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Oct. 1, 1962. "Americana Hotel, 52nd Street and Seventh Avenue, New York City. Entrance section from left. Loew's Hotels, client. Morris Lapidus, Harle & Liebman, architects." We saw the coffee shop a few weeks ago. Large-format acetate negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.
The changes to the original fascia amount to vandalism. My God, what were they thinking?
This is one of the buildings that destroyed the world center of jazz, the many clubs that lined 52nd street. "The Street" is now mostly sterile loading docks for buildings like this.
If NYC had not allowed this to happen, "The Street" would be a major tourist destination. What a sad story.
My family and I stayed at the Americana on my first visit to New York -- Spring Break (from First Grade) 1965. The purpose of the trip was to go to the 1964-1965 World's Fair. The thing that impressed me most was that the bathroom in our room had a telephone next to the toilet.
And seems to have been retro-fied.
And across the street, the great House of Chan, one of the wondrous luxe Cantonese restaurants in the city--all thick carpets, moon gates, mahogany, soft lighting and softer table cloths, and classic dishes under cloches. A must at least one Sunday a year for our Brooklyn family, usually after a major new movie matinee (Ben-Hur!) at the Criterion Theater.
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