New Washstands for Our Renovated Bathrooms

The white ones will go into the rooms, with the round ones going in the rooms with slightly smaller bathrooms.  They will have feet and shelves added to them before they are installed. (See the black one below for a look with the shelf.) This was a preview to check the finish and color.


These handsome black ones will go into the suites bathrooms.

They will all be topped with granite counters, new undermount Kohler sinks, and sport all new faucet sets, connected to miles of new copper pipes.

I hope you enjoy this little preview of what is going on in our guest room bathrooms.

Juli

Grand Rapids' Own Sparkling

The JW Marriott's six.one.six restaurant is proud to offer M. Lawrence's GR Demi-Sec Sparkling Wine. This is a fresh tribute to the city that continues to sparkle despite the economic woes of the state. This sparkling is soft and stylish and is a good representation of the emerging world-class wines from Michigan.

Nana had a Pouf.

There's a little bit more that we didn't know about Nana Goldfinger. She had a pouf. That's right. A pouf! I found these photos along with her "indoor shade" photos. I thought poufs were a recent thing. A, no. Guess they have been around for years. Duh. Wonder what color that one really is?

Hmmm...what do you think about Nana's living room? I do remember that couch being about 40 feet long! The print above it is a wee bit small in scale for that sofa. Just my opinion.

I remember thinking the round table was kind of cool...

I love the barkcloth drapes...very tropical and hip. 'No' on the plastic flowers on the sideboard...

{Now don't you think Nana would be happy that her photos didn't end up in an old box, but shared with you all?}

Hmm...

Not really digging the bedroom. I do adore the pillows though. No offense to my Nana who was obviously proud enough to take pictures of the rooms. I'm just thinking about how ahead we are today with pulling things together in a different way. Just sayin.'

I do want a pouf now more than ever. Going to have to kick myself for not taking my Dads offer on some of this furniture. I was young. I want Nana's pouf!

Benefit to Assist the Victims of the Salem Common Apartment Fire

Two weeks ago there was a horrific fire in a large apartment complex on the opposite side of the Common from the Hawthorne Hotel.  Many of the victims had no insurance, and some were low-income families, that now need some assistance. 

Here is one way you can help while learning more about the history of the Washington Square/Salem Common area, by attending a talk by Jim McAllister, who is immensely entertaining:

~~~~~

The Salem Common Neighborhood Association and Derby Square Tours are presenting a lecture by Jim McAllister at 11:30 am on Sunday, April 3, 2011 at the Salem Knights of Columbus 94 Washington Square to benefit victims of the March 18 fire at 98 Washington Square.

Jim’s talk, “An Uncommon Common” will highlight historical events and persons from the Washington Square area.

Tickets are $12 and can be purchased at the door. Doors open at 11:15 am

If you cannot attend this event, but want to make a contribution, you can use the following list of resources:

There are several ways to make donations to help the victim’s of the recent fire at 98 Washington Square East:

http://www.salemartsassociation.org/
A Salem Fire Victims’ Account has been established and anyone wishing to make a monetary donation can contact North Shore Community Action Programs at (978) 531-0767 or mail a check made out to “Salem Fire Victims’ Fund, care of NSCAP” to 98 Main Street, Peabody, MA 01960.

Gift cards that can be used to purchase household items, medications and food are also needed. Catholic Charities will be collecting and distributing gift cards. To make a donation, please drop them off at the Salem office – 280 Washington Street, Salem, MA 01970 – or call (978) 740-6923.

Pamplemousse (185 Essex Street, (978) 745-2900) and Bewitched in Salem (180 Essex Street, (978) 744-9904) will collect donations of small household items.

For questions or additional information about making a donation, please contact Meghann Ackermann, Director of Constituent Services in Mayor Kimberley Driscoll’s Office, at (978) 745-9595 ext. 5601 or mackerman@salem.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Juli

"Educating Rita" at the Huntington Theater in Boston is a Delight

I had the opportunity to see this play in Boston recently, and can highly recommend it.  Since I am not a theater critic, I thought you might enjoy reading about the play in the following articles.  If you have a chance to see it, you will not be disappointed. 

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2011/03/18/huntingtons_educating_rita_a_study_in_craft_wit_and_heart/

"AN EFFERVESCENT CROWD PLEASER! This play has craft and wit and heart, and moments of piercing truth, too"

"Part of the enjoyment is watching what Jane Pfitsch and Andrew Long, two skilled actors, bring out of each other. Pfitsch is a delight, consistently finding fresh ways to bring a comic fizz to the proceedings. Long displays expert timing and a gift for the double-take."
-- BroadwayWorld.com review
http://boston.broadwayworld.com/article/Educating_Rita_Merits_High_Grades_20110317

"EXQUISITE! Educating Rita merits high grades. Actors Jane Pfitsch and Andrew Long have great chemistry - they sweep us off our feet."  -- BerkshireFineArts.com
 review
http://berkshirefinearts.com/?page=article&article_id=2224&catID=10

"A delightful comedy! A theatrical treat! Educating Rita is a breath of springtime!"

Here is a link to their website.  This play will be ending after April 10, so don't delay!
http://www.huntingtontheatre.org/rita


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Juli

Hotel Silver... New Arrivals!

Just added some pretty new pieces of hotel silver to the shop. If you want to check them out, click here to shop!

Supporting Arts for Children in Salem, MA

This is a community service initiative and Pop art program for elementary school students.

Wednesday March 30 from 6 to 8 PM

Reception and Auction at the Peabody Essex Museum

Admission is ONE can of food or other non-perishable food item.  They would love a 16-ounce can of soup for their soup can installation.  The food and auction proceeds will all go to the St. Joseph's Food Pantry.

(Obviously you are welcomed to bring more than ONE can -- how about a whole bag of food?)

There will be:

Junior Pop Artists Displays

Hands-on Pop Art Activities

Soup Can Installation, created from 16-ounce cans of food

Art CAN Silent Auction

and

You can visit the Eye Spy, Playing with Perception exhibit in the Art and Nature Center

I hope you will take this opportunity to support the arts in Salem.

Juli

Groovy Grandma!

Happy Monday everyone!

I thought I'd share a few photos of my paternal grandmother, Nana. Ever since I can remember, she wore sunglasses indoors. I wonder why that was? Was she trying to be hip? Maybe she had a problem with her eyes, but I certainly don't remember that.

Anyway, have a "hip" week from Nana Goldfinger!

Hawthorne Hotel's Flags of the Week ~~ March 28 through April 3, 2011

Where is this year going?!!  It is nearly April already!!

Here are our flags of the week for this bridging week of March/April.  We have no special requests this week, but if you do have a request, call us at 978-825-4322 or 978-825-4444. 

Monday , March 28 ~~ Saint Lucia and Illinois


Tuesday , March 29 ~~ Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Indiana

Wednesday , March 30 ~~ Samoa and Iowa

Thursday , March 31 ~~ San Marino and Kansas

Friday , April 1 ~~ Sao Tome and Principe and Kentucky

Saturday , April 2 ~~ Saudi Arabia and Louisiana

Sunday , April 3 ~~ Senegal and Maine

I hope to see you here.

Juli

A Delightful Comedy at Salem Theatre Company

One of the wonderful things about Salem is the terrific arts community we have here.  There is so much to do, just steps away from the Hawthorne Hotel, that you can be entertained every single day, in lovely ways.

One of those ways you can be entertained is to go to the Salem Theatre Company, located on Lafayette Street.  This tiny theater houses a passionate and professional group of people who bring us some of the best live theater in the area.  With just 48 very comfortable seats, arranged in just two rows, with the back row on a riser, every seat is a perfect seat.

I was able to see "Dead Man's Cellphone" there last night, and can highly recommend you make plans right away to get there and see it before its run ends on April 2.

For guests and friends (which means if you read it here or on FaceBook or Twitter, just say you are a guest) of the Hawthorne Hotel, there is a $3 discount available from their already very reasonable prices of $22 adults, and lesser prices for seniors and students.  Here is a link to their website in case you want to learn more. 

http://www.salemtheatre.com/on_stage.htm

BTW, Dinah Cardin, who has the role of Jean, does an exemplary job!

I hope you will take advantage of this wonderful gem of a little theater, and that you don't miss this particular production.

Juli

Happy Weekend...

We are on our third (?) week of storms and constant rain here in San Francisco, so I am laying low this weekend. Oh Spring, where are you?

Wishing you all a great weekend! Hope you have some signs of Spring in your area!

image: imkemper

Malden High School Friends from 1948

Today this sprightly group of women came to have lunch with us in the Tavern. They had gathered together to celebrate Sally's birthday, and were tickled when we offered to take their photo and put it on our daily diary.

At first they said they were from the Class of "Unknown" but Claire Kallelis, our Director of Food and Beverage cajoled them into giving up their real class year, 1948!

We always enjoy getting a tiny bit more personally connected to our guests, and this photo opportunity was one of those times.
We hope you enjoy meeting them as much as we did, and we hope to see you all back again very soon.

Juli

Elizabeth Taylor

Real hollywood glamour...

A true legend.

RIP.

images via Life Magazine

The Secret Room.

Some of you may know that my husband is a concierge at the Sir Francis Drake hotel in downtown San Francisco. Well, the other night I received a private tour of the mysterious prohibition room in the dark corridors of the hotel.

Please join me on my little journey...

The "Drake" opened in 1928. A stunning Art Deco hotel lavished with ornate carving and chandeliers. The Drake housed vaudeville and screen stars. It was, and still is, a breathtakingly beautiful hotel.

Throughout its history, The Drake has been known as the "party" hotel, with the fabulous Starlight Room overlooking the City and the early prohibition days.

My private tour started with a ride up this elevator--the only elevator that takes you to the prohibition room. Before entering, my escort, Wei asked me if I wanted a cocktail. I saved it for later.

Wei, who loves giving the tour, escorted me into the speakeasy. It has its own floor located between the first and second floors of the hotel, and is accessible only with a special turn-of-the-key on the elevator.

Upon entering, Wei turns on a phonograph and plays a 1920s record. I was just in awe.

The prohibition room is staged with mannequins and antique memorabilia to bring you back in time. I definitely felt like I was back in the 20s.

The owners of the hotel wanted to make extra income by selling and distributing alcohol to its guests, thus, this room was part of the original building plan. It was a very discreet operation that only a few people actually knew about. A lot of the Drake employees didn't even know that alcohol was being distributed.

Talk about clever. The bottles were covered in brown paper bags, hidden in luggage, and delivered in trucks via the hotel garage. The bellman worked with the prohibition room operator for a seamless operation. If there was a raid, they pushed an emergency button and 'locked up.' There were several attempts to raid the hotel, but it never happened.

All of the rooms had dumb-waiters, so you could discreetly slide open the door and serve the guests. Celebrities knew that when they stayed at the Drake, within about 10 minutes of their arrival, there would be a bottle of alcohol in their room.

What an amazing little tour! Thanks Wei!

If you happen to visit The Drake in the near future, pay a visit to my husband Leif (& little Vito) at the concierge desk, tell him who you are, and have a drink on him!

Cheers!

Salem's Spring Restaurant Week Coming Soon!

As you might already know, Salem is becoming quite a "restaurant destination" and we are very happy for that fact -- both because we live here, and because we run a few restaurants here.

Destination Salem wrote a great blog post about Restaurant Week in Salem, and I asked if I could just share that with all of you, fair blog readers, so here it is:
http://destinationsalem.blogspot.com/2011/03/spring-restaurant-week-expands-to-ten.html

Maybe this is a great reason to come to stay in Salem that week?  You could eat at a different restaurant every night, and get a bargain each time.  What an idea!!

I hope to see you here.

Juli

P.S. If you do elect to stay here for the entire restaurant week, tell the reservationist "Juli said" to give you an extra 10% off the best rate you can get otherwise.  I have to do something for all my Social Media friends!

Yes or No?

This is not my chair, it's from here...

Everyday for the Past Six Years -- Our Hawthorne Hotel Blog

When I started blogging for the Hawthorne Hotel on March 22, 2005, I told my staff that I planned to do so every day, as a kind of daily diary on the life of the Hawthorne Hotel.  So far, I have kept that pledge.  (They all looked at me as though I had taken leave of my senses -- virtually none of them even knew what a blog was then.)

Looking back, I think it was a good idea, because it put us in the forefront of social media.  Today, we link the blog posts to Twitter and Facebook, but do other things there as well. 

In a day and age when few hotel managers stay in their position for even a couple of years, the fact that I have been blogging, as G.M. of the Hawthorne Hotel, for six years straight is something that even I marvel at , in looking at it from the outsiders' perspective.  It is amazing how many times now we search our own blog for tidbits of information, using it, literally as a reference diary.

I hope you will subscribe to our blog, or "friend" us on FaceBook or follow us on Twitter, or all three!

Happy anniversary!

Juli (and all of the team of the Hawthorne Hotel)

Pure Michigan Governor's Conference photo highlights