New York Central hotels

In days of old, many railroads built and operated hotels of varying sizes, generally across from (or next to) the train stations the railroads served.

In New York City, the New York Central built the Commodore Hotel (which the ever-tasteless Donald Trump later refashioned into the eyesore
now known as the Grand Hyatt). I believe the railroad also ran the nearby Roosevelt and Biltmore.

Does anyone know of other New York Central hotels. either in New York or in other cities and towns? Are any still standing?

At one time both the Biltmore and the Roosevelt were connected to the
railroad and you could reach these two hotels without going outside too.
Noel Weaver

Don't forget the PARK LANE, and THE BARCLAY, and the 29acres of land around GCT that was owned by the RR. The WALDORF rented the land on which it sat from the RR, and power for most of this area was supplied by the RR power houses. In 1965, the PRES, and his wife ate dinner at the BILTMORE and ordered SHRIMP COCKTAILS, only to be advised by the MATRE DE...that the hotel had none acct the 'shrimp deveinner' hadn't shown up for work, and no other employees could perform this task. Mr P was still ranting about this the next day at the ANNUAL BUDGET MEETING, and remarked that the HOTEL kitchens had more CRAFT DESIGNATIONS than the RR. LARRY BAGGERLY

IIRC, the hotel subsidiary was "Realty Hotels, Inc.". The other real estate holdings including 466 Lexington Ave. and the 230 Park Ave. HQ were held by the Railroad.

When I was transferred to the Metropolitan Region under Penn Central, I stayed at the old Commodore Hotel for about 3 years. The railroad had a block of double rooms / suites up on the 20th floor which were available (at a greatly reduced rate) as long as no VIP was due. It was great. Fall out of bed and take the elevator down to work at GCT. About a 3" commute. I was the only transporation supervisor who actually lived in Manhattan!

The following is a quote from "All Aboard!" by Willis Dunbar.

Both the Michigan Central (NYC) and the G.R. and I. (Grand Rapids and Indiana RR) apparently assisted in the financing of large resort hotels in northern Michigan. The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island was a joint project of the M.C., G.R. and I., and the Cleveland Navigation Company. The stock of the hotel company was subscribed and owned by these two railroads and the steamship company. The hotel opened in 1887. For Many years the M.C. operated a special resort train between Detroit and Mackinaw City.

More history can be found on the Grand Hotel website http://www.grandhotel.com/history.html

Many towns had these, Syracuse, Selkirk, etc...

I think the topic was full service hotels owned by NYC, such as those lovely old ones described above. RRYMCAs were mainly for railroad employees when kept away from their home terminal.

The Y in Selkirk was a roach-infested dump for many years before it was demolished. The guy who won the contract for demolition lost his butt on the job, though, because the framing had been wrapped in chicken wire, making it very time-consuming to pull down.

East Syracuse Y was not much better than Selkirk (from personal experience), with rooms the size of closets (small closets at that) with 1" thick walls. It was, however, much better than the old NYC bunk rooms in Weehawken (yuck! -- again from personal experience).

lbagg91833 wrote:...the HOTEL kitchens had more CRAFT DESIGNATIONS than the RR.

Great story! I wonder if there was a Brotherhood of Hotel Shrimp Deveiners.

The East Syracuse YMCA was converted into medium-priced apartments. I have never been in there, but I know they are not cheap compared to others in the area. (East Syracuse has went down hill quite a bit since R.R downsized there)

I'm picturing only enough space for about three apartments in that YMCA building.

Not surprised about East Syr. going downhill. There wasn't much else around there, except for Carrier and New Process Gear. Are they still in business?