The Plaza Hotel
Next to the world's elite hotels, the Plaza is first among equals, the grand dame in the hotelier game. The imposing, ornate French-Edwardian hotel ne plus ultra, enviably placed at Central Park South, offers stunning views of the lower park and posh East Fifties, and has historically played host to all of New York's most refined (and wealthiest guests)--F. Scott Fitzgerald and wife Zelda, Teddy Roosevelt, the Beatles, Cary Grant and Grace Kelley, even Tony Soprano. Solomon Guggenheim and Frank Lloyd Wright were both extended guests here--as was Liza Minelli, whose fairy-tale childhood lapping up Plaza luxury was immortalized by author Kay Thompson in her Eloise series.
Not just a place to crash, the Plaza is perhaps even more well known for its social accommodations--some of which are even affordable to those without the security of trust funds. The Oak Bar and Restaurant has been a fashionable, elegant after-work watering hole for nearly a century and has featured in countless movies more sophisticated than Home Alone 2. The Oyster Bar and the Edwardian Room, both gorgeous relics of an aristocratic heyday, are available after the pre-dinner drinks. Even these romantic destinations are currently closed, however, awaiting the completion of a makeover, begun in 2004, that promises to remake New York's finest hotel into a well-appointed, and obscenely expensive, condominium.
The most famous fictional six-year old girl in New York was named Eloise and she lived at the Plaza. The creator of Eloise, Kay Thomson, became her own character while she lived and performed at the famed hotel.
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