The Mayflower Hotel Part 3

The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., has seen some incredible history. We finish up their centennial series with JFK and Jackie O through Russiagate, and then learn what's next for this stately Grand Dame.. Thanks again to Katherine Orr of Historic Hotels of America for your insightful answers on the past and future of historic hotels.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hotel history is created for adult audiences.

(00:03):
Content may not be suitable for all listeners.
Discretion is advised.
You're listening to Hotel History.
We take you with us through the sordid history and scandals
of some of the world's most famous and infamous hotels.
I'm D'Etta.
And I'm Yael.
Let's get started.

(00:23):
So we're back again at the Mayflower, entering part three of our exploration of their 100 year
crazy, crazy history.
Yeah, I think, to be honest, if someone wanted to do like a deeper dive,

(00:51):
they could do like 10 parts.
This honestly, the research for this has added so many books to my TBR.
I want to read about so many more things.
Just as American history really, really is pretty fascinating, especially like the mid 20th century

(01:12):
area when so much is happening and changing all at once.
Yeah, I know 20th century history is the most interesting in American history.
I've never as a kid, like when they would talk about the Revolutionary War, I was like,
I'm like, let's get to the good stuff, people.

(01:36):
We're at the good stuff.
That's exciting.
So we are up to, what did we finish off in our last episode?
We left the 1950s and so now we're coming in hot with JFK in the 1960s.
Anything to do with JFK, you know, it's going to be spicy.
Yeah.

(01:56):
So JFK had his inaugural ball at the Mayflower and his father, Joseph Kennedy,
also held an intimate lunch at the hotel earlier that day for 100 to 200 family members and friends.
How big was the Kennedy family? That's a lot of people.
It's like as big as a Jewish wedding.

(02:18):
Well, in Jackie's family too, the Bouviers, I think they were quite the high-class.
Oh my God, have you seen Grey Gardens?
Of course.
I don't know how they say it.
Little Eddie was a dad, so I don't know what.
More importantly, have you seen the mockumentary of Grey Gardens with Bill Hader?

(02:38):
Our documentary now?
Yes.
My all-time favorite piece of work that ever existed on television.
It's so good.
Honestly, Grey Gardens in itself is a mockumentary.
They didn't know that's what they were doing.
No, they were great.
Continuing, the Mayflower's ball was the climax of five inaugural balls held at various hotels.

(03:02):
So I guess a lot of parties were happening all at the same time with this inauguration.
All of the inaugurations, they always have so many parties that they have to make an appearance at.
And I don't know how they get it done all in one night.
They're like Santa.
Well, it's actually Santa-related because they were doing it in a way that was

(03:25):
related because a blizzard hit Washington that same day and it snowed 12 inches.
Whoa.
Yeah. So many of the guests ended up spending the night there too.
I think that was beautiful.
Oh, and Jackie Kennedy's dress was like this white sheath with little

(03:46):
sparkles on it and a cape over it.
So she would have looked like a freaking snow queen.
Wait, I got to see this cape.
Because she was an icon.
Oh, she looked stunning.
Okay. Wow. That's a beautiful outfit.
Yeah. She was so well dressed.

(04:06):
It's timeless.
It's like straight up.
She wore all the things she wore back then today.
Oh, yes.
The Mayflower was often the choice for state dinners given in the president's honor by
foreign governments, including China and the Ivory Coast.
Kennedy also hosted dinners at the Mayflower.
In July 1961 alone, he held at least two, one in honor of Nigerian Prime Minister

(04:31):
Aboukbar Tafawa Balewa and one in honor of President Ayyub of Pakistan.
Rumors of John F. Kennedy joining his mistresses at the Mayflower abound.
A 2014 Daily News article said, since their honeymoon, JFK had kept a harem of
honeys and an orgy pad at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.

(04:54):
Has she ever spoken about herself, the things that she knew that her husband did?
Yeah, I believe so.
She did?
Yeah. Because she said in an interview somewhere that one of his best friends pulled her aside
before they got married and was basically like, hey, he's a cheater and he's not going to change.

(05:18):
And you need to be understanding of that if you're going to marry him.
And she was like, okay.
Are you serious?
Yeah.
Why would she want to marry him?
See, I mean, they did still seem to love each other.
And so it was just, I think she loved him.
I think he loved her in whatever capacity for love he had.

(05:42):
Yeah, I think so.
He was very, I mean, first of all, I think the family had, obviously not the best characters.
I just feel like there's a lot of people in that family that had problems.
His father also is supposed to have pressured him to marry her because she was from the right

(06:04):
family. She had the right background. He knew probably that if Jack wanted to run for president,
he would need her as the wife. Yeah, that's true. She was a good choice.
So another mistress of JFK's was Judith Exner, who was introduced to Kennedy in Las Vegas by

(06:25):
Frank Sinatra when he was doing a show at the Sands Hotel. According to her 1977 memoir, My Story,
which by the way, she lied about some things in, but not about this,
Exner and Kennedy consummated their relationship at the Plaza Hotel in New York in March of 1960,
the night before the New Hampshire primary. I don't remember us talking about this in our

(06:49):
Plaza episode, and I can't believe we missed it. So in April, 1960, Kennedy allegedly asked her to
set up a meeting with Sam Giancana, who was basically the Chicago godfather, who helped him
win the primary in West Virginia. So this is Kennedy's start of involvement with the mob,
which she was kind of the liaison for. I didn't know this. Yeah. Exner had recently been introduced

(07:16):
to Giancana by Frank Sinatra. Of course. Yeah. Giancana claimed his efforts in Cook County,
Illinois was the reason Kennedy became president. There was a record turnout in that county that
helped Kennedy carry the state. Oh my God. They also bought democratic votes in West Virginia.

(07:37):
That was one of the things he asked him to do. So he cheated to get into office? Yeah. To win.
Yeah. He at least cheated to win the democratic nomination, primary votes for that. I don't know
if he cheated in the actual presidential election, but in the primary. I think he won by a landslide.

(07:58):
I think he did. Yeah. So basically he just cheated to become the democratic candidate, allegedly.
So Exner's affair with Kennedy lasted for two years until 1962. She said that Kennedy's secretary
would make a reservation for her at the Mayflower Hotel. Then in the evening, she would sneak over

(08:20):
to the White House for liaisons when Jackie was away. A White House car would pick her up and drive
her to the East Gate, which was used by tourists during the day. Either an aide would take her to
an elevator that led to the family's private quarters or Kennedy would meet her in the entrance
hall. That's pretty brazen. That's not so subtle. It's really not. These men, they just like, I think

(08:44):
they liked it. I think they liked the drama of potentially being caught. Yeah, because he's not,
obviously he's not the first president to have an affair, but I think there's an older president
that had a secret room or entrance for his mistress as well. And they know. And in fact,

(09:06):
that entrance is known to be the mistress entrance or something. And then of course,
there we heard about a rumor involving JFK and Marilyn Monroe potentially staying at the Mayflower
at the same time, whether or not that was for their affair or if they just happened to be there

(09:27):
at the same time. In the researching that I did, the only hotel in DC that I could find that Marilyn
Monroe ever officially had a record of staying in was the Hotel Washington. So if she did stay
at the Mayflower, it was supposed to be a secret so that she could see JFK. Oh, okay.

(09:49):
Well, what about if she didn't stay, but she went to visit because he was there?
Yeah, that's possible. You know, like, well, because there are, what was the rumor that,
that, uh, we heard, Oh, that they couldn't, uh, they could neither confirm nor deny
that they, the ledger might've had both of them in at the same time. And that went under like

(10:15):
behind the scenes, going downstairs into the back part of the hotel to meet each other.
Yeah. So somebody once upon a time says that they found a ledger, an old ledger that had both JFK
and Marilyn's names in it. And that they would use the, like the underground back employee areas

(10:36):
to go through the hotel. Yeah. Not to be seen. This is a, yeah, it's a very big rumor. Um,
they're obviously there's nothing confirmed, but what I, not to take it away from them,
but one of the things I like about the hotel is that they use the wallpaper, um, as old signatures
from the ledgers, like famous people. Obviously we don't see Marilyn Monroe.

(11:00):
That's true. But if you guys catch it, maybe the secrets in the, on the walls.
In 1965, president Lyndon B. Johnson was honored with a Texas style inaugural ball at the Mayflower.

(11:21):
Deanna, what does that mean? I, I don't know. When I looked at the photos, it looked like a normal
inaugural ball. So I could not figure out what was supposed to, was it the food was like, did they
serve barbecue or chili or something? I don't know. What was Texas style about it? Maybe barbecue and
cowboy hats. Maybe some people had cowboy hats that way. I'm sure the delegates from Texas were

(11:44):
going to wear their cowboy hats, no matter what style. Yeah. And they're like, it's a Texas style.
Lyndon Johnson's vice president, Hubert Humphrey sent a telegram to the Mayflower for its 40th
anniversary in 1965 saying, I feel like an adopted member of the hotel since I have over the years,
eaten so often in the rib room, spoken so often in the meeting rooms. And of course lived so well

(12:08):
there with my family during inaugural week. I send my thanks.
That's really sweet. Nice. Yeah. I feel like the Mayflower was a home away from home for so many
of these politicians. Yeah. Yeah. During his campaign for president three years later, he
hosted a reception at the Mayflower for Delaware delegates and democratic officials that featured

(12:29):
Nancy Sinatra and basketball star, Alvin Hayes. He also made one of his shortest speeches on
record 14 minutes. I would have voted for him just for that 14 minute speech. You got my vote.
That sounds amazing. Okay. Next up, we have some more of my favorite stuff, spy stuff.

(12:53):
So if you'll remember in part two, we talked about some
foreign spies that were rooted out of the Mayflower during world war II. And by rooted out, I mean,
they turned themselves in the really bad spy squad, really bad. So have a large Smith, who was a

(13:15):
famous former CIA operative, brought the Mayflower to the Mayflower for its 40th anniversary. And
a famous former CIA operative brought the Mayflower back into the spy game in the 60s.
He was known as a pioneer in developing ways to evade surveillance and exchange information.

(13:36):
While stationed in Soviet Prague during the cold war in the late 50s and early 60s, he realized he
could get around the police and anyone else following him by lulling them into passivity.
He became what's known as a quote, little gray man. Basically became boring by keeping a clockwork
schedule. I'm going to bring back the use of little gray man. I love that term.

(14:02):
It's just like a boring man or an old man. Boring person that never does anything.
Yeah. So he would just keep this, his schedule exact day after day after day and never deviate
from it. And so eventually they would stop paying very close attention during his trips, which would
create a window known as a gap in which he could deliver a message or make a dead drop so long as

(14:24):
he didn't stray too far from the routine. And so this came to be known as moving through the gap.
So next he refined a technique known as the brush pass in which he would surreptitiously
deliver a package to an agent who would leave down an escape route, walking one direction while he
went another way. So he wanted to bring this to other spies to use, but Richard Helms, who led

(14:51):
clandestine operations for the agency, refused to approve the use of it, arguing that it was way too
risky to come in direct contact with agents. So he thought it was better to keep a distance and just
keep doing dead drops. This is what happened next, according to Havillard's obituary in the
Washington Post. After more than a year of advocating for the brush pass, Mr. Smith organized

(15:14):
a demonstration one day in 1965, arranging for Helms' deputy, Thomas Karamecinis, to meet him
in the lobby of Washington's historic Mayflower Hotel. Sitting on a bench with Bronson Tweedy,
the head of the CIA's Eastern European Division, Karamecinis watched as a case officer came through

(15:38):
the door, approached Mr. Smith, and shook out a raincoat. Mr. Smith walked away as his boss
grew impatient. When are they going to do it anyway? Tom, Tweedy replied, they've already done it.
Oh, snap. The raincoat had served as a form of misdirection. As the case officer shook it with

(16:03):
one hand, he delivered a package to Mr. Smith with the other. It was sleight of hand that Mr. Smith
said he learned from a magician, an undercover magic trick that was good enough to earn Helms'
approval. Within a day, Mr. Smith had secured permission for the brush pass to be used in
Prague. A Czech agent soon used the technique to pass hundreds of film rules to the CIA, according

(16:28):
to the billion dollar spy. The tactic was later employed across Eastern Europe.
I got to say something. One, magicians are definitely a part of the CIA, and there's no way
that they're not teaching CIA operatives how to do stuff. Yeah.
Misdirection is what it's all about.
Yeah. The fact that I'm surprised that it took them so long to realize that.

(16:55):
Me too, actually. But I guess until somebody says, oh, hey, I know how to do this thing,
would this be helpful? It just doesn't occur to people who don't know that thing.
But what I love also is that the guy sitting there is like, so when is it going to happen?
No. It's straight out of a movie scene. You couldn't have written that better.

(17:15):
Also, about the promenade and the Mayflower and why they said that they would practice there,
also because it's perfect for walking and all this stuff. And there's so much going on.
So it's good for misdirection. But like, it's right in front. That's like the place to do it.
You have so much to walk through. You can get like four brush passes. I love that. I love that.

(17:41):
He had no idea. Yeah. On October 28th, 1965, the locally owned Maywash Associates offered to
buy the Mayflower for $14 million, only $1.2 million more than it had sold for a decade earlier.

(18:03):
HCA's board of directors approved the deal on November 11th, 1965. HCA continued to manage
the hotel for the new owners, all of whom had ties to the Mayflower. One was a descendant of 19th
century financier Jay Gould and former ambassador to the Netherlands who had stayed there. One had
been a DC trash collector whose customers included the hotel. One had been a parking

(18:26):
lot attendant there as a young man and one had been a busboy there in the 1930s. They understood
the importance and significance of the hotel and saw her potential even as she was losing money
and prestige in the 60s. A lot of people really thought that her glory days were behind her
and that she really wasn't worth much anymore, including apparently her owners, HCA.

(18:52):
This new group of investors, they all had history with the hotel and loved her and saw her potential
and were like, okay, we're going to buy this hotel and turn her back into what she was meant to be.
The Mayflower Hotel underwent a $2.5 million refurbishment of its common rooms in 1966 and

(19:14):
in 1967. The renovation got rid of the presidential restaurant and renamed it
Le Chatelaine in 1967. I didn't know they had so many restaurants.
So many. I can't even keep track of what restaurant happened when and where. It's
too many. Well, listen to this. The restaurant only lasted six years.

(19:35):
Oh, well, that would explain why. Yeah. But featured a medieval atmosphere. Oh, random.
Orange saties and unusual international cuisine. Maybe that's why it only lasts.
The staff would ring a gong every time someone ordered a flaming item from the menu. I would

(19:57):
hate it. I would hate it. I would hate it. I have a complaint of a ramen restaurant I went to in
Little Tokyo that would like every second someone ordered ramen, they would sing or whatever. And I
was like, get me the fuck out of here, please. Yeah. Some place. I can't remember where it was,
but if you ordered a specific item, they would ring a bell. And it was like, I don't need everyone

(20:17):
else to know what I just ordered, please. Yeah. It's very disturbing. Yeah. So after it closed,
not surprising, it was converted into a banquet space and renamed the presidential room.
1968 saw the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and riots throughout DC followed with looting
and burning. The Capitol was patrolled by nearly 14,000 national guardsmen and 1400 policemen.

(20:43):
Judith R. Cohen's book of the Mayflower described it as the most severe disturbance in Washington's
168 year history, leaving eight dead, 987 injured, and more than 4,600 facing police charges and
millions of dollars worth of property damage. The Mayflower reported that it was less than 25%

(21:04):
occupied. Its coffee shop was the only restaurant open in the hotel and one of the few restaurants
open in the entire city. It would have normally been packed, but the annual cherry blossom festival
had been canceled and tourists were fleeing the city. Wow. So did not know that. I cannot even
imagine what that time was like. The sixties was really bad. Like in this year alone, April,

(21:29):
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. And then two months later was when Robert Kennedy was
assassinated, was assassinated. And JFK was assassinated in 1962. Five years earlier.
Oh, May Walsh associates considered closing the Mayflower in 1971 after it lost half a million

(21:49):
dollars the previous year. I know. I mean, the seventies was, was really hard on the country.
So let's almost every made almost every hotel in the country took a nosedive. Yeah. 70s. So this
is not surprising. Lead Maywash investor, William Cohen said that if Congress weakened the restrictions

(22:09):
of the height of buildings act, the company would tear down the Mayflower and erect a 20 story office
and retail skyscraper with 500,000 square feet of office space and 250,000 square feet of retail
space. If the height act remained in force, Cohen said the hotel's first two floors would be
transformed into a shopping mall, accommodating 40 to 50 small businesses, which guys, this doesn't

(22:34):
sound like the four gentlemen who believed in the Mayflower several years ago and we're like,
going to get her back to what she, they knew she could be. They had a little, a little loss of
direction here, I think. Yeah. But the plan was abandoned later that fall when the Mayflower
announced a five year, two and a half million dollar renovation that would refurbish the retail

(22:58):
stores on the Connecticut Avenue side of the structure. Then on November 1st of 1971, Maywash
hired Western International Hotels to manage the property. Western International said it would
invest 500,000 immediately to upgrade guest rooms, which included color television sets for the first
time. Western International said the previously announced two and a half million refurbishment

(23:21):
would go to additional guest room renovations and improvements to dining spaces, banquetting
facilities and ballrooms. The rib room lost its name, which had been trademarked by HCA,
the previous manager, and the facade was cleaned and the air conditioning repaired and upgraded.
Thank goodness that the height of buildings act was not made more lenient because if it had been,

(23:48):
they would have knocked the Mayflower down and it would have ceased to exist.
Beginning in April 1973, the Mayflower Hotel served as the temporary embassy of China in
Washington, DC for a time while their new embassy building was being renovated following the
reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and the People's Republic of
China. The originally planned two week stay grew into eight months. Most of the Chinese delegates

(24:13):
had not even been out of China since 1939. Wow, Nam. So we're going to actually have a little
excerpt from our interview with Catherine Orr of Historic Hotels of America here. She's going to
talk a little bit more about the diplomats. In the early 1970s when President Nixon was trying to

(24:35):
open up relations with China, China sent a delegation of diplomats to the United States
a delegation of diplomats to the United States. They stayed at the Mayflower Hotel for I think
eight months and they were the perfect guests and the Mayflower Hotels threw them a party at the end
of their stay, but right before they headed back to China and it was a Wild West theme party. So

(24:58):
they dressed up like cowboys and then at the end the general manager of the Mayflower presented
the delegation with a replica of the Mayflower ship. I really loved that their Wild West party
that they were given also included a ping pong match with a ping pong table that the Mayflower
had given the diplomats for their stay. Apparently the Mayflower staff and the Chinese delegates

(25:23):
became like really really close because their stay in the Mayflower was almost a year long.
So I think they relied a lot on the Mayflower staff to help them because most of them did not
speak English and this is their first time out of China in 40 years. And I'm sure Washington DC

(25:47):
and America was very overwhelming for them. So a lot of the Mayflower staff also commented on
how nice the delegates were and that they would always give them like little gifts, like little
thank yous for helping them. A special guest named Big Mac visited the Mayflower in November 1972.

(26:08):
The 1600 pound steer is believed to be the largest guest in the Mayflower's history.
The desk clerk filled out a registration card for him and put him in the promenade as he was
as he was too big to fit in the elevator. Yeah, he came with 170 livestock owners from the Midwest

(26:29):
and West to speak with the Department of Agriculture about rising meat prices. They wanted to work out
a system of grading meat and educate the public about why some cuts cost more than others.
Big Mac enjoyed some notoriety while at the hotel with plenty of people coming in off the streets to
see him. I mean, yeah, you hear a 1600 pound cow is going to be in the Mayflower is how you come

(26:52):
and you hang out with the cow. Even brought in like plywood and for him to stand on and like bales of
hay for him to eat. Like they really gave him a little room. The 1970s was a wild time in America.
Yeah. Like we need to really dissect the 70s a little bit more. And I feel like it's so glossed

(27:14):
over a little bit. Yeah, from all of the research we've done, everything in the 70s was just bad
shit crazy. I think the 70s no one wants to deal with. It's not as sexy as some other decades just
because the style was so ugly. And there was there was a lot of reactions to things and everybody was

(27:37):
like the economy was in the tank and serial killers were running wild. Yeah. And yeah, like the culture
there was the culture shift. Like I think everything changed in the 70s, the 60s, everything there was
huge change, but it was like the 70s of that, that really aftermath of change. And just like people
were throwing things at the wall and we're like, this work, why not? Let's try it. Let's get a cow

(28:03):
in this hotel. Also, what is it about these historic hotels and having a giant animal in them?
Remember when the Plaza brought in an elephant, a baby elephant as like a publicity stunt?
And I guess this is, this was middle America being like, well, here's our animal. It sounded
like they were on a mission. They're like, we need to show the people with their eyes. Because if we

(28:26):
say it on a freak, you know, pops to them, if they came in with a PowerPoint, would anyone remember
a single thing they said? No, no. You'd be like, you know, and then someone comes in with a fucking
cow and he's like, you see this took us. Yeah. This is the best part of the cow. That's why it's
going to cost you double than the front of the cow. So Big Mac hailed from red Oak, Iowa, and was

(28:52):
a pure white French Charolais breed in case anybody knows about steer breeds, but his first owner,
you and your people would know what do you mean? Your people, the Texans, his first owner. I do
know way too much about three of pigs and lambs and cows and chickens. And I would like to not

(29:17):
have that in my brain taking up space, but here it is. And look, and look, it's coming in handy.
His first owners had dyed him black the year before to enter him in the national Western stock
show in Denver, disguised as an American Angus. He took the grand championship. Yeah. These people,
these people fucking cheated at a stock show. Just scandalous. It's a Shonda McDonald's brought

(29:42):
McDonald's bought the steer at the stock show for $14,000 only to discover that his hair was white
at the root. So he was not an Angus. The Denver district court returned the money to McDonald's.
Sounds like they sued who sold Big Mac, but I love that they had already like, did they name him

(30:02):
Big Mac or did the owners name him Big Mac? I feel like McDonald's named him Big Mac. I want to know
what his original name was. So they sold Big Mac at auction to Eddie Collins, an agricultural writer
and broadcaster. Big Mac's official job was as a lobbyist. He and his owner would travel around
and protest against the government increasing foreign meat import quotas. Wow. So this cow

(30:30):
steer has a life. Yeah. Had a life. First he was just a little cow and then he was a lobbyist. He was
counterfeit Angus. He was counterfeit Angus. Maybe that was his name. Counterfeit Angus.
But they call me Big Mac. So wait, McDonald's bought, so it bought the cow.

(30:56):
Does this have to do with the Big Mac on the menu? Yeah, because the Big Macs are, I think,
McDonald's is supposed to be like, you know, we make our burgers with 100% Angus beef or whatever.
Yeah. So they bought him so that they could chop him up. And thank God he was counterfeit
Angus because that saved his life. So funny. You think they would buy, oh, they just like bought him

(31:24):
because they want to use him, not like use him as a mascot. Yeah, I think they, because a lot of
what companies, like what happens at stock shows is the, is a lot of times the best of the best are
bought to be processed. Oh, that's so sad. I feel like the best of the best should not be eaten.

(31:44):
Me too. I think they should live their lives in luxury. Like that's what they get for being the
best of the best. Yeah. You eat the mediocre ones. Yeah, that's not how humans want to eat the best.
I know, but you know, you know, the joke of the, of the pig, you, you must have heard this joke.
This is like the oldest joke. A guy, a farmer has a pig with three legs and someone goes to him and

(32:07):
it's like, why does your pig have three legs? He's like, oh, this is my, you know, he saved my life,
this pig, my family loves him. I've had him since he was little pig, like saying all this things.
He's like, wait, so why does he have three legs? It's like, you don't eat a pig like this all at
once. It's an old joke and it's not, that's probably not how the joke goes, but you, you never heard of

(32:27):
that joke. Oh, I have never heard that joke. I feel like it originated from Texas.
Oh my God. Wow. Anyway, I hope Big Mac lived out his life in luxury even after he left the Mayflower.
Richard Nixon, whose inaugural ball was held at the Mayflower, of course, in 1969, also held a

(32:54):
farewell dinner there for his staff in 1974, the night before he resigned. Nixon, Nixon was
remembered as being the last to leave any Mayflower party or meeting and for nonstop talking. The
hotel staff nicknamed him buckle jaws. I feel like me and Nixon have that in common.

(33:19):
I would love to know all of the little inside jokes that the, that the staff must have had for
all of these people. To this day, we didn't find out the staff there is so professional, by the way.
They really, they would never, they would never. Yeah. It takes them like having quit for a long
time before anybody can get them to say anything. Yeah. In 1977, president Jimmy Carter sought to

(33:48):
make the ball less glamorous by renaming it an inaugural party. His first lady Roslyn wore a dress
she had worn to an event years earlier, and they only charged $25 per ticket for the party.
3,500 partially denim clad down home folks were in attendance. Wow. Yeah. So his whole thing was like

(34:10):
nothing fancy. He grew up during, he was poor. He was like dirt poor. Yeah. So I feel like he would
have that to kind of, I respect, I like when politicians actually do that.
Because I feel like it becomes like this, no one likes these elitist parties. Yeah. It really sets
the tone to be like, yeah, there's no reason for us to spend public money on all of this stuff that

(34:36):
doesn't do anything for the country. Yeah. With the Mayflower making a profit, Maywalsh associates
undertook a two and a half million dollar general refurbishment of the 800 guest rooms around 1977.
I really, they really liked that number two and a half million, like every time they did a
renovation, two and a half million. They figured it out. The hotel then announced a $25 million

(35:01):
overhaul. I spoke too soon. An expansion in January of 79. The main Western wing of the hotel facing
Connecticut Avenue was to have the public rooms on the lower two levels turned into retail space.
While the 448 guest rooms above would be gutted and transformed into offices, the hotel was
to be converted into office space. The eastern wing in the rear would remain a hotel. Maywalsh

(35:25):
hired architect Vlastemil Kubek to design two new floors to add to the top of the eastern wing,
bringing it to the same height as the western wing. The resulting hotel would have 407 guest
rooms larger than those before, a mix of newly built rooms and remodeled as existing rooms.
The hotel also planned to add a health club with racquetball courts, sauna and swimming pool and

(35:47):
street side of the hotel. Meeting and private dining room space would be added to the structure.
All plumbing and mechanical systems would be upgraded and central AC would replace the window
units. Ooh, yeah. That's when you know you're really getting into a nice hotel now in the 80s.
Western International Hotels, which managed the property, was renamed Westin Hotels and Resorts

(36:11):
in January 1981. In October 1981, Maywalsh associates announced that Stouffer Corporation,
a division of Nestle, was taking a minority interest in the Mayflower Hotel and would assume
management of the property on December 1st, 1981 under a 20-year agreement. Stouffer said the hotel
would be its American flagship and the hotel was renamed the Stouffer Mayflower Hotel. The new

(36:39):
president of Stouffer Hotels was William Hewlett, who had been general manager of the Mayflower in
the 70s. Oh, he knew exactly what promise the Mayflower held and how to restore its glory.
I gotta say something. Whenever they buy a hotel and they have to stick their ugly ass name,
you know it's going downhill. Really hate that. It's no, it's the Mayflower. I get it, you own it,

(37:05):
but then let your name come in after. Exactly, the Mayflower Stouffer Hotel. Yeah, also Stouffer as
in if anyone's wondering, the food. Yeah, like frozen food. Yeah, frozen food. While renovation
of the Eastern Tower proceeded, plans for the Western Tower drastically changed. The Mayflower

(37:26):
abandoned its plan to convert the tower into office space and instead upgraded the hotel rooms in the
Eastern Tower. In some cases, rooms were merged to create luxury suites. The change in renovation
plans left the Mayflower with just 727 rooms, but added 18,000 square feet of meeting rooms and a
new restaurant. Even as the first renovations were ending, the Mayflower Hotel embarked on another

(37:51):
major set of refurbishments and upgrades. This project, which began in 1981 and lasted three
years, cost $65 million. Woo, that's a lot. The hotel remained open as the project moved forward
in phases. In 1981, two floors were finally added to the eastern wing of the structure. The meeting

(38:12):
rooms on the hotel's second floor and the boardroom was refurbished and offices on the mezzanine were
removed and the spaces were stored to public use. Yay, when they finally, finally un-enclose the
mezzanine. Oh yeah, oh that's freaking crazy. 1981? Yeah. Ew, that was too long. We're so happy

(38:35):
that they decided to open the mezzanine back up the way it was meant to be. Okay, I like Stouffer
now. The following year, 200 suites received major makeovers, including the installation of Bath's
plaid in Italian marble. The presidential restaurant was divided into two new banqueting halls, the

(38:56):
East Room and the State Room, and the Grand Ballroom and the Chinese Room were renovated.
The restoration of the lobby and upgrading of the hotel's restaurants occurred in 1983. Artisans
and technicians helped to restore the base relief plaster moldings and brass fixtures, clean and
restore the hotel's many crystal chandeliers, and apply new gold leaf to areas where the

(39:21):
guilt had been damaged or removed. The renovations left the hotel with 721 guest rooms, about half
rebuilt and restored, and two restaurants. So this was the, this is the major, yeah, restoration that
the hotel needed, I think more than anything because it's been, it changed so much, but even

(39:42):
them doing the Grand Ballroom and the Chinese Room, they're still pretty much the same.
Yeah, luckily not too much had been done to those two rooms throughout the history, so they didn't
have to do a lot. Like they fixed some of the, some of the guilt, like the gold decorations that
needed to be touched up, that sort of stuff, but they didn't have to do very much to those rooms.

(40:05):
But yeah, but for everything else, they like got rid of everything that was ugly, fixed all of the
gold leaf everywhere, rehung the chandeliers that had been taken down, like uncovered skylights.
They did, they basically completely overhauled the hotel and tried to make it look again like it did
in the 20s, or like it was meant to look. Yeah, well that comes to this part. The renovation

(40:28):
uncovered many historic decorative elements which had been covered up over time, like we mentioned.
The skylight in the Presidential Room, formerly the Palm Court, was uncovered. That's crazy,
it took them how long? Wow. Yeah. When renovation of the former Palm Court began, two previously
unknown murals by Edward Laney were discovered. This is, this I don't understand when people do

(40:53):
this. The murals were dated by art experts to 1957 when the Palm Court was radically reconfigured
into the La Chatelleine restaurant. The murals, 25 feet long and 14 feet high,
depicted Italian formal gardens. They were hidden behind a false wall when the restaurant was turned
into a meeting room space in early 1978. This is why people don't like the 70s. Yeah. Why would you

(41:20):
do that? Just leave it. Just have a nice, just have a nice mural in the meeting room. Yeah.
I would love a meeting room to have a mural of an Italian garden. Oh my god, when people say
meeting room, what's the first thing you think of? Like gray and death. Yeah, blank walls, fluorescent
lighting. And they're like, why are you paying attention in this meeting? Maybe because I'm dying

(41:43):
on the inside. The redecorators were about to destroy them when owner, Kingdon Gowell Jr. stopped
them. Holy crap. Yeah. This is the guy that was descended from the, what was his name? Jacob Gould?
Joe Gould? Whatever. Yeah. Like financier. Yeah. Oh my god, at least he had some taste. He knew they

(42:05):
were old and wanted to retain the room's original look. So he called an art rest, restorer in New
York and asked if he'd ever heard of anyone called Edward Laney. Gould said it was like asking if
Simon had ever heard of Garfunkel. The art restorer certified the murals as authentic and helped
restore them. Imagine getting that call. Yeah. Have you heard of this guy Picasso? I found a little

(42:30):
drawing in my room. A little doodle. The Mayflower held its final inaugural ball in 1981 for Ronald
Reagan. The flannel and jeans from Carter's administration were gone and the ball was back
to furs, gowns and limos. Of course, you know, Hollywood's coming to town. A crowd of over 3500

(42:51):
overflowed from the grand ballroom into the promenade. After 60 years, the inaugural balls
had officially outgrown the space the Mayflower could provide. From then on, they would be held
in bigger event spaces to accommodate the crowd. Later on in 2004, at Nancy Reagan's request,
former aides and presidential library volunteers would return to the Mayflower to prepare and send

(43:14):
out a thousand funeral invitations for Reagan's state funeral. In 1983, the Mayflower was listed
in the register of historical places as a national landmark. And in 1984, its restoration was finally
complete. In 1990, a jury found the former mayor of Washington, D.C., Marion Barry, guilty of

(43:40):
possessing cocaine at the Mayflower in the fall of 1989. Well, you know why? Because cocaine is the
hell of a drug. No, because it was the 80s. Yeah. And that's all people knew. It was either going to
be cocaine or Quaaludes. Yeah. It's just the peak of the time, you know? The judge sentenced Barry

(44:04):
to six months in prison and ordered him to pay a $5,000 fine. A year later, a federal sting operation
famously caught him smoking a crack pipe with former model Rashida Moore at the Vista, a different
hotel in the city now known as the Westin, D.C. city center. Yeah. So he didn't learn his lesson.
Well, do they ever? I'm sure his drug addiction didn't get better after going to prison.

(44:29):
Yeah, it was like, now I know the right people when I get out of here. I don't think a mayor
would end up in prison for doing drugs now. They would have to go to rehab. Probably. Like,
we're not sending people to jail for. Yeah, I think that's in cocaine. I can't remember. I was
reading an article about the sentencing, and I think that the law because of the law required

(44:57):
jail time for whatever the specific offense was. Oh, OK. Well, also, I know Reagan was really
or Nancy Reagan was like the anti drug. Yeah. Yeah. The dare. Yeah. What's people wearing
dare t shirts? Now, I think they're wearing them like just as a it's ironic as like a kickback

(45:18):
to like remember the 90s when they made us do all this crap as kids. Yeah. But I'm like,
that wasn't funny. It was like really not a great time for the for the American people getting sent
to jail for like some weed. Yeah. And remember those commercials? The truth. I remember this
girl. She's she's passing a joint to her friend and her younger sisters in the room. And she's like,

(45:45):
I don't know, man, that's my sister. Should we do like it was the most intense. And I'm like,
bitch, my sister would have passed me the joint would have had a good time. And end of story.
Like we all went to college. We were fine. Get over yourself. Exactly. It's so intense.
After managing the hotel for 10 years, Stofer bought it outright from May Walsh in 1991 for

(46:05):
just over 100 million. In April 1993, Stofer Hotels was sold by Nestle to New World Development
Company of Hong Kong. Nestle also gave New World the right to use the Stofer brand name for three
years. I would have been like, oh, thanks. But no, thanks. New World already owned the Renaissance
Hotels chain and merged the Stofer branded hotels into it. The Mayflower was renamed the Stofer

(46:30):
Renaissance Mayflower Hotel. In early 96, the Stofer branding was retired and the hotel became the
Renaissance Mayflower Hotel. Marriott International bought Renaissance Hotels from New World in February
97. Yeah. Well, this explains a lot because there's another hotel in New York that is also owned by
the Marriott and is an autographed collection. And they were once a Renaissance. Monica Lewinsky

(46:58):
stayed at the Mayflower when her affair with President Bill Clinton was in the news and she
was extensively interviewed by federal investigators about the scandal in the presidential suite.
It's not a bad place to be investigated. It's really not. That suite is swanky. Yeah,
it's really, really nice. The Mayflower was also the location where Lewinsky was photographed with

(47:18):
President Clinton hugging her at a campaign event not long before the 1996 election. This
photograph later became an iconic component of the media coverage of the scandal. Oh, boy. Oh, Bill.
Do you remember that I was young? I was because you're older, so you have more memories of it. But

(47:41):
I remember the things that kids would say about Monica Lewinsky. Oh, my God. They're like,
don't be a Lewinsky. Oh, my God. I know. The slut shaming new no bad shame. Yeah.
We just, I just, I was so little. So it was really like maybe two years after the scandal.
So when did it happen? 96? It said 90. No, 97. So I was like six years old, seven years old or

(48:09):
whatever. And so two years, that's where it was so, it was so still fresh in everyone's mind
that the insults and at the time me and my sister had a friend named Monica. So we'd be like Monica
Lewinsky. Oh, that's mean. Oh, and it actually, the news of it first broke in January of 98.
It was crazy. Between Clinton and Y2K was, it was a wild time. Yes. Yeah. It went Clinton,

(48:38):
Y2K, 9-11. Actually it went Clinton, Y2K, the Bush Gore election controversy, and then 9-11.
Yeah. It was a packed time. Marriott sold the Mayflower to Walton street capital in 2005
in a package with seven other Marriott hotels for a total of 578 million. Walton street resold

(49:02):
the Mayflower to Rockwood capital in 2007 for 260 million. I feel like this always happens with the
big hotels. Like they'll have these, this one owner for long stretches of time in its early years,
and then it gets sold to Hilton and then it gets sold to somebody else. And then all of a sudden
in the nineties and two thousands, it's like boom, boom, boom owner every two years. The hotel,

(49:25):
apprised at 285 million in 2008, fell in value to 160 million by 2010. With Rockwood's loan
over leveraged, they refinanced the hotel in 2015 with a 160 million dollar loan from Apollo
commercial real estate financing and other lenders. Also in 2015, Rockwood sold off 71 of the hotel's

(49:47):
rooms to Marriott for 32 million for use by the company's Marriott Vacation Club Destinations
Time Share Division. The town and country lounge was slightly renovated in 2010 with hardwood
floors replacing the carpet. Good call. The bar's future however, was not secure. In January,
we need the alcohol though. There's still, keep the bar. In January 2011, the hotel's lobby,

(50:13):
restaurant, bar and retail spaces underwent a six month, five million dollar renovation.
Their first since the 1981, 1984 refurbishment. The town and country lounge ceased to exist and
the Thomas Pink Luxury Men's Clothing Store moved into the space. Offices near the space were removed
to provide expansions of the space for a new restaurant to be named Edgar Bar and Lounge.

(50:38):
Our favorite, which we talked about in the last episode. Yeah. In May 2015, the hotel switched
from Marriott's Renaissance Hotel brand to Marriott's Autograph Collection brand, dropping the
word Renaissance from its name. The move was prompt by studies which showed that younger
travelers were not brand loyal and instead looked for individuality and uniqueness when shopping for

(51:02):
a hotel stay. Yes, a hundred percent agree. If you don't believe us, listen to our episode with
Brandon Bergson. Exactly. Yes. Marriott also learned that few travelers knew the Mayflower was
a Renaissance Hotel, which made the branding superfluous. A 20 million dollar refurbishment
of all rooms and the creation of a club level was completed in August 2015. Each floor of the hotel

(51:27):
was given a theme corresponding to a decade with the second floor devoted to the 1920s,
third floor to the 1930s and so on to the 10th floor. Each room received updated modern furniture
and the hallways were wallpapered in gray and white with a pattern reminiscent of the lobby
mezzanine railing. Each of the hotel's presidential suites also received a complete makeover and now

(51:51):
have a separate office. Rooms on the seventh floor were eliminated to make space for the Marriott
Vacation Club. At the completion of the room renovation, the Mayflower announced it would
begin a major refurbishment of the hotel's ballrooms and meeting space in late 2016.
In July 2021, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Financing, having already provided Rockwood

(52:14):
financing for the 2015 refinancing, bought out Rockwood's share of the hotel for 86 million
dollars. Nice. That's a lot of money. And it's been a minute since we had a real nice scandal
at the hotel. A modern day scandal. A modern day scandal. So on March 10th, 2008, a New York Times

(52:41):
investigation revealed that New York Governor, Elliot Spitzer, known as Client 9, was caught by
federal wiretap making plans to have a prostitute fly from New York to stay at a Washington hotel.
He met Ashley Dupree, who worked for a high profile prostitution ring known as the Emperor's Club
VIP, on February 13th and allegedly had sex with a one thousand dollar an hour call girl in room

(53:05):
871 of the Mayflower while registered under the alias George Fox. Come on, guys. Like, why?
Why? Keep it in your pants. Why is that so hard? George Fox was a friend and donor to Spitzer,
asked in a telephone interview with the New York Times whether he accompanied Spitzer to

(53:26):
Washington on those dates. He said, quote, Why would you think that? I did not. Apparently,
Spitzer would book a room in his own name on the seventh floor and then book a room in Fox's name
on the eighth floor for his guest. According to a New York Times article, hotel records showed that
he booked rooms 13 times under his own name since he became governor, including February 13th, the

(53:50):
night that law enforcement officials say he had a forty three hundred dollar tryst with a call girl
known as Kristen. Kristen, a 22 year old named Ashley Alexandra Dupree, who had entertained a
guest at the Mayflower at least once before, arrived toting four bags and stayed overnight.
What do you need four bags for? Lips and chains. Oh, that's true. Equipment. All right. Maybe

(54:16):
sanitation equipment, too. Also, this was February 13th. This motherfucker who has a wife, had a wife.
I don't know if he still does, is doing this the night before Valentine's Day.
This is but February 13th is known as Mistress's Day for a reason. Oh, well, now we know why.

(54:39):
But but as you said, the history of politicians and their mistresses in hotels, it will never
cease to exist. And it will never cease to amaze me. I can't understand how these men are willing
to throw away their careers and lives over this. What happened to the good old days of having like

(54:59):
an extra apartment in the city and they would just come to you? Yeah. Like less public. Exactly.
You know what I mean? Everything is very under the radar. Like you don't need to involve other
people and businesses. What was wrong with this case? Because at the end of the day,
I hate to say it, but like politicians in their private life, it doesn't really affect me. But

(55:23):
I think with Spitzer is that he was like super anti-prostitution. And I think he used government
money. Didn't he? He did not. He didn't use the government money, but he did run on like an ethics
platform. Right. He was a hypocrite. Yeah. He was right. Presidential historian Robert Dalek said,
quote, in years past, a high profile client could rely on the discretion of the high end hoteliers.

(55:48):
These were gentlemen's hotels. No one would blow the whistle on a Kennedy or a senator.
It's a measure of Spitzer's recklessness that staff say he sometimes met women downstairs.
Like he's just asking to be caught. After the story broke, Spitzer resigned two days later and no
federal criminal charges were filed against him, which I think is surprising because moving someone

(56:10):
from one state to another for prostitution is considered human trafficking. So the fact that he
flew this prostitute from New York to DC for sex is human trafficking, even if she was down for it
and was not a minor. Really? That's a little, that's a little insane though. But the prosecutors found
no evidence that he used public money or campaign funds to pay for his encounters with prostitutes.

(56:34):
Well, he used his own money, right? Right. His own money that we pay taxes to pay him. Right.
So we're continuing on our slight scandals, but we're taking a little different direction. So
we're staying away from the sex scandals, more modern day. Which it's surprising. This involves

(56:58):
Trump. It's kind of surprising it's not a sex scandal. Well, that's because we already went over
Trump's sex scandal in the Plaza. Yeah. And that was, I got, I mean, we said what we felt about that.
Yeah. So Trump gave a major speech on his vision for US foreign policy during the 2016

(57:21):
presidential campaign at the Mayflower on April 27th, 2016, in which he declared that the horrible
cycle of hostility must end between Russia and the US. Today, the event is remembered more as a
possible site for another pro-Russia statement where Jeff Sessions and Trump's son-in-law,
Jared Kushner, allegedly met with Russian ambassador Kislyak, according to a conversation

(57:46):
intercepted by American intelligence officials in which Kislyak is said to be discussing this
private meeting. Attorney General Jeff Sessions told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he
did not have any private meetings or recall any private conversations with Russian officials at
an April 2016 event at the storied Washington Hotel. Let me state this clearly. I have never met

(58:13):
with or had any conversations with any Russians or any foreign officials concerning any type of
interference with any campaign or election, he said. A getty photo of Sessions speaking with a
guest at the event while Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak stood nearby circulated on social media.
After Sessions' remarks and Mayflower Hotel began trending on Twitter. All right. So people are

(58:38):
making a lot of speculation here. The speech at the Mayflower was arranged by Dmitri Simes,
a Russian-American author who is the publisher of The National Interest, a publication of the
Think Tank Center for the National Interest, of which he was CEO until 2022. Apparently,

(59:00):
Kushner and Sessions knew in advance that C and I invited the Russian ambassador to the event
and allegedly Trump, Sessions and Jared Kushner greeted the ambassador at the Mayflower.
This contact is repeatedly omitted from testimony or denied. However, investigators did not find any
evidence that Trump or Sessions conversed with Kislyak after Trump's speech. In 2017, when

(59:27):
Kushner releases information about when and where he met with Russian officials of the Mayflower
meeting, he said, Kislyak was one of four ambassadors he greeted with a handshake and pleasantries.
He said he thanked the dignitaries for attending and told them that he hoped they would enjoy
Trump's speech and the ambassadors in turn expressed interest in creating a positive relationship

(59:50):
should we win the election. He said each interaction lasted less than a minute and he
never took up any of the ambassadors on their invitations to lunch at their embassies.
Yeah, so there's no real evidence that anything happened really.
Right. Yeah. Nobody has any proof that any kind of meeting with the Russian ambassador

(01:00:12):
actually took place at the Mayflower as has been speculated.
Yeah. We were told that in fact, he left right away after a speech. He pretty much,
he wanted to get out of there and that they did investigate this.
Some of the Mayflower staff that were there that day said they didn't see any interaction

(01:00:33):
above the normal like, hey, how are you? And that, yeah, basically they might have been in the room
together, but once the speech was over, it was like, vamos. Yeah. And if anything has happened,
it didn't happen there. I mean, no one knows what happens. They did this investigation,
right? And there was no real evidence, but let's say something or a conversation or whatever

(01:00:54):
happened behind closed doors, as far as they're concerned, it didn't happen then.
Right. Yeah. It didn't happen at the Mayflower. Yeah. If it happened, it was elsewhere.
The Mayflower is innocent.
And of course, Trump came back to the Mayflower on January 20th of this year because the GOP held a

(01:01:15):
pre-inaugural celebratory breakfast there. The most recent major event was that on February 18th,
the Mayflower held their centennial celebration for their 100th anniversary, which you can actually
see some videos of on their Instagram. They had a really nice ceremony and party to celebrate their

(01:01:36):
staff members, some of whom have worked there for decades, and it looked really fun. Yeah. They're
doing something throughout the year to celebrate their 100th. Yeah. There's more coming up.
Yeah. We are right now also creating a very fun video where we interviewed some staff and Catherine

(01:01:58):
Orr. That's also where we mentioned her in the podcast and she's answering some questions. But
while we are still creating it, hopefully it's going to be done very soon, but we have found
so many great photos that, and we had to do some digging, but the Library of Congress has amazing

(01:02:20):
photos of the Mayflower. You could spend hours on that website looking at old photos.
We're going to finish off with a little bit more from Catherine Orr, our interview with her and
what she sees as the future and the importance of these old hotels as we go into hopefully their

(01:02:46):
next 100 years. Yeah. I'm curious to know what's going to happen now to these hotels in 100 years.
Are they going to still be around? Are they now going to make decisions to keep that going?
Because when you're in the first 50 years or 100, you don't know what's going to happen,
but now that you have this long history, it would be devastating if it couldn't continue.

(01:03:12):
Exactly. So hopefully, they've got landmark status. Hopefully that continues to keep places
like that safe because we need them around. We need to be able to interact with spaces where
these important historical things happened. So why do you think that our listeners should
continue to learn about and visit and explore historic hotels? Well, I think everyone should

(01:03:38):
learn about history, but I think hotels in particular have this intrigue about them that
you might not find at another historic site. It might not be as obvious. So I think historic
hotels can bring spooky legends, kind of like scandal. And they're accessible to people too.

(01:03:58):
Like anyone can walk into a hotel and reserve a room. They're open to the public. But at the same
time, it's not just something that you go and do. It's a special place too. Celebrities host
events at historic hotels. Presidents stay at historic hotels. Heads of state stay at historic

(01:04:19):
hotels. So it's a real way for the everyday man to come and experience this glamour of life.
I feel like it's a way for everyone to be a part of history. And it's more interactive than just
like going to a museum. It's like, oh, I'm staying in the suite that this person stayed at. Even if
you, if it's not true, but someone might feel like they have influence over or like an impact. I

(01:04:43):
think it's like tangible for a lot of people. Yeah. You want to be part of it. Yeah. Instead of just
look at it behind glass. So do you have any concerns for the future of historic hotels?
Or hotels in general? Of course, I think broadly, and maybe this wouldn't affect the Mayflower in
particular, but I'm concerned about climate change and how that's affecting historic hotels

(01:05:08):
and historic resources, historic sites around the country, around the world. Recently, you know,
with the big storms that we've had in the Southeast, whole towns have been wiped out and
several of our hotels are temporarily closed. They're going to reopen. They're going to be
closed. They're going to reopen. They weren't destroyed. It's a blessing. But that has affected

(01:05:28):
our hotels, larger storms. We also lost a historic hotel last year in Hawaii in the Lahaina fire.
Yes, Pioneer Inn, we lost it. That has been a member of historic hotel up until that point.
And over the summer, there were wildfires in the Rockies and several of our historic hotels

(01:05:50):
were threatened there. So certainly climate change, I think, is concerning. But at the same time,
because of the environmental concerns, I'm heartened to see the work that our hotels have
been doing to be sustainable, to be environmentally conscious, to reduce their environmental impact,
both, you know, asking guests to make some small changes, as well as doing behind the scenes work,

(01:06:14):
and investing in environmental impact mitigation, and investing in their communities, too, as well,
including indigenous arts and culture. But I don't think people are going to lose their desire to
travel. And I think general dissatisfaction with kind of the Airbnb style. I'm not concerned about

(01:06:36):
hotels being threatened by Airbnbs. I think hospitality is a profession and a skill. And I
think that hotels have perfected that and people are going to keep staying at hotels.
I agree. There's a totally different experience with hotels versus Airbnb. Like,
Airbnb, you're in someone's home. And it doesn't feel anonymous. It feels like you're involved.

(01:07:02):
And here, you kind of feel like you can be someone new. And it's personal, yet impersonal,
but in the best way. And there's just like, I don't know, I kind of prefer hotels. I think
that's just me, though. A lot of people, they want like all everything in a home. And I'm like,
nah, I can live without it. It's almost like coming into a fantasy, right? Yeah. You walk into a hotel,

(01:07:28):
you could be anyone. No one knows who you are. You know, you get into that mindset, and it just
opens up new opportunities in your mind. I think. Okay, so on the fun side, living or dead,
which president would you want to get a drink with? Oh, I feel like it would be really obvious

(01:07:49):
to say Abraham Lincoln. So I'm going to go with John Quincy Adams. Oh, okay. I don't think it's
so obvious to say Abraham Lincoln, because so far no one said that. And it could be too.
You have two choices. Well, that was okay. So Abraham Lincoln was the first one that came to
mind. You know, I want to ask him, what was it like at this juncture in American history? But

(01:08:12):
John Quincy Adams, he lived from, you know, he was born in the 1760s. He lived to the 1840s,
late 1840s, early, yeah, 1840s. And he was born with so much promise. He was born, his father
was president, his mother was Abigail Adams. So he was born to privilege. And he made the most of it

(01:08:39):
in my mind. He became a statesman, a diplomat. He was a diplomat to Russia. He was a diplomat to
Britain. He spoke Russian. I think he was the only US president who could speak Russian fluently.
Cool. And then he famously defended the enslaved Africans from the Amistad wreck. Yes. So he,

(01:09:03):
you know, that was after his presidency too. So he just lived a fascinating life. And I would
love to just listen, just sit and listen to him. I had no idea about any of that.
I like history, but there's always something new. But yeah, that's a good choice. I kind of want to
be a part of that drink. Where should our listeners go if they want to learn more about

(01:09:25):
Historic Hotels of America? The internet. So our website is fabulous. We are at historichotels.org.
And you can get online, you can learn about over 300 Historic Hotels of America members.
You can also visit our sister collection, Historic Hotels Worldwide, to learn about the histories of

(01:09:48):
historic hotels around the world. And then you can also book your hotel rooms on historichotels.org
and support historic preservation. And where can they follow you on social media? Historic Hotels.
We're very active on Instagram and Pinterest. If you're into Pinterest, you can also find us on X
and Facebook. The base, all the basics. We're all there.

(01:10:13):
I also think we should just give a shout out to all the people once more that helped us. Thank you,
Meredith Goldberg. Yes. You are the best. I don't know if we said this enough. We really
appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah. All of the staff at the main staff or the general manager, Shelly,

(01:10:35):
Sarah, that we spoke with as well. The concierge, just everyone was so wonderful in helping us
tackle this amazing project. Logan and McCauley. Yes. Catherine. Catherine. It just, and everyone
we met in between. Thanks for listening to Hotel History. You can follow us on Instagram, Instagram,

(01:11:00):
and Instagram. Thanks for listening to Hotel History. You can follow us on most social media
platforms, Patreon, and Substack by searching for Hotel History or Hotel History Podcast.
If you like what you hear, please leave us a five-star review on Apple podcasts
and Spotify so we can reach more listeners.