Julie Satow on her book The Plaza: The Secret Life of America’s Most Famous Hotel (6/27/19)
Julie Satow’s new book “The Plaza: The Secret Life of America’s Most Famous Hotel” is a definitive look at a New York City icon. This deeply researched history demonstrates how one illustrious hotel has defined our understanding of money and glamour, from the Gilded Age to the Go-Go Eighties to today's Billionaire Row. From the moment in 1907 when New York millionaire Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt strode through the Plaza Hotel's revolving doors to become its first guest, to the afternoon in 2007 when a mysterious Russian oligarch paid a record price for the hotel's largest penthouse, the eighteen-story white marble edifice at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street has radiated wealth and luxury. Truman Capote, President Donald Trump, Eloise, F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Beatles are only a few of the bold-faced names to walk the Plaza’s halls. An award-winning journalist who has covered New York real estate for the New York City, National Public Radio, the New York Post and the Daily Beast, Julie Satow joins us for a look back at The Plaza’s storied history in this installment of “Leonard Lopate at Large” on WBAI.