Word: plazas
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...busily prepared for a fiesta. At Governor Muñoz Marin's mansion, servants made ready for a party, washing the fine crystal, putting a high polish on the silverware. On traffic-jammed Ponce de León Avenue stood a huge welcome sign: Bien-venidos. In the plaza, the excited chatter was all about the opening this week of Puerto Rico's finest hotel, which islanders hope will be a rich new source of revenue and prestige for their economy...
...Coney Island is from Beverly Hills. The Roosevelt deal established Hilton in New York and got him the backing he wanted from such moneybags as Atlas Corp.'s Floyd Odium. With the help of Odium, Hilton paid out $7,400,000 for New York's stately old Plaza, which was as deeply encrusted with stately tradition as it was with the grime of years. The Plaza's first guest in 1907 (at $30,000 a year) had been Alfred G. Vanderbilt, and since then the hotel's quiet, Old World atmosphere had made it a favorite...
...Proud Past. By the time he had bought the Stevens, Hilton was convinced that he also wanted the dignified old Palmer House, which was as dear to the hearts of Chicago's Gold Coast as the Plaza was to New Yorkers. To get it lock, stock and history, Hilton teamed up with Builder Henry Crown (TIME, Nov. 28) and signed the biggest check of his career-$7,500,000-as a down payment. For a total of $19,385,000 he picked up a hotel that had cost $25,800,000 to build on land worth...
...bargains were fast going up in price in the postwar boom. Hilton decided to consolidate his gains and let a biographer, who had been busily trying to keep up with the fast-moving life of Hilton, get out his book under the title The Man Who Bought the Plaza. Two months ago, with 7,500 copies already printed, the title had to be changed to The Man Who Bought the Waldorf. Now, says Hilton solemnly, "I've promised myself not to buy any more hotels until the book comes...
...Them In." The managers do it by putting every foot of hotel space to work. In the Plaza, Hilton's men converted a basement storage space into the swank Rendez-Vous Room, where New Yorkers and visitors now pay $500,000 a year to dine & dance. Stockbrokers E. F. Hutton & Co., who had been paying only $5,000 a year for valuable ground-floor space, were moved upstairs (for the same rent). In their place the original Oak Bar was restored; it now grosses $25,000 a month. When Williford saw the chance to make $18,000 a year...