Today, Norm Goldman Editor of Sketchandtravel.com is pleased to have a guest, Stephen Shapiro, who is the hotelier of the historic Manhattan landmark hotel, the Buckingham Hotel.

Norm:

Good day Stephen and thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview for sketchandtravel.com

Could you tell our readers something about yourself and how you became an hotelier? I believe you practiced real estate law for several years. This must have been quite a switch.

Stephen:

The Buckingham Hotel has been in our family for many years, the jewel in the crown, so to speak. Although I am a lawyer, I've been working in the family business for about 20 years, and the Buckingham has been our pride and joy. 

It was a bit of a switch from the practice of law. A lawyer is trained to spot all the problems and hurdles in a situation and raise caution flags wherever possible. However, an entrepreneur, which is what a true hotelier is has to ride right over those problems and hurdles and not be held back. A lawyer's deal issues are an entrepreneur's details to be overcome by day's end. The hotel business is all about pleasing guests that what hospitality means and whatever it takes you need to do a lawyer would be stopped in his tracks by that attitude.

 Norm:

I understand that the Buckingham Hotel is considered to be an historic landmark?  Could you tell us something about its history and some of the guests who have stayed at the hotel?

Stephen:

It is historic, though not a designated landmark. Right from the get-go in 1929 it was prominent. The Uris Brothers erected the building, and they used Emery Roth to design it. So off the bat it had a good team going in.

Immediately it became a favourite of performing artists, not least because of its location in the heart of New York's Arts District West 57^th Street and the surrounding blocks. Between the Carnegie Hall and Metropolitan Opera performers and the many painters that made the neighbourhood their home (in fact, after each of the two World Wars), not to mention Steinway & Sons next door, the famous Art Students League up the street, the Buckingham Hotel was a natural for artists of all kinds.

Our most famous resident performer was Ignacy Paderewski, the Mick Jagger of his day. Paderewski was one of the world's greatest pianists and composers and was so important as an international cultural figure that he was made the first President of free Poland after WWI. With his long hair and fabulous playing, women swooned and he sold out Madison Square Garden night after night.

He fled from the Second World War and took up residence in the Buckingham (residence is understating it he and his entourage had the entire fifth floor!), which would also be his last home. In 1941 he died here, and, in fact, lay in state here. The lines to view his body stretched for many blocks. Such was his importance that President Roosevelt ordered him buried at Arlington, and the Buckingham Hotel donated the entire contents of his suite to the Polish Museum of America in Chicago, where one can see the suite's furnishings, linen and china his Steinway practice piano and even his clothing and personal belongings its very moving.

I must tell you that great pianists have been something of a tradition with us. Not only Paderewski, but in the past Van Cliburn & Andre Watts and these days Alexander Toradze and Lang Lang are our regular pianists.

Norm:

Would you consider the hotel to be an ideal romantic getaway and if so, why?

Stephen:

New York's Buckingham Hotel is great for a romantic getaway. First of all, is its intimacy, its small scale and the personal attention from our staff and on-site management. Add to that our neighbourhood art galleries, fabulous restaurants, museums, opera, theatre, ballet, shopping -- the best the world has to offer -- and you have the perfect recipe for fun. Throw in Central Park my goodness, the Martinelli Penthouse has a beautiful view of the Metropolitan Museum and Fifth Avenue straight through the Park and you should see what the Fifth Avenue skyline looks like at night, and you've got real romance. Finally, and I say this a little sheepishly, add that our suites are so large and all have kitchens that you never have to leave the suite at all.

Norm:

I understand that adorning some of the walls of the hotel are precious paintings. Could you tell us more about these paintings?

Stephen

On display in our lobby are two magnificent portraits from the Carnegie Hall series by that late Arbit Blatas. One is of Slava Rostropovich and the other of Artur Rubenstein. Not only are they magnificent and the painter one of the better late School of Paris artists, but also they are on loan to us by the artist's widow, the great mezzo-soprano Regina Resnik, who just recently celebrated the 60^th anniversary of her stage debut. Mme. Resnik performed Carmen over 600 times! Not to mention her brilliant staging of Threepenny Opera, her film on the history of the Jews in Venice and the teaching and new productions she does today. You can't ask for more that!

But more we have. The Buckingham sponsors the Buckingham Prize for the Expression of Music through Art, which is now in its second cycle. This is a juried art prize open to art students throughout the country who work in traditional painting.  Our judges are serious X such as the post-modern curator at Christies the Dean of the New York Studio School and the like. The top 3 paintings are awarded cash prizes this year they will total $10,000 and the Hotel owns the works when the awards are given. The 3 winners from the last cycle are magnificent interpretations of musical performance, and they adorn several of our suites, including the Martinelli Penthouse (named for Giovanni Martinelli, one of the world's great tenors who sang for years at the Met and occupied our penthouse when he died).

Norm:

Are there any other hotels in the world that you could compare to the Buckingham?

Stephen:

You know, every hotelier thinks his hotel is unique, so I am no different. But the difference is that ours is! While there are hotels around the world that call themselves art or music hotels, ours in fact is. That is our history, we didn't have to invent it, we have lived it. As we say on our website, if the walls could talk!

Norm:

I noticed upon reading the write up about the hotel, that guests are honoured randomly with free tickets to Carnegie Hall concerts by the world's leading symphony orchestras. Could you tell us more about this?

Stephen:

Because of our close relationship with Carnegie Hall we are able to provide free and unexpected tickets to our guests on a random basis. Just the other night, for example, we had tickets for the fine performance by violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Leif Andsnes (who, but the way, is another pianist in house!). But not only Carnegie Hall, we're the official hotel for the JVC Jazz Festival produced by the great impresario George Wein that.s coming up in June and there will be tickets to give away!

Norm:

Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered?

Stephen:
 

The property recently emerged from a $9 Million upgrade, which included unveiling the Martinelli Penthouse and also added such touches as the La Scala opera house fabric on our lobby chairs, the piano shape of our front desk, the trademark tuning fork shelves going into our bathrooms and more. Again, I'll also note that were the official hotel for the JVC Jazz Festival, which is coming up in June along with the Blue Note Jazz Club, and that Paquito D'Rivera will be in house for a huge event at Carnegie Hall this summer. If I was walking you through the Hotel I'd show you the unique musical art boxes lining the Hotel's entranceway and the magnificent commissioned stained glass Dancing King we installed over the entranceway in the tradition of West 57^th Street art glass. All in all, the Buckingham Hotel is a unique place, from its performing arts heritage to its center-of-the-universe location to its huge suites. Come visit!

Thanks once again and good luck on all of your future endeavours.

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