Thursday, September 30, 2010

Hotel Hermitage - New York

This hotel could hardly look more drab and uninviting, except for the advertisement painted on the side of the building promising single rooms for $1.50 and double rooms for $2.50. For less than $250, you could have rented the entire hotel for your private party. Another interesting and typical feature of this postcard is that the surrounding buildings are obscured. In black-and-white photographs this may have seemed necessary to guide the viewer's eye to the intended focus. Still, I don't think it makes the hotel appear in the best light. I think we need some bright colors here.

Although there is no date on this card, the grayed out marquis on the neighboring movie theater is screening A Woman Rebels, starring Katherine Hepburn, a film that came out in 1936.
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7 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 30, 2010 at 6:24 AM

    It does look a bit miserable! Cheap but not cheerful :-) Jo

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  2. Brian PaperSpongeSeptember 30, 2010 at 7:28 AM

    Okay, you helped me find the best haunted house location in the US. It reminds me of the Tower of Terror ride. You can't tell me there aren't any ghost stories in that building.

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  3. Christine H.September 30, 2010 at 9:12 AM

    Yeah, I have a basement room that's more appealing.

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  4. lettuceSeptember 30, 2010 at 10:45 AM

    I think its a great building!

    wouldn't want to live there tho....

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  5. AnonymousSeptember 30, 2010 at 2:30 PM

    "I was working the day watch out of Homicide with my partner, Bill Gannon, when we got the call. Yeah, we knew the Hermitage. Twelve bits for a flop, four bits for the bellhop and front end, and whatever you did there stayed there. Unless it was murder. That's where I come in. I'm a cop.":-{ Jack/Youngstown

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  6. Christine H.September 30, 2010 at 3:59 PM

    Jack,
    That's hilarious.

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  7. AnonymousSeptember 30, 2010 at 9:07 PM

    While does look sorta Addams Family, I agree with lettuce in that the building has alot of character. Having the adjacent buildings obscured makes the street look derelict though, and the card stating that the bus terminal is located in the hotel throws up a red flag for me- these days that is definitely not seen as an amenity!

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