Across the
street from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden is the Hotel
Pennsylvania.
Constructed in 1919 by the
Statler Group, the property was known as The Hotel Statler for more than 40
years, but when Nicky Hilton purchased the
Statler in 1954, he characteristically bestowed the Hilton name upon it.
While rumour has it that the Chef salad was
created at the Statler, the property also has the distinction of owning the New
York phone number in longest continuous use.
The hotel’s phone number, PEN-5000, inspired a hit single for the
Glenn Miller Orchestra, who would often play at the hotel’s famous Café
Rouge. And even though the property
became the Hotel Pennsylvania in the 1980s, you can still telephone them today
and Glenn Miller’s famous tune will be your hold music.
But the Statler name hasn’t been entirely
lost to history either. It lives on in
Jim Henson’s witty old muppet who, along with his wise-cracking friend Waldorf,
held court in a box seat for all but one of The
Muppet Show episodes, heckling the performers and complaining about the
acts. Legendary characters, just like
their NY hotel namesakes.
