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Memories of the Hotel Paris from the days before it went condo. Rumor had it that the Hotel Paris was built as some sort of club in which businessmen such as traveling salesmen could stay inexpensively while in the city (much like staying at the YMCA). It had a rooftop solarium and pool, and amazingly small rooms, each with private bath. In the 60s and 70s, the glory days were long past but the pool, solarium and spacious lobby (with mezzanine) remained. A gentle seediness hung over the place, much like the many other residential hotels typical of the neighborhood. In its last years, the Paris started attracting busloads of tourists on cheap package tours, like a hostel. The prostitutes came next, along with the smell of urine in the elevators. The Paris had become little better than an SRO ("single room occupancy" dwelling) or welfare hotel. By the 80s, it had been closed, renovated and turned into condos. In the late 60s, Milton Kestenberg either owned the Paris or was its general partner. He was also involved with many similar hotels, particularly on the West Side. It seems likely that this is the same Milton Kestenberg (d. Nov 19, 1991) who was an attorney, real estate manager, litigator on behalf of Holocaust survivors, and was married to psychiatrist and author Judith S. Kestenberg, M.D. (d. Jan 16, 1999). Perhaps it's the same Milton Kestenberg who was involved with Elva McZeal Apartments in East New York.
Hotel Paris Text: A few steps from Riverside Drive, conveniently situated, with express subway station and Fifth Avenue buses practically at the door. Surrounded by facilities for outside sports and with a 50 foot swimming pool for indoor enjoyment. Every room has private bath and radio. T.V. and air conditioning available. There are beautiful lounges and a spacious solarium. One block from 95-96th Street exit of West Side Highway. [Postcard picture and text from http://pages.map.com/rclark/tabloid_trash/paris.htm 1-3-06 link broken] From the WebMy
Great Grandfather, Samuel Gross was the architect of this garnet colored edifice
erected around the late 1920's,early thirties. It's visible from the West Side
High Way and is easy to recognize because of the its turrets and oversized flag
pole centered on the roof. It is no longer a hotel, it is an apartment building.
I had the pleasure of first visiting it last year with my daughters and
grandaughter (Sam's Great, Great, Great Granddaughter!)And it was her first time
in a NYC building. Via emailFrom an email dated 6/18/2005. Used by permission:Hello.. I was just surfing the net and found your site. I lived in the Hotel Paris from 1960-1963. Although I was born in NYC, we moved to Florida when I was a baby and somehow we became destitute. The extended family sent us money to come back up to NYC and we all lived in one room at the Hotel Paris. I was only three, but I remember it. After a few months, we had enough money to move into a two room apartment. It was a corner room on the fifth floor. It had a front room that faced West End Avenue and 97th St. My parents slept in there. My brother and I slept in the other room. My mother cooked over a hot plate. I went to P.S. 75 for kindergarten. In the summer of '63 we moved to a regular apartment on 90th and Broadway where I lived for 17 years.As fate would have it, my father managed to pull himself together financially and eventually owned the little store on the corner of 96th St. and West End Avenue. When I was 10 (1967), my parents decided that I needed to learn how to swim, so they paid $60 for ten swimming lessons at the Hotel Paris. I remember the pool very well. It had an observation deck which I thought was kind of cool! There was a lot of chlorine in that pool. After each lesson, I would then go to my dad's store for a snack. Two or three years later, I got an annual membership to the pool for about $20. Another memory I had was of the lobby. You went up some stairs and there was an area to read or do work and they had this old typewriter. I was fascinated by it and enjoyed playing on it. I recently read Stephen King's "On Writing" and there was a section about him going to a hotel lobby to type and I had visions of the Hotel Paris. Well, there are my early memories. Roberta Strenka From emails 8/2006. Used by permission:I have been searching for a hotel that was in the vicinity of 96th and West End Avenue. After reading your website, I think the Hotel Paris fits the location. My great-grandmother, whom I never met, was the head housekeeper at a luxury hotel in this location. Her name was Margaret Norris. I noticed the email from Roberta Strenka which was particularly interesting since she lived in that neighborhood. Can you tell me of any hotels in that area that might fit the description? I am from Texas and am researching my father's side of the family. My answer:I'm no historian but I think the Paris is your hotel. 2. Virtually all the buildings of that era along WEA in that neighborhood are still standing. From an email sent by Richard Young 10/25/06:I was in New York this past weekend and was reminded of my visit to the Paris Hotel back in 1967. A few of my UW college friends, including a girlfriend, stayed at the Paris at Easter time. I recall taking my girlfriend to the Persian room in the Plaza Hotel, running out of cab money and walking her in the rain from Central Park South to 96th and West End. The Paris was at that time on the "edge of respectability," as one New Yorker characterized it. The lobby was large and tired. The rules were strict. I was not allowed, under any circumstances, to accompany my girlfriend to her room. They clearly were trying to keep it reputable. Tired as the lobby was, it nonetheless had character, and I thought that it must have been beautiful thirty years earlier. I'm delighted to hear it is still standing. This past weekend we stayed next door to the Plaza, which is undergoing a condo conversion. Another sad passing of a truly grand hotel. Parisites
The buildingEmporis Building Number 114736 According to Emporis, the architect was Sugarman & Berger. SUGARMAN, M. HENRY: An architect, died in New York City, October 12, 1946, aged fifty-eight. He studied at the National Academy of Design, the Columbia University School of Architecture, and in England and France. He organized the firm of Sugarman & Berger in 1926, which designed the New Yorker Hotel, the Mayfair Hotel in Philadelphia, and the Long Beach Hospital on Long Island as well as buildings in Europe and Central America. WWAA IV - 1947. [From http://www.sah.org/oldsite06012004/aame/bios.html] The New York Historical Society's George B. Corsa Collection has information about the Hotel Paris. See https://www.nyhistory.org/templates/library/hotelguide.html
The Hotel Paris If you have any Hotel Paris stories or memorabilia, please drop me a line at nos@nostradamus.net. |
