New York Hotel Experience : : Cultural and Societal Impacts of an American Invention / / Annabella Fick.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus eBook-Package 2017
• VerfasserIn: Fick, Annabella,
• Place / Publishing House: Bielefeld : : transcript Verlag, , [2017]; ©2017
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Series: American Culture Studies ; 19
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (344 p.)

For more than two hundred years hotels have played a significant role in American history. The modern hotel is even an American invention. In five case studies of iconic New York hotels, this book presents the hotel experience of the white upper class, literati, young artists, African Americans and Jewish Americans in the twentieth century. Using a variety of texts, including autobiographies, movies and novels, the impact of hotel experience on society and culture - which has been neglected until now - becomes apparent. This unique approach offers a new way of reading New York and helps to better understand the city's special dynamics.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Content -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1. Hotel Waldorf-Astoria - American Grand Hotel Par Excellence -- 2. Hotel Algonquin - Birthplace and Home of New York Sophistication -- 3. The Chelsea Hotel - New York's Bohemian Mecca -- 4. Hotel Theresa - Harlem's Center of African- American Self-Manifestation -- 5. Grossinger's Hotel and Country Club - Acculturation in Style -- Conclusion -- Works Cited and Illustrations