No doubt the Hotel Pennsylvania has seen better days. But it is ok by me, and it seems to get plenty of business even if it is kind of tired, dated, etc. Can't beat the location!!
It is a good place to be if the power goes out-----all of the power, that is-----as in the Great Northeast Power Blackout of 8/13/04. I speak from personal experience.
Yup, I had just been toured around earlier in the day by our fearless moderator AlanB.
I was in Times Square when the power went out so I walked back down to the hotel. (I had checked in the night before, luggage already there,etc)
Two things: I was able to go to my room, since the thing you slide your card through was on a different system and it was workng. And thanks to the hotel being so out of date one could still open the windows. My night in the stufff dark room was miserable but it beat usng concrete for a pillow as folks at snazzier newer places had to do like the Marriott in Time Square. I was able to climb the 15 floors because outside the stairwell at each floor there was a window so one could read the floor names that way.
The power came back on about 24 hours later. Alan and I re-conneted by phone and he kept me abreast of Amtrak's eventual return to full service, step by step, about three phone calls I think. I was able to return to Atlanta on the date my ticket already read. So very fortunate.
That hotel has quite a bit of history, the day of the big bands, etc. Lindy's Restaurant is next to it, that is a name from the days of radio and early TV and such. Known for its hamburgers and for its cheesecake.
Now------nobody likes to be told what they already know. And all of us are railfans-----but we are of different ages, we have had vastly different experiences, we live in different places and are interested in different sides of the railroad hobby. So----some may not know the signficance of the name "Pennsyvlania"
for a hotel located in New York. This was so named because it is named for the grand old Pennsylvania Railroad.
There was a time before Conrail, before Amtrak, etc when the Pennsyvlania Railroad (operating its Broadway Limited and many,many other trains) and the New York Central Railroad, out of Grand Central (operatng its 20th Century Limited and many,many other trains)were the big time ringleaders of rail service all over the region between say, Chicago and St. Louis and Detroit and points between say, New York and DC, all over. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Indianapolis, all over. On many routes they were in fierce competition with each other. When they merged into Penn Central it was said to be a most unhappy event.
There were other railroads, of course, several, but these were the big boys, thus the significance of the name Pennsyvania. From the old railroad of that name. Guess it owned and/or operated the hotel at one time, not sure about that.
