Remembering Classic Moments from 13 Iconic Hotels in New York City

Only in NYC

The Plaza’s seen more drama than a Real Housewives reunion, and the Chelsea Hotel basically invented the whole “tortured artist” thing. But that’s just scratching the surface of NYC’s hotel history.

These 13 iconic NYC hotels have been hosting the city’s wildest, weirdest, and most legendary moments for over a century. Time to check in to some A+ New York gossip.

JFK met Marilyn at the Carlyle

After Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday” to JFK in 1962, they supposedly met at The Carlyle through hidden tunnels. JFK owned an apartment there from 1953 until he died, which is why people called it the “New York White House.”

The hotel turns 95 in 2025, still keeping its 192 rooms of Art Deco charm. Princess Diana, Steve Jobs, and Michael Jackson once shared an elevator here – an unlikely trio in this legendary spot where the rich and famous value privacy.

Tesla spent his last years at the New Yorker

When you stay in rooms 3327 and 3328 at The New Yorker Hotel, you’re sleeping where Nikola Tesla lived his final ten years. From 1933 until his death in 1943, he worked on wireless electricity projects right there.

He chose these rooms because he was obsessed with the numbers 3, 6, and 9. Hotel staff checked on him daily, and after he died, the FBI took his papers. Now you’ll see a plaque on his door and a special exhibit downstairs about his time at the hotel.

The Plaza hid a pool turned speakeasy

During Prohibition, The Plaza’s basement swimming pool doubled as a secret bar. Rich folks pretended they were going for a swim while actually having illegal drinks. Next to the pool was a “dog check room” where pets got fancy meals while owners “swam.”

Though the pool’s gone now, some original tiles still hide in a storage room. Don’t believe “Home Alone 2” – The Plaza doesn’t have a pool anymore, but it was the first New York hotel to welcome pets, and still does today.

A cat runs the show at the Algonquin

For a hundred years, the Algonquin has kept a cat named either Hamlet or Matilda. It started when owner Frank Case took in a stray called Billy in the 1920s. Today’s cat has its own fancy house in the lobby and gets fan mail from everywhere.

Since 1902, the hotel has hosted famous writers like William Faulkner and Maya Angelou. The hotel’s “Round Table” restaurant got its name from a group of writers and actors who met there so often they needed their own special table.

Roosevelt Hotel was the first to put radios in every room

When you turn on any gadget in your hotel room, you’re following a tradition the Roosevelt Hotel started. It was the first to put radios in every room back in 1924, broadcasting from its own station.

Guests could hear Guy Lombardo play “Auld Lang Syne” on New Year’s Eve – a tradition we still have today. The Roosevelt also started other hotel basics we now take for granted: pet kennels, child-care, and air conditioning.

You might recognize it from movies like “Wall Street,” “The French Connection,” and “Men in Black 3.”

Edison turned on the lights at his namesake hotel

You’re walking through movie history in the Hotel Edison’s lobby, where they filmed key scenes from “The Godfather.”

Thomas Edison himself switched on the lights during the 1931 opening from his home in New Jersey.

The hotel’s striking design matches Radio City Music Hall, sharing the bold Art Deco style of that time.

Stars from Hollywood and Broadway still gather at The Rum House and Edison Ballroom, just like they did when the Ballroom was a hot spot for swing dancing in the 1930s and 40s.

You can thank St. Regis for your Bloody Mary

Every Bloody Mary you’ve ever had came from the St. Regis New York. Bartender Fernand Petiot mixed the first one in 1934 for hungover customers. They called it “Red Snapper” at first because “Bloody Mary” sounded too shocking.

You can still get the original recipe at the King Cole Bar. John Jacob Astor IV started the hotel in 1904 but died on the Titanic eight years later. The St. Regis was ahead of its time with central heating and air conditioning in every room – super fancy stuff back then.

A forgotten tunnel lies under the New Yorker

Under the New Yorker Hotel runs a hidden Art Deco tunnel most guests never see. This beautiful passage once let you go straight from Penn Station to your room without going outside.

It has special herringbone tilework made by the famous Guastavino family. When it opened in 1930, the New Yorker was the world’s tallest building with 2,500 rooms and a million square feet.

The hotel’s grand Terrace Room even had an ice-skating rink that could be pulled out for NBC broadcasts.

Artists paid rent with paintings at the Chelsea

The Chelsea Hotel has one of the city’s biggest unofficial art collections because struggling artists paid their bills with artwork.

You can see pieces by Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, and Willem de Kooning hanging in hallways instead of behind museum glass. The Gothic landmark has drawn creative types since 1884. It was New York’s tallest building until 1899.

Mark Twain, Arthur Miller, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, and Patti Smith all lived here, creating some of their best work within these walls.

Pierre Hotel ran a fancy secret bar

During Prohibition, the Pierre Hotel had a fancy underground bar hidden behind a secret door in the men’s smoking room. The bar had copper walls that staff could quickly take apart if police showed up.

If you’d visited in the 1920s, you might have shared drinks with Vanderbilts and Astors. The Pierre opened in 1930 with a design inspired by French palaces. Coco Chanel, Elizabeth Taylor, and Audrey Hepburn stayed here regularly.

A $100 million update in 2009 kept its elegant marble floors and gold trim.

Beekman found a hidden treasure behind walls

The Beekman has a stunning nine-story Victorian atrium that was hidden away for almost 50 years. Workers fixing up the building in 2016 found the original railings and skylight sealed up behind walls.

The building first opened in 1883 as one of Manhattan’s first tall buildings, then called Temple Court. Edgar Allan Poe made his literary magazine, The Broadway Journal, in one of the offices before it became a hotel.

The New York Times decided to move uptown after a meeting here in 1904.

Your martini was invented at the Knickerbocker

Martinis taste better at the Knickerbocker Hotel because they were born there in 1912. Bartender Martini di Arma di Taggia made the first one for John D. Rockefeller using gin, vermouth, orange bitters, and lemon peel.

The hotel opened in 1906 on land owned by John Jacob Astor IV, who died on the Titanic six years later. The Knickerbocker once had a 30-foot tunnel so guests could walk straight to Times Square subway stations.

After closing in 1921, it served other purposes until reopening as a hotel in 2015 after a $240 million renovation.