Page 143 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

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4 Algonquin Hotel 7 Bryant Park Hotel
59 W 44th St. Map 12 F5. Tel (212) 40 W 40th St. Map 8 F1.
840-6800. q 42nd St. See Where to Tel (212) 869-0100. q 42nd St.
Stay p289. ∑ algonquinhotel.com ∑ bryantparkhotel.com
No other hotel captures the city’s The American Radiator building
formidable literary history quite (now the Bryant Park Hotel) was
like the Algon quin Hotel. For the first major New York work
more than a century it has played by Raymond Hood and John
host to home-grown talent and Howells, who went on to
international luminaries. In the design the Daily News Building
1920s, the Rose Room was (see p151), the McGraw-Hill
home to America’s best-known building, and Rockefeller
luncheon club, the Round Table, Center. The 1924 structure is
with literary lights such as reminiscent of one of Hood’s
Alexander Woollcott, Franklin Entrance to the popular Discovery best-known Gothic buildings,
P. Adams, Dorothy Parker, Robert Times Square Chicago’s Tribune Tower. Here,
Benchley, and Harold Ross. All the design is sleeker, giving the
were associated with The New sponsored by the US Discovery building the illusion of being
Yorker (Ross was the founding Channel, the shows here are taller than its actual 23 stories.
editor), whose 25 West 43rd informative, interactive, and The black brick facade is set
Street headquarters had a back educational. A range of off by gold terracotta trim,
door opening into the hotel. subjects are showcased – evoking images of flaming
Renovations have preserved from ancient history, coals – a comparison
the old-fashioned, civilized feel with major install- that would have suited
of the cozy, paneled lobby, where ations on King Tut, its original owners
pub lishing types and theater- the Dead Sea Scrolls, well, since they
goers still like to gather for and Pompeii, to made heating
drinks, settling into comfortable Hollywood block- equipment. The
armchairs and ring ing a brass busters, such as building is now a
bell to summon the waiters. The Hunger Games luxury hotel (see
and The Avengers. p285) across the
The ongoing street from Bryant
permanent exhibi- Park and boasts
tion “Body Worlds” Statue of poet William Cullen the New York
comprises a series Bryant in Bryant Park outpost of trendy
of real cadavers, LA eatery Koi.
preserved by plastination,
and displayed to reveal various
body parts.

6 Bryant Park
Map 8 F1. q 42nd St.
∑ bryantpark.org
In 1853, with the New York
Public Library site still occupied
by Croton Reservoir, Bryant Park
Elegant interior of the lobby in the (then Reservoir Park) housed
Algonquin Hotel a dazzling Crystal Palace, built
for the World’s Fair of that
5 Discovery Times year (see p27).
In the 1960s the park was
Square a hangout for drug dealers and
other undesirables. In 1989 the
224 W 44th St. Map 12 E5. city renovated the park,
Tel (646) 368-6759. q Times Sq-42nd
St. Open 10am–8pm Mon–Thu & Sun, reclaiming it for workers and
10am–9pm Fri & Sat. ∑ discovery visitors to relax in. In winter
tsx.com there is a free ice- skating rink
here; in the summer, classic
Explore a host of specialized, movies are screened.
large-scale exhibitions at this Over seven million books lie in The Bryant Park Hotel, formerly the
exposition space. Partially storage stacks beneath the park. American Radiator Building

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