Old hotels

[simon1]

Anyone ever stay in the old style hotels? Those that are not around anymore. Had the bathroom and bathtub at the end of the hall for community use. Water tank for the toilet was on the wall with a pull chain to flush.

Going rate was $10 a week. I stayed in several a many years ago. One was the Rieger in Kansas City. Years before that Al Capone stayed there when he was in K.C. It was run down when I lived there for awhile but it's been renovated. When I lived there it had a bed, dresser, steam radiator for heat, and a shower in the room. This is a newer pic., there used to be a little bar where the parking lot is called The Spur I think. Loud.

 

[John Rose]

Nothing quite so . . . folksy.
I used to work as a houseman at the Hotel Nova Scotian, one of the grand(ish) old Canadian National Railway hotels.
Opened in 1930. Lots of brass hardware on the stairs and elevators.

With the keys we had, we could get onto that ledge above the top row of windows. Great place to bring your lunch.

I did more recently get to stay a couple of days at the Queen Elizabeth, another CN hotel in Montreal. We went there by train and the coolest part was that the train terminal was in the ground floor the building attached to the hotel. Pick up your luggage and walk them over to the front desk to check in. None of this waiting for a shuttle bus from the airport out in the boonies.

This was the hotel where John and Yoko recorded "Give Peace a Chance", in Room 1742. There's a plaque on the door commemorating it.
Also a nice huge cathedral across the street.

 

[Raissermesser]

The General Oglethorpe Hotel, on Wilmington Island near Savannah, but don't think it was called that when I stayed there. Built in the late 1920s, it was associated with Al Capone. When I went, it was updated, but still had period fixtures. Even an original billiards table (too upscale to be call it pool).

Alas, while the building still exists, a check shows it's gone luxury condo and a gated community now. Here's a period postcard.:

 

[TexLaw]

No common bathrooms, but we've stayed in a couple charming, old hotels in Hot Springs, AR. The most notable is the Arlington, which also has the amenity of a trail heading right off the grounds and into the national Park. That's a beautiful park for casual hiking.

 

[simon1]

The General Oglethorpe Hotel, on Wilmington Island near Savannah, but don't think it was called that when I stayed there. Built in the late 1920s, it was associated with Al Capone. When I went, it was updated, but still had period fixtures. Even an original billiards table (too upscale to be call it pool).

Alas, while the building still exists, a check shows it's gone luxury condo and a gated community now. Here's a period postcard.:

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I lived on Wilmington Island for a little while. The drawbridge between downtown and there could be a pain when you had to stop and wait for a boat to go by.

 

[Intrigued]

We spent a night at the Hotel Seville in Harrison, AR, last year, no bathroom sharing, but an old hotel with some great history.

 

[simon1]

We spent a night at the Hotel Seville in Harrison, AR, last year, no bathroom sharing, but an old hotel with some great history.

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The bathroom sharing is a thing of the past now. They were common in the older, cheap hotels even in the early '70s.

I bet Capone didn't share one. Him and his boys probably rented the whole floor...or the entire hotel. The center part of the ground floor at the Rieger used to be a small grocery store, and the two doors on either side were the entrance to the stairs that led up to the rooms on the second and third floors. Mine was about halfway down the hall on the third floor. I heard they gutted the hotel and made condos out of it, but they made it into something else now. I think it was part of a downtown renovation the city did years ago.

No common bathrooms, but we've stayed in a couple charming, old hotels in Hot Springs, AR. The most notable is the Arlington, which also has the amenity of a trail heading right off the grounds and into the national Park. That's a beautiful park for casual hiking.

I've been wanting to go to Hot Springs; I may take a trip up there when it cools down in a couple of months. I've heard the Mob bosses used it as a sanctuary. They called a truce when there so they could get some R&R without worries.

I've read the novel Hot Springs by Stephen Hunter. It's a pretty good shoot-'em-up if you like that genre.

 

[TexLaw]

I've heard the Mob bosses used it as a sanctuary. They called a truce when there so they could get some R&R without worries.

That's the story. Hot Springs was King's X territory. They gave the bath houses a lot of business.

 

[simon1]

That's the story. Hot Springs was King's X territory. They gave the bath houses a lot of business.

I looked up the Arlington for the later part of October for four nights, and it seems very doable. But...it appears that it has went the way of a lot of hotels and is totally non-smoking and I smoke. Like usual, I found someplace else, and it's $100 cheaper for the four nights. I'd like to tour the gangster museum there.

How are the restaurant prices for meals? I'm sure it's like a lot of tourist towns.

 

[Intrigued]

If you like your hotels hunted, checkout the Crescent Hotel & Spa in Eureka Springs, AR.

We spent a week touring around Arkansas last year to celebrate our fortieth wedding aniversary. One of the funniest things was that the best nights sleep I got on the whole trip were the two nights we stayed at the "hunted" hotel.

Husband on the balcony outside our room.

Sunset view from the balcony...

 

[simon1]

Oh that looks neat, Connie. Savannah also has a lot of "ghost" tours but I never went on one. I guess Casper the Friendly Ghost was in your room in Arkansas.

I swear we have ghosts here at my house...the cats and I both hear them, even when it's dead calm outside. Seems like a female. Haven't heard any in quite awhile though.

According to the internet map directions it's right at the same drive time from here to Hot Springs as it is to Mom's house in N.E. Okla. I just sold. If I leave here about noon I can be there just a bit after the hotel check-in time.

 

[Tanuki]

Grabbed this picture off their website. Carson, WA. Hotel and hot spring fed bathhouse.

Stayed here a couple of times, ‘took the waters’. They would boil you in an XL clawfoot tub then swaddle you in cotton for as long as you could stand it. Haven’t been there in about 3 decades, I believe some aspects (and prices) have been upgraded.

 

[Tanuki]

About 1969, I rode the train from Chicago to Denver with my parents and brother to visit my sister. We stayed in the Brown Palace, which was in a bit of a decline at that time. This marked the end of an era in train travel (amazing dining car meals) and grand, traditional hotels. Fantastic hotel, none the less.
Here is is now:

 

[Rushman2112]

Most of the hotels I stay in are either in Asia or Dubai and generally fairly new(!) We did stay at the Sofitel Metropole in Hanoi back in 2003 when we went there for a long weekend over New Year's Eve. It was a magnificent place and somewhere we must get around to revisiting.

 

[Whilliam]

Stayed in one somewhere in the San Juan Islands some years ago. Quaint and comfortable, but one did have to to keep an eye out for when the bathroom down the hall was vacant.

Best old grande dame hotel I've stayed at is Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, NY. A venerable old Victorian, it's where the film, "The Road to Wellville," was shot. No photos of my own, but it's worth a website visit: https://www.mohonk.com/?nck=gbetri&...VfPH-eTPMFrEYIZaMTfXtoHOZ0IDu6oAaAsBhEALw_wcB

 

[The Knize]

Mohonk House is an amazing place. No a/c and they make gentlemen wear a jacket for dinner.

I do not remember bathrooms down the hall though. Really great place.

 

[Raissermesser]

I lived on Wilmington Island for a little while. The drawbridge between downtown and there could be a pain when you had to stop and wait for a boat to go by.

Judging from a technical manual I kept from that trip, was there around 1990. I think we came in from Thunderbolt, and missed the drawbridge. Since it was company related, spent all day in meetings. Looking at the place during breaks was interesting. The place had an air like you'd stepped into an F. Scott Fitzgerald story.

 

[TexLaw]

How are the restaurant prices for meals? I'm sure it's like a lot of tourist towns.

I'm afraid I can't really say. We haven't been there since my wife's grandmother passed away some years ago. Back then, it was hit and miss on tourist prices. As you might expect, the further you are from the bath house and tourist area, the convention center, and the horse track, the more "local" the prices get.

On that, the highest prices (especially for hotels) happen during the racing season.

 

[John Rose]

Yet another CN Hotel in Edmonton, Alberta.
The Hotel MacDonald opened in 1915.
I've stayed in it once.

In 1953 they built a 16 story 300-room addition. The nickname became "The Mac and the box it came in."
In 1986 they tore the addition down and did restorations in the original building.

 

[Juanmosey]

Mohonk House is an amazing place. No a/c and they make gentlemen wear a jacket for dinner.

I do not remember bathrooms down the hall though. Really great place.

I guess that leaves me out.