Head-of-state limos at NY's Waldorf-Astoria long ago!

[Gregg D. Merksamer]

Here's some hopefully-nifty photos I've been planning to share for the longest time, taken all the way back in April, 2009 when Lisa & I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary with a romantic stay at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City. This imposing Park Avenue landmark, occupying an entire block between East 49th and East 50th Streets, is a longtime favorite of heads-of-state and big-wig diplomats visiting the Big Apple for newsworthy occasions like the annual General Assembly meeting held a few blocks east at the United Nations, so its street level garage has been used to house many fascinating cars under extremely tight security over the decades.

Some of the standouts, we were delighted to discover during our stay, were immortalized by handsomely-framed photos hung in the corridor connecting the Waldorf's elevators to its garage. Though it took a lot of trial-and-error to defeat the glass reflections, I trust you'll all be intrigued by these shots of the Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi and Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej riding in the back of the 1959 Imperial Ghia "bubbletop" originally built for Queen Elizabeth II's Canadian tour, as well as a 1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Seventy-Five flying the hammer-and-sickle as it turns off Park Avenue and brings Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to the Waldorf's 35th floor Presidential Suite ($150-per-night at the time) during his (in?)famous 12-day trip to the U.S. in September, 1959.

I've also taken a try at re-touching the original photographer's flash bounce from a photo of Queen Elizabeth II preparing to get into President Eisenhower's 1950 Lincoln Cosmopolitan "bubbletop" (bodied by Dietrich while the closed limousine versions were Henney-built) during an October, 1957 stay at the Waldorf.

 

[Wayne Krakowski]

On the Russian limo with the hammer and sickle what is the other flag or is it the USA flag (does not look right).I believe this was the event that Nikita had a hissy fit and began pounding the desk with his shoe.

 

[Patrick J. Martin]

The Russian limo appears to be flying the 49 star US flag, so it must have taken place during the very brief period of time in 1959 after Alaska became a state but Hawaii had not yet.

 

[Steve Lichtman]

Interesting sidelight, I found out from my father that my grandfather worked in the kitchen of the Waldorf-Astoria until 1950.

Digressing from the cars, Dad told me a funny story. During WWII, apparently butter was in short supply, but the Waldorf received a limited supply. And there was a rash of "butter theft", which concerned hotel management and union leadership. My grandfather, as union shop steward, could call a union meeting any time and place he wished. So he called a surprise meeting, to be held in the boiler room of the hotel. As my grandfather droned on and on to the kitchen staff about the butter thefts in the hot boiler room, one of the staff, who always wore a large hat, began to have butter dripping down the sides of his face. Thief caught and dismissed. Case closed.

 

[Wayne Krakowski]

As a youngster long ago had the greatest experience when my grandfather took me to the New York's world fair early in the sixties,saw so much,the mercury space capsule on display,the famed statue brought in from the Vatican "The Pieta",a new car the mustang by ford introduced,grandpa said it's to small will never catch on, we did stand in front of the Waldorf and gawk,he was very frugal we stayed at the Taft hotel,so frugal in fact when we came across a pay toilet he made me climb under and open the door,start and finish our trip was so educational and a eye opener for a young kid from small town Ontario,we took the New York Central train from St Thomas Ont to the big apple and back,and to hear the conductor call out the upcoming stops was neat..great memories thanks Grandpa..

 

[John ED Renstrom]

great shots from a time when the whole world wasn't so paranoid. just as many bad things going on around, but people refused to hide just in case.

 

[Paul Steinberg]

This car is allegedly the Corvair that was on display at the Chevrolet Pavilion at the New York Worlds Fair. It is the 3rd Spyder build on the first day of production of the 1964 model year. When it was disassembled for restoration, most of the interior components were tagged with paper labels that said "show job".