Hotel rooms?

[AmateisGal]

Hi all -

I'm trying to figure out what all a hotel room in the 1940s would include - an upscale one. Would they have radios in the room like most hotels now have televisions? Would the bathrooms be ensuite?

Anyone have any good research links for this?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Well, from what I understand a 1940s Hotel room would have a radio; I have seen some sets that are coin operated... not sure if they'd have something like that in an upper-class Hotel however.

They'd have a dial-less telephone, most likely a model 202 Western Electric (dial less phones were the standard in Hotels because they had operators in the hotels that would call out for you… and that you paid extra for.) Also, much the same you'd find in a Hotel room today... just without internet connections and small refrigerators stocked with booze you have to pay for if opened. lol

If I were you, I'd check out the movie "Grand Hotel" that's from the early 30s, but it will give you an idea of what to look for.

=R

 

[Dinerman]

Mail slots by the elevators. High Ceilings.

At one '20s hotel I stayed at, the hotel room doors had a compartment inside, which bowed out on either side, which could be opened from the outside and the inside. They had long since been painted shut. We asked about them, and apparently they had a hook inside. You'd put your clothes on a hanger, hang them on the hook, close the door, and lock it from the inside. The dry cleaner would come by and unlock it from the outside, dryclean your clothes, and leave them back inside your door, all without anyone ever having to come into the room.

 

[AmateisGal]

Fabulous stuff, guys. Thanks so much!

I'll have to go rent Grand Hotel now...

I didn't even know they had coin-operated radios. Wow.

 

[vitanola]

Coin operated were generally installed in only the lowest class of MOTEL tooms. Any city hotel that was fitted with these sets was probably in the "hot sheet" trade.

Here is an example of a CORADIO dating to 1946:

A fine hotel would generally have been equipped with a central radio system, with loudspeakers and perhpas headophone jacks in each room, with individual volume controls, offering five or six programs, generally one of each of the local netwotk affiliates, and a channel of music piped in from the Hotel's ball-room, restauraunt, or Grille room.

Here is a link describing the radio equipment in the Waldorf-Astoria in 1932:

http://www.antiqueradios.com/features/allwave.shtml

 

[ScionPI2005]

Interesting topic. Does anyone have any photos of vintage hotels? Either the rooms, lobbies, hallways, etc...or preferably all of the above?

 

[Mr. 'H']

Well the good hotels would have ensuites. Like the Biltmore in doentown L.A. Those rooms have the original layout and baths/tiles and you really get a sense of what it was like as they keep the decor very traditional/vintage anyway.

Re the drycleaning story Dinerman, I presume there was cleaning but not dry-cleaning at least until the 40s.

Regarding the radio in the room - I know that people often rented them. I am thinking of a movie that has a guy in a hotel room with a rented redio and he picks up a police channel. I can't remember the movie though....

 

[funneman]

Coin operated were generally installed in only the lowest class of MOTEL tooms. Any city hotel that was fitted with these sets was probably in the "hot sheet" trade.

Here is an example of a CORADIO dating to 1946:

Boy I bet that radio has provided the soundtrack for some very lurid
encounters.

 

[dhermann1]

Gideon Bible

Don't forget the Gideons' New Testament in the dresser drawer.
For those who don't know, the Gideons are a group who place small copies of the New Testament only in hotel rooms.
http://www.gideons.org/Tgi.web/TGI.Web.PublicWebSite/default.aspx
Paul McCartney didn't just make it up!

 

[AmateisGal]

Scion, I agree - I'd love to see some pictures of the interior of hotels from that era, preferably upscale.

 

[AmateisGal]

There's some great shots of the L.A. Biltmore here:

http://www.millenniumhotels.com/millenniumlosangeles/gallery/index.html

 

[JimInSoCalif]

Hi all -

I'm trying to figure out what all a hotel room in the 1940s would include - an upscale one. Would they have radios in the room like most hotels now have televisions? Would the bathrooms be ensuite?

Anyone have any good research links for this?

Thanks in advance.

If any did not have bathrooms ensuite, they would have been rather old hotels in probably an older, perhaps, run down part of town. The only hotels that I stayed at where one had to go down the hall to use the facilities were rather good hotels in England in 1962, but never in this country.

I do remember coin operated radios in Motel rooms in the 50's. Also, some Motels had coin operated Magic Fingers that made the bed vibrate. I never saw those in a Hotel, but I have always preferred the convenience of a Motel to a Hotel when there was a choice.

In the late 50's I stayed at a Hotel in Monterey, CA because I was going to a sports car race nearby at a track called Luguna Seca. There must have been a lot of others who stayed there and went to the races because Saturday afternoon about an hour after the races were over, the hotel ran out of hot water.

I can't remember when upscale Hotels or Motels first had TV available in the rooms. I do remember stores that sold TV sets that after closing would have a TV in the store window and speakers outside and people would gather on the sidewalk in warm weather with folding chairs to watch wrestling, western swing bands, or most anything else that was broadcast.

The other things I remember about early TV was that the picture tubes were so expensive and prone to failure that one could buy insurance on the tube and I also recall that changing stations usually required the adjustment of a number of knobs.

Some of the statements we have made here might not be absolutely accurate during the first half of the decade due to the demand for lodging from military travel and the influx of workers in the defense industries in some areas. It might have been difficut to find upscale lodging in cities like NY and Washington, DC.

I remember where I was when word of the attack on Perl Harbor was broadcast, but I was too young at that time to be renting Hotel rooms.

I hope I did not get too far OT here, Jim.

 

[AmateisGal]

On the contrary, Jim, I found your post to be full of historical gems! Thanks so much for sharing.

 

[ScionPI2005]

There's some great shots of the L.A. Biltmore here:

http://www.millenniumhotels.com/millenniumlosangeles/gallery/index.html

Those are some VERY nice photos. The bar and the ballroom look very nice and elegant. Definitely not a place I could afford to stay. lol

 

[Lauren]

You might want to try searching for vintage hotel postcards. Some show different rooms of hotels.

 

[ShoreRoadLady]

Hi all -
I'm trying to figure out what all a hotel room in the 1940s would include - an upscale one. Would they have radios in the room like most hotels now have televisions? Would the bathrooms be ensuite?

I've been reading a bunch of 1940s mysteries by A.A. Fair/Erle Stanley Gardner, and hotel rooms crop up frequently. Unfortunately, I returned most of the books to the library already, but I still have a couple. So far, every hotel room had an attached bathroom. I'll see if I can find anything else of interest.

 

[scotrace]

Jim Lileks collects hotel/motel postcards, and posts many of the scans. You'll have to do some digging there, but there are Hotel scans, not just motels.

And excellent site. If Jim's not a lurker here now and then, I'll eat my Stetson.

 

[John in Covina]

Hot-l.

A modern Hotel room at a good hotel tends to follow a lot of the formula from the past.

Single bed with nightstand and lamp on each side or double with nightstand and lamp between. A dresser or two. A desk and chair for the business man or doing correspondence on hotel stationary. If the room is larger it may have a table with chairs for dining in the room (room service), entertaining a guest or conducting business. Even larger rooms may have a living room area with couch, coffee table and/or large upolstered chairs for relaxing. High end rooms or suites may actually have had a stand up bar possibly with stools.

Another thing to consider is the fact that while most of us consider hotels as part of travel, in the past and in some large cities, the hotel had more permanent residents that "lived" at the hotel, it was their home. After traveling for a number of days or weeks, you'd be out of clean clothes and your suit might need a good pressing so laundry services, and dry cleaning were part of the hotel's offerings.

Many hotels still have a folding low "table" of sorts that you would place your suitcase on, if you were living out of the case and chose not to use the dresser.

Many hotels had ajoining rooms with a door between so the two could be connected. Some places had rooms with ajoining bathrooms and in some places following the European style for the masses, the floor may have shared a bathroom seperate from all the rooms.

 

[Dinerman]

Exterior- Vernon Manor Hotel - Cincinnati

Wide Hallway

Monogrammed doorknob

and this is the in-door pass-through I mentioned

 

[AmateisGal]

Wow. Great stuff here, everyone.

Scion - I couldn't afford to stay there, either! But man, I sure would love to try.

ShoreRoad, I will have to go the library and look for those mysteries. I have a feeling they'll help me figure out some other stuff, too.

Lauren - Great idea!

Scotrace - Excellent site. Thanks so much.

John - Great info. In my research, I have found that people did live at some of these upscale hotels for long periods of time. Wouldn't be a bad life to have room service and laundry facilities at your beck and call.

Dinerman - Great shots. That doorknob is fascinating and just the type of details I was looking for. Thanks!