nobody asked me
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 270: Hotel History: Hotel Martinique (1910)
Stanley Turkel | August 25, 2022
Nobody Asked Me But… The family of Stanley Turkel would like to share that Stanley Turkel passed away on Friday, August 12th, 2022 after a brief illness. Stanley had completed his 270th article for this newsletter which is below. It was a great pleasure for him to have you, a receptive readership, over the last 20-plus years. Thank you. Stanley’s obituary can be found on his website. If you are so inclined, Stanley would appreciate donations to The Southern Poverty Law Center or the ACLU in his name. by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: Hotel Martinique (530 rooms) The Hotel Martinique (560 rooms) at the northeast corner...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 268: Hotel History: Wentworth by the Sea
Stanley Turkel | July 12, 2022
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: Wentworth By The Sea, New Castle, New Hampshire (161 rooms) The Wentworth by the Sea (formerly the Hotel Wentworth), built in 1874 by Daniel E. Chase and Charles E. Campbell, was the largest wooden structure on the New Hampshire coast. It was bought in 1879 by Frank Jones, wealthy owner of banks, breweries, insurance companies, racing stables, railroads and the world's largest shoe-button company. Jones hired the talented Frank W. Hilton (no relation of Conrad) to manage and promote the Wentworth. Hilton introduced steam-driven elevators, Western Union telegraph, a telephone wire connected to...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 267: Hotel History: Famous Artist Edward Hopper and His Hotel Management Paintings
Stanley Turkel | June 21, 2022
Hotel History: Famous Artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967) and his Hotel Management paintings by Stanley Turkel, CMHS The American artist Edward Hopper was known for interest in hotels, motels, tourist homes, and the wide scope of hospitality services. From 1920 through 1925 he worked as a commercial illustrator for Hotel Management and Tavern Topics from the Great Depression through the Cold War. He augmented his knowledge of hospitality services as a frequent guest in several lodgings on the long-distance automobile trips he took with his wife, the artist Josephine Hopper. Beginning in the mid-1920s and through the early 1960s, Hopper explo...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 266: Hotel History: The Palace Hotel, San Francisco, California
Stanley Turkel | June 1, 2022
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: The Palace Hotel (1909), San Francisco, Ca (556 rooms) San Francisco and the Palace Hotel have shared a common heritage for more than 140 years. Inspired by a visionary developer, William Chapman Ralston, the Palace Hotel was known as the “Grande Dame of the West”, a hotel of timeless elegance and unprecedented opulence. It was designed by architect John P. Gaynor as the largest, costliest and most luxurious hotel in the world. To finance its $5 million cost, Ralston exhausted his Bank of California which collapsed in late August 1875. Soon thereafter, Ralston’s body was found floating in San...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 265: Hotel History: Asian American Hotel Owners Association
Stanley Turkel | May 10, 2022
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) The Asian American Hotel Owners Association is a trade association that represents hotel owners. As of 2022, AAHOA has approximately 20,000 members who own 60% of the hotels in the United States and are responsible for 1.7% of the nation’s GDP. More than one million employees work at AAHOA member-owned hotels, earning $47 billion annually and provide 4.2 million U.S. jobs across all sectors of the hospitality industry. Indian Americans in the hotel and motel industry early on faced discrimination, both from the insurance industry and from com...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 264: Hotel History: Palmer House (1871), Chicago, Illinois
Stanley Turkel | April 20, 2022
by Stanley Turkel, CMHS Hotel History: Palmer House, Chicago, IL (1,639 rooms) The original Palmer House was built in 1871 by Potter Palmer who began his career as a bank clerk in upstate New York. He later became a dry-goods store owner in Chicago where he revolutionized the retail trade. He was the first to make big window displays, to use big advertising spaces, to send goods on approval to homes and to hold bargain sales. He became a brilliant hotel man as he applied his successful department store methods to the operation of his hotel. He saw no reason why clerks, chefs and head waiters should not be subject to the same discipline...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 263: Hotel History: Frederick Law Olmsted
Stanley Turkel | March 29, 2022
By Stanley Turkel Landscape Architect: Frederick Law Olmsted was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture. Olmsted was famous for co-designing many well-known urban parks with his partner Calvert Vaux. Olmsted and Vaux’s most famous achievement was Central Park in New York City which resulted in many other urban park designs, including Prospect Park in what is now the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City and Cadwalader Park in Trenton. Olmsted was called by Charles Eliot Norton “the greatest artist that America has yet produced”. ...
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 262: Hotel History: Tampa Bay Hotel
Stanley Turkel | March 8, 2022
By Stanley Turkel Hotel History: Tampa Bay Hotel (511 rooms) The success of Henry M. Flagler’s Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine convinced Henry B. Plant that Tampa needed a spectacular new hotel. With the agreement of the town council for a new bridge across the Hillsborough River and for substantial real estate tax abatement, Plant chose New York City architect John A. Wood to design a spectacular hotel. The cornerstone of the Tampa Bay Hotel was laid on July 26, 1888 and the 511-room hotel opened on February 5, 1891 with a 23-foot high rotunda supported by thirteen granite columns. Florida’s first fully electrified hotel conta...
