Cindy and I had to take our daughter, Leah, into Chicago so she could fly to England to look at a school. We decided to stay in town for a couple days, so I tried to find a good deal on a room downtown. I had to look no further than one of the more historic hotels in not only the United States, but, quite possibly, the whole world. And that was the venerable Hilton Hotel along Michigan Ave. in downtown Chicago.
I'm a Hilton Honors Diamond Club member - which basically means I stay at a lot of Hilton properties annually. Right now, I have enough Hilton points and enough American Airlines points that Cindy and I could fly to Hawaii and spend a week at the Waikoloa Village resort on the big island - all for free. And with being a Diamond Club member, sometimes they cut you some slack on a room at a high dollar hotel. We got our room - one bedroom, king bed, lake and Grant Park view - for $107 a night. It's normally $245 a night. Nice bargain.
I'd stayed at the Hilton years ago, but the room wasn't quite as nice as this one. And I forgot how ornate the hotel really was. And how historic it was.
The Hilton started out in 1927 as the Stevens Hotel - at the time, it was the largest hotel in the world at 3,000 rooms. John J. Stevens, who owned Illinois Life Insurance Company and the LaSalle Hotel, built the Stevens to be the grandest hotel in the world. (Stevens' son, John Paul Stevens, is a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice.) With huge ballrooms, restaurants, retail shops and ammenities not seen in other hotels of its day, The Stevens was the crown of the big hotels that Chicago was known for in the 20's. It was so big that it even had an 18 hole pitch and putt golf course on the roof!
When the Great Depression hit, The Stevens - as did a lot of other large hotels of the day - went into receivership. It stayed in receivership for a few years and was taken over by a group of investors in the late 30's. Conrad Hilton purchased The Stevens in 1950 and designated it his "flagship" property of his rapidly growing chain of hotels.
Conrad Hilton
The Hilton in Chicago hosted a number of dignitaries and luminaries over the past 50+ years, including Queen Elizabeth II, Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Clinton, as well as Kings, Queens and other foriegn leaders.
As other premium hotel chains came into Chicago, the number one complaint about the Hilton was the size of its rooms. Some rooms were such that shared bathrooms between two rooms were common. In the early 80's, Hilton decided to upgrade the hotel and basically cut the number of rooms from nearly 3,000 down to the present day 1,544 rooms. The rooms are still not huge compared to some of the other Hilton properties I stay at, but it was comfortable, nonetheless.
Since I was a Diamond member, they put us on the Executive Floor, which has it's own little bar/restaurant - The Executive Room - for people staying on the upper floors of the hotel. Unfortunately, the Executive Room was closed so we didn't get to share in the free booze, appetizers, and free continental breakfasts. But they did give us coupons to use for free appetizers in the bar (which we didn't use), and for a free continental buffet breakfast (which we did use).
Here's one of the views looking out of our hotel window looking northeast toward Navy Pier. That's Buckingham Fountain in the foreground and the dark looking tower closest to Navy Pier is Lake Point Towers - home of Oprah Winfrey and the former home of Sammy Sosa.
As I said, the hotel is pretty ornate, including the Grand Ballroom on the second floor. This is one huge room. In fact, fans of the movie "The Fugitive" starring Harrison Ford will recognize the Grand Ballroom as the place where the climactic ending of the movie began.
Another ballroom off to the side of the Grand Ballroom is the Normandie room. The room is about 1/3 the size of the Grand Ballroom, and features a number of items including chairs, bars and woodwork from the great luxury liner "Normandie". When it was built in the late 20's, it was the largest ship in the world. The Normandie was taken over by the U.S. Navy in 1941 and renamed the USS Lafayette. While docked in New York getting outfitted to be used as a troop hauler to Europe, it caught fire from a welding torch and partially sank.
Thankfully, before the ship was damaged, a lot of the luxurious artwork and furnishings had been stripped from the ship and put in storage. Hilton, who had a great love for the old luxury ships, bought a number of pieces from that ship, refurbished them and put them in this room. Why not have something from what was the largest ship in the world in what was once the largest hotel in the world?
Being that it was Christmas, the hotel was decked out in festive colors and decorations. I'm kicking myself because the picture of the great Christmas tree in the main lobby didn't come out very well, but the picture of Gingerbread house - a REAL Gingerbread house - came out great.
Here's a shot of the Field Museum from our room at night.
Although the Hilton is no longer the largest hotel in the U.S., there's still a large sense of history in the place. The Hilton is sort of out of the way, especially if you're wanting to easily get to The Magnificent Mile, State Street stores or Millenium Park. It's a cab ride to and from the place anytime you want to go somewhere. Parking is usually $38 bucks a day (you can come and go as you please), but I was able to get a bargain rate of $32 a day (whoopee!). Ouch!
I will have to say that I've probably stayed in nicer Hilton hotels and properties, but none that illicits the grandeur the Hilton still exhibits.
Comments