="13"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial, Arial, Helvetica">
<p align="left">4/2002 I ran into photographer Al Gruen, former resident of the Paris.<!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--></td></tr>
<!--msthemelist--><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"><img src="_themes/tvtoons/atvbull1.gif" width="15" height="15" hspace="13"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial, Arial, Helvetica">
<p align="left">Some time in the late 60s or early 70s, songwriter/producer
Lincoln Chase lived in the Paris.<!--mstheme--></font><!--msthemelist--></td></tr>
<!--msthemelist--></table><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial, Arial, Helvetica">
<h2 align="left"><!--mstheme--><font face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, Arial, Helvetica" color="#FFCC00">The building<!--mstheme--></font></h2>
<p><a href="http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=114736">Emporis Building Number 114736</a></p>
<p align="left">According to Emporis, the architect was Sugarman & Berger
and construction was completed in 1931.</p>
<p align="left">SUGARMAN, M. HENRY: An architect, died in New York City, October
12, 1946, aged fifty-eight. He studied at the National Academy of Design, the
Columbia University School of Architecture, and in England and France. He
organized the firm of Sugarman & Berger in 1926, which designed the New
Yorker Hotel, the Mayfair Hotel in Philadelphia, and the Long Beach Hospital on
Long Island as well as buildings in Europe and Central America. WWAA IV - 1947.<a href="http://www.sah.org/oldsite06012004/aame/bios.html">
[From http://www.sah.org/oldsite06012004/aame/bios.html</a>]</p>
<p>The New York Historical Society's George B. Corsa Collection
has information about the Hotel Paris. See <a href="https://www.nyhistory.org/templates/library/hotelguide.html">https://www.nyhistory.org/templates/library/hotelguide.html</a></p>
<p>The Hotel Paris flagpole is a "benchmark": <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=KU4003">http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=KU4003</a></p>
<p>According to the book <i><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=dsA-y8Q8ZH4C&pg=PA114&lpg=PA114&dq=west-end-avenue+%22hotel+paris%22&source=web&ots=Utu0A08VKp&sig=hbJ8m8Ho9F3Cl_Y1BiGjfg0V7k8&hl=en">Manhattan
Hotels, 1880-1920</a>, </i>by Jeff Hirsch, the Paris had 1000 rooms and was
designed by architect H. Hurwitt. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F14FA355D1B7A93C1A91789D95F458385F9">New
York Times</a>, the Paris opened in December 1931 with 900 rooms. I think it was
built by the Silverman Freda Construction Corporation. You can view the original
Certificate of Occupancy <a href="http://a810-cofo.nyc.gov/cofo/M/000/017000/M000017901.PDF">here</a>.</p>
<p>The Guardian Life
Insurance Company bought it at a<a href="http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20E12F73E5C16738DDDA80894DE405B838FF1D3">
foreclosure auction</a> in 1933. In 1934, the <a href="http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50717FB3F5D167A93C7A9178AD85F408385F9">Paris
was sold by Guardian Life</a> to the Risap Corporation (James E. Knott,
president).</p>
<p>David Campbell (see above) has a Hotel Paris hanger that says "A Knott
Hotel." He thinks it's from the 1930's.</p>
<p>I believe Milton Kestenberg bought the Paris in 1955. A <a href="https://www.fastcase.com/Google/Start.aspx?C=79a6c4fe75add3f9e35643429e2d42d8db8eaa3bc0398d7b&D=2d246f865a7e5afdae66a15fc9d43674408d43c177222e3f">1966
court case</a> lists "Milton KESTENBERG, d/b/a Hotel Paris and Olympic Swim
School and Health Club, Inc." as the Defendants-Respondents. Kestenberg was also involved with many similar hotels, particularly on the West
Side. It seems likely that this is the same Milton Kestenberg (d. Nov 19, 1991)
who was an attorney, real estate manager, litigator on behalf of Holocaust
survivors, and was married to psychiatrist and author Judith S. Kestenberg, M.D.
(d. Jan 16, 1999). Perhaps it's the same Milton Kestenberg who was involved with
the
<a href="http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/articleView.cfm?articlenumber=482">Elva
McZeal Apartments</a> in East New York.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.copyscribe.com/grantproposal.htm">Henry Mandel</a>,
writing about the Paris Apartments, says that he converted a ". . .
deserted hotel building into middle class housing, specifically apartments, as
part owner. I created a health center in the building which is still named
the Paris Health Club. The Paris Health Club was a first of its kind in
that it offered middle class citizens affordable access to previously upper
class luxuries." In July of 1978, a <a href="http://a810-cofo.nyc.gov/cofo/M/000/078000/M000078621.PDF">new
Certificate of Occupancy</a> was issued, showing that the Paris was now a
"Class A Multiple Dwelling."</p>
<p>The <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902E4DF1539F935A35750C0A967948260&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/F/Foreign%20Investments">New
York Times</a> reported that Herbert Mandel sold the Paris in March of 1981 to
Amos Kaminski's AFA Asset Services, Inc. (Mandel was <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E5D71E39F93AA35751C1A964948260">arrested</a>
in December of 1982.)</p>
<p> The <a href="http://www.nypost.com/seven/09052007/business/binn_heads_to_church.htm?page=2">New
York Post </a>reported that the building was sold to Westbrook Partners on
9/28/2007 for $85,787,799. It now has <a href="http://www.therealdeal.net/deals/sales.php?deals_sales_sort_order=DESC&deals_sales_sort_field=tenant">179
apartments</a>.</p>
<!--msthemeseparator--><p align="center"><img src="_themes/tvtoons/atvrule.gif" width="600" height="10"></p>
<p align="center">The Hotel Paris <br>
752 West End Avenue<br>
New York NY 10025</p>
<p align="center"><i>If you have any Hotel Paris stories or memorabilia, please
drop me a line at <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>.</i></p>
<p align="center"><!--webbot bot="Navigation" S-Type="siblings"
S-Orientation="horizontal" S-Rendering="text" B-Include-Home="FALSE"
B-Include-Up="TRUE" U-Page S-Target startspan --><nobr>[ <a href="map.htm">Up</a> ]</nobr><!--webbot bot="Navigation" endspan i-checksum="56127" --><!--mstheme--></font><!--msnavigation--></td></tr><!--msnavigation--></table></body>
</html>