Carlyle Hotel

"No matter the night or the performer, there’s a sense of occasion at Café Carlyle, the feeling that this is a big night out at the last great in New York. The room has barely changed since it opened in 1955, except that back then, there were often two or even three shows instead of one a night. The martinis are still considered the best in the city, and the soft light from the little table lamps, the most flattering. The lampshades were painted by the Hungarian-born French artist , as were the fanciful and droll murals on the walls, storybook-style illustrations of children in s painting and playing music, as well as dancing bears and ballerinas."

"With its storybook wall murals, nightly jazz trio, and painfully early last call, is an unlikely destination for Manhattan scenesters. But during the past week, the tiny, dowdy bar at the Upper East Side’s Carlyle Hotel has played hurricane host to droves of young downtown fashion types like, on Thursday, Man Repeller’s and designer . ... The hotel confirmed that it has seen “extra activity” due to ."

"At the start of “Always at the Carlyle,” a glossy documentary about the Carlyle Hotel, employees say that they will not reveal anything about this celebrated Upper East Side landmark that has housed superstars, royalty and presidents. … Discretion may be a virtue in the upscale hospitality business, but not in documentary film. If you are going to make a movie that hints at scandal and celebrity gossip and behind-the-scenes glamour, then it’s not too much to ask that some secrets be revealed and a glass or two of juice poured. Instead, the movie’s director, , collects an impressive amount of talent, including actors (, ), supermodels () and journalists (), who wax poetic about the hotel’s style, Old World ambience and white glove treatment favored by the rich and famous. Every once in a while, someone hints at a great story — like the time , and shared an elevator — but it’s all setup, no punch line."

"The 70-year-old hotel at 35 East has long been a palace of secrets, well before it became the New York White House for President , who made it a fulcrum of world, and possibly other, affairs. It is the grand residence where , discreetly stayed whenever she visited New York, and it is the establishment where last ate breakfast before his plane crashed. … In the annals of urbanity, the opulent Carlyle is perhaps best known to non-10021ers for the presence of , the high-end saloon singer who has served up and at the Cafe Carlyle since 1968."

"The Carlyle was the signature project of Moses Ginsberg, who was born in Poland in 1885 and came to the United States via London in 1896. Ginsberg started out in banking, but by the 1910's he also had shipping interests. One of his steamers was sunk by a German submarine in 1917. In the mid-1920's he was putting up small apartment buildings in . By 1929 he was in full swing, buying sites on the West and East Sides of Manhattan for large-scale apartment development. ... He had bought the east blockfront of Madison Avenue from 76th to 77th Streets, and in early 1929 he filed plans to build a hotel and an apartment tower. ... The earliest hotel tenants included , an investment banker and art collector who was later president of the . His collection of French 19th- and 20th-century paintings was one of the finest of the mid-20th century. Another tenant was Truman H. Talley, a director for who sometimes appeared in and narrated the newsreels."

"The interior designer Travis Grimm had two legacies he wanted to evoke in his Manhattan apartment: The folklore of his family, and the glamour of the storied Carlyle hotel. … He also leaned heavily on three items in his possession: a faded, burgundy first edition of ', that his husband found at auction, and a silver pocket watch and slim , both of which had belonged to the brothers and were passed down from Mr. Grimm’s father. In addition to the three bedrooms, the apartment has four and a half baths, a gym, office and library. … The unit is, in many ways, also an art gallery: A piece by hangs in the foyer. In the living room, there is a piece by and another by . In the gallery, greeting guests as they enter, is a massive dark-blue work by that Mr. Grimm said reminds him of his many years in Los Angeles."