Waldorf Astoria New York

Since greeting its first guests at its tony Park Avenue location in 1931, the Waldorf Astoria has held a mythical allure. You may find four crumpled $100 bills in the lobby stairwell (true story) or make a new best friend clinking Bloody Mary glasses at Peacock Alley, its perennially popular brunch venue. Reopening this spring, the freshly reimagined property reduced its footprint from 1,400-plus guest rooms to 375 spacious suites crowned with 375 residences on the upper floors. Following an eight-year closure, its architecture and design firms took pains to ensure iconic elements of the storied hotel were preserved. Such standouts include the restored Spirit of Achievement, an Art Deco statue affixed to the main entrance; the lobby’s iconic Waldorf Clock, originally made for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago (also known as the World’s Fair Clock); and the meticulously preserved piano of long-term resident Cole Porter in the lobby. This high-society hub has hosted everything from diplomatic conferences to a special address by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957; and claims to have welcomed every U.S. President, from Herbert Hoover to Barack Obama, as well as Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe. Today, it’s geared toward an updated glitterati set: think Big Five tech execs steam rooming at the new 30,000-sq.-ft. spa or museum curators trading notes over dinner at chef Michael Anthony’s latest haunt, Lex Yard, under the glow of green table lamps—a nod to old subway entrance lighting, one of many gestures to the Manhattan of yesteryear. Some 75 years following his 1949 purchase of the hotel, Conrad Hilton wasn’t kidding when he dubbed the Waldorf Astoria “the Greatest of Them All.”