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Monday, October 11, 2010

The Ritz-Carlton Luxury Resorts

The Ritz-Carlton Resort, Boston                            



 HYSTORY OF RITZ-CARLTON HOTELS

In 1927, Edward N. Wyner, a local Boston real estate developer, was asked by Mayor Curley to build a world-class hotel.  Wyner, who was constructing an apartment building and was up to the second floor at the time, agreed and changed the apartment building into a hotel.  Because of the reputation of Ritz in Europe and the cosmopolitan society in Boston, Wyner knew The Ritz-Carlton name would secure immediate success. He received permission from The Ritz-Carlton Investing Company and The Ritz Paris’ for use of the name and set out to create luxury in the heart of Boston.  The Ritz-Carlton, Boston opened on May 19, 1927 with a room rate of $15.

In the tradition of Cesar Ritz, Wyner was meticulous about maintaining the privacy of his guests; a policy strictly adhered to today in all Ritz-Carlton hotels.  And thus, the elite were drawn to his hotel.  However, he was also very aware of the role and reputation the hotel had in the community: during the Depression Wyner kept the lights on in vacant hotel rooms to portray an aura of success.
The Ritz-Carlton, Boston was regarded as a private club for the very wealthy.  Up until the 1960s, the hotel was very formal.  Guests were regularly checked to see if they were in the Social Register or Who’s Who and the hotel sometimes went so far as to examine the quality of writing paper on which the guests wrote to the hotel requesting reservations (if it wasn’t of high enough quality, they were refused). 
Dress codes were enforced for all guests, in great part due to the formality of Boston society.  Restaurants were also very stringent with regard to whom they admitted.  Women were not allowed to lunch alone in The Café.  Unescorted women were not allowed to enter The Ritz Bar until 1970.
Cuisine in the hotel restaurants was created in the hallowed tradition of Cesar Ritz’s partner Auguste Escoffier.   The cuisine at The Ritz-Carlton has always been classic but never boring, innovative but never trendy.  The popular entree Lobster au Whiskey was served on the hotel’s opening night in 1927 and remains a favorite dinner item today.
The combination of cuisine and atmosphere ensured the restaurants were “the place” to swing, previewing such musical greats as Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey. The Roof closed in 1944, but was reopened to great success in the summer of 1995.  Today, guests can enjoy gourmet dining and dancing under the stars to a live big band.
More plays were written or reworked at the Boston hotel than anywhere else in the United States.   Richard Rodgers  composed “Ten Cents a Dance”  on a piano in a Ritz-Carlton suite, Oscar Hammerstein wrote the lyrics to “Edelweiss” in the shower during an overnight stay and  Tennessee Williams wrote part of  “A Streetcar Named Desire” while a guest at the hotel.  In addition to hosting numerous famous personalities, the hotel also entertained an extraordinary number of animals including: Rin Tin Tin, Morris the Cat and Louis the Swan (the central character in E.B. White’s classic children’s book “The Trumpet of the Swan”).
The hotel maintained its own upholstery and print shops and even had a craftsman in-house whose sole job was to paint the gold stripes on the hotel’s furniture.  As a result of this convenience, the hotel often catered to the whims of important guests.  A suite for Joan Crawford was decorated with peppermint Lifesavers because it was her favorite candy and the guest room furniture in Winston Churchill’s room was reupholstered in red, his favorite color.
Edward Wyner died in 1961.  The land developers Cabot, Cabot & Forbes and their chairman and major shareholder, Gerald W. Blakely, owned and managed the hotel.   However, the Ritz legacy endured with Charles Ritz, son of Cesar Ritz, who was an active board member of The Ritz-Carlton until his death in 1977.  In 1983, Blakely sold the hotel and the rights to The Ritz-Carlton name to William B. Johnson, who established The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

very beutiful man

Per S said...

Looks old and cumfy!

Anonymous said...

Nice! I enjoyed having som reading material in this post.

Light Weight Baby! said...

Great read! Looking forward to reading your next post.

Helldozer said...

Looks swanky as hell.

OC-STEVEN said...

man 15 bucks for a room.. u can barely get a movie for that much now haha

The Greater Spartan said...

Hehe looks good !

anontcotrol said...

Would love to stay here!

Eferhilda said...

Very nice. Thank you for sharing.

razortek said...

kewl bro!!

crose0689 said...

ive never stayed at the ritz it looks amazing though i usually stay at the hilton

Anonymous said...

It looks amazing! Have to see it one day for myself!

befashionistic.blogspot.com/ said...

I love the tortouise colour posts!

Discerning Gentleman said...

cool, this works for me!

Tweek said...

Brool story, cro!

wickoc said...

Nice story

JRam said...

Looks like the study area of a library or office.

Jimmy Volmer said...

I see what you did here...

Bryan Anthony said...

Great history. Also looks lovely.

kmartsmartsuperstar said...

Wow, looks so gorgeous!

Nerd Life said...

interesting post!

Satan said...

Looks like a sweet place. Interesting read. :D

Anonymous said...

very beautiful pics man

The Juice said...

nice history

Skutt Panda PO said...

Luxury,elegance, seriousness, best quality services all name Ritz

Max Steel said...

If only we could get 1920's rates

Wertz said...

i love boston i was there once

Light Weight Baby! said...

interesting, I didn't know that...

GTL4life!

The Greater Spartan said...

Nice post man check out my reviews :)

Liv said...

sounds like a pretty nice hotel and I would be so mad if I couldn't eat by myself just cuz I was a woman hah

Discerning Gentleman said...

this is relevant to just what I was thinking about

Unknown said...

Nice story of one of the most prestigious hotels in the world.
There is a great hotel near downtown Buenos Aires that should also have a story written because it's amazing.

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