When I was in New York this week, I stayed at the same place as the last time I was in the city — The Hotel Pennsylvania, across from Penn Station. My last visit literally left a bad taste in my mouth, because I became deathly ill with food poisoning, undoubtedly from a turkey club sandwich I’d had for dinner at Lindy’s, a restaurant in the Hotel Penn building that had been a favorite of Milton Berle, who I would have avoided had I ever seen him. I never cared for Uncle Milty.
My night in the Hotel Pennsylvania wasn’t cheap, but it’s less expensive than most of the midtown hotels. That’s because it’s pretty much a rundown dump, except for the lobby. Besides the relatively low cost, I have an attachment to the place, because it was where I stayed the very first time I visited New York, when I was sixteen years old. The occasion was the 1972 Comicart Convention, back when the hotel was called the Statler-Hilton.
My friend Morris drove us there with his (now ex-) wife and their infant daughter. They’re listed in the program book as “Human,” which is a typo, because Morris’ name is Hyman. If you enlarge the scan you’ll see my name and that of comic book art legend Joe Sinnott, his late wife Betty, and their son Mark. As I mentioned a while ago, Dennis and I were going to meet Joe and Mark in Boston next month, but Joe had hip replacement surgery on Friday. I sure do hope it went well.
The Hotel Pennsylvania is most likely not going to be standing for much longer, and having stayed there just a few days ago, I’m sorry to say that I think it’s time for it to go. The New York City Council has approved a plan to replace it with an office tower. With so much attention being given nationally to the proposed Islamic cultural center, this bit of real estate news has stayed mostly local to the Big Apple. But beware, New York, because the developer of the proposed Penn Plaza project, Vornado Realty Trust, is the same outfit that has left a huge hole in the center of Boston for years.
