populuxe

In most cases, I am a proponent for the preservation of historic architecture. I love to see old buildings restored to their original beauty. In this case, I don't think I will be too sad to see the Hotel Pennsylvania go. The New York City Hotel Pennsylvania will be torn down for a 2.5 million-square-foot office tower.

We stayed at the Hotel Penn last year. I had high hopes for our stay. This historic hotel was built in 1919 and inspired the song "Pennsylvania 6-5000". The ballroom was host to Big bands such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Glenn Miller. We walked in the lobby to check in. It was quite expansive, covered in marble, deco chandeliers, circular seating. It looked quite promising.

We got to our room and it was so ugly. Small room, dark green carpet, bed as hard as a rock! Internet didn't work, so we moved to another room. The air conditioning didn't work in that room, so we moved to a third room. It wasn't the nostalgic stay I thought it would be.

Upside is the location is great, in midtown, right across the street from Madison Square Garden and close to Macy's, Times Square, etc.

I hope that its office tower replacement will be an ultra-modern, eco-friendly building, and I bet it will even have internet access. Wow!

photo via dogfriendly.com