Algonquin Hotel Celebrates 100 Years
By ERIN McCLAM, Associated Press WriterNEW YORK (AP) - The Algonquin Hotel threw itself a 100th birthday party Friday, recalling the glory days when literary legends gathered in its oak-paneled lobby to trade witticisms and tip back drinks.
In the room where Dorothy Parker and her sharp-tongued writer friends held court for years, the hotel held a luncheon to kick off months of events celebrating the centennial.
"Everything about the atmosphere here is a step back in time," said singer Andrea Marcovici, who has performed her cabaret act at the Algonquin for 15 years. "The world is more glamorous here, more graceful."
The hotel has taken pains to preserve an opulent look that recalls its opening in 1902. A multimillion-dollar renovation, completed four years ago, restored the marble stairs, antique furniture and intricate ironwork.
But its glory years were the 1920s, when writers gathered there for daily lunches and drinks and came to be known as the Round Table. Parker, Edna Ferber, Robert Benchley and Franklin P. Adams were regulars.
Parker — whose stinging one-liners included the quip "You can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think" — has always been the star of the Algonquin's past.
"It was the center of her world," said Kevin Fitzpatrick, who founded the Dorothy Parker Society of New York. "She would come here every day. This is where she did her best work."
The centennial events will culminate in a gala in March. The Algonquin will also work with Washington-based nonprofit First Book to promote reading among poor children.
At the luncheon Friday, the hotel unveiled a painting depicting Parker and her colleagues.
The Algonquin still rents its 174 rooms and suites. Its lobby is patrolled by Matilda, a Burmese cat the hotel staff says is "spiritually descended" from Hamlet, a stray taken in by the hotel in the 1930s.
Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Friday, November 22, 2002 at 10:26 AM | Permalink 
