The Walls of the Waldorf Astoria

Oh, "Roosevelt's railroad car" again. That was finally hauled out in 2019 and is now in a small railroad museum.[1] It's just an old baggage car used for tool storage.

FDR did arrive at that siding by train once, and took the elevator up to the Waldorf-Astoria, but he used a different railroad car, the "Ferdinand Magellan". Truman and Eisenhower used it while President. It's in a bigger railroad museum.[2]

[1] https://untappedcities.com/2019/12/12/secret-fdr-train-car-n...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan_(railcar)

> Still-functioning equipment in the Waldorf Astoria's audio room

Um, okay. That's an Ashley MX-508, a very modern professional analog mixer currently selling for $1800 new. This is like looking at a Tesla Model S and saying "still functioning historic car".

Its really an amazing bar... it birthed quite a few classic cocktails (of course open to debate). 100% a historic establishment.

The Waldorf-Astoria played a minor part in my family's history. My grandfather worked as a dishwasher there when he first emigrated. Really cool to learn a bit more about the place.

I kind of feel like there's a vein of culture in humanity that celebrates opulence. Solid gold plates? Exclusive entrances that only rich people know about? I hope for a day when spending money simply for the sake of spending money becomes passe and humanity acknowledges that the strongest virtue signalling comes from things like what Chuck Feeney, and perhaps to a lesser extent, Bill Gates do.

7 minutes to JFK? That seems very optimistic.

Please consider updating title to include a 2016 tag.

I vaguely remember staying there on a business trip. One of our executives was so drunk, the bellhops had to carry him through the lobby.

I think that ballroom secret service box can be seen in Home Alone 2, when the boy is stuck in NYC and goes to see a performance from the attic in the company of the pigeon lady. Photographic memory, but no specific evidence.

Nice change from the typical American chain hotel.

Since when has Bloomberg been riddled with this many ads?