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| Fans hope to save
New York hotel | |
Celebrities, labour unions and ordinary fans are joining forces to try
to save one of New York's most famous hotels.
The Plaza Hotel is due to close down on 30 April, and to be turned into
a department store, apartments, and a smaller "boutique" hotel.
The Reverend Jesse Jackson is leading a rally to save the hotel on
Monday, with actress Susan Sarandon also expected.
Built in 1907, the hotel has 805 rooms and employs about 950 staff -
many of whom have joined the protests. A standard room can be obtained for
$580 (￡300).
The presidential suite costs $15,000 (￡7,850), but does sleep 10, and
comes with its own chef, a 2,000-bottle wine cellar, and a
chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce.
The famous building - the only US hotel to be designated a national
landmark - hosted the wedding
of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones in 2000.
The French Renaissance-style hotel was also where International Olympic
Committee delegates were put up last month during their visit to assess
the city as a potential host for the 2012 games.
The hotel was bought in October by Elad Properties, an Israeli
developer hoping to take advantage of the booming property market in
Manhattan, where luxury apartments are selling for an average of $1.2m
each.
But fans of the old building are vowing to stop it. They are attempting
to have the interior of the hotel given landmark status so its use cannot
be changed.
Besides the celebrity regulars, the braided doormen and the waiters,
the hotel is also set to be missed by New Yorkers.
Kristin Perkins said she had come to the hotel for possibly the last
time, to celebrate Terry Trebling's 47th birthday, and to bring along
five-month-old Grace.
"We come to the Plaza for tea on our birthdays," Ms Perkins told
London's Times newspaper.
"So we heard the place was closing and we were very, very sad. We had
to bring Grace along because she will never see it again. It is such a
shame."
（Agencies) |
社會名人、工會組織和普通的熱心民眾聯合起來，呼吁當局保留紐約最著名的飯店之一——Plaza Hotel。
Plaza Hotel原定于4月30日關閉，隨后將被改建為百貨商場、公寓樓和一個規模較小的“精品”旅館。
本周一，牧師耶西·杰克遜組織了集會，呼吁不要關閉Plaza Hotel，演員蘇珊·薩蘭登也參加了這次活動。
Plaza Hotel始建于1907年，內有805個房間，大約950名員工，很多員工都參與了抗議活動。Plaza
Hotel標準間的價格是每間580美元（300英鎊）。
總統套房的價格是1.5萬美元（7850英鎊），但可以同時容納10個人，還配有專門的大廚、一個能儲存兩千瓶酒的酒窖和一輛配備私人司機的勞斯萊斯汽車。
這座著名的建筑物是美國唯一一家被指定為國家級標志性建筑的旅館。2000年，邁克爾·道格拉斯和凱瑟琳·澤塔·瓊斯在這里舉行了婚禮。
這座具有法國文藝復興時期風格的旅館也是國際奧委會代表團成員們的下榻處，上個月他們前來考察紐約申辦2012年奧運會的準備情況。
去年10月份，該旅館被以色列房地產開發商伊蘭德物業集團收購，該集團希望從發展迅速的曼哈頓房地產市場獲利，曼哈頓的豪華公寓的均價是每間120萬美元。
不過這座老樓的鐵桿支持者們發誓要阻止這一切，他們努力使旅館內部也獲得了地標身份，這樣它的用途就不能改變了。
除了那些常住在這里的名人、留著辮子的門衛和侍者外，其他的紐約人也注定會懷念這座旅店。
克里斯汀·帕金斯說，她曾經帶著五個月大的小格雷斯一起來這里慶祝特里·特雷伯林的47歲生日，那可能是她最后一次來這里。
帕金斯告訴倫敦《泰晤士報》：“生日那天我們來Plaza 喝茶。”
“所以，當我們聽說那兒就要被關閉了，我們非常非常傷心。我們必須把格雷斯也帶上，因為她以后再也見不到它了。這真是令人惋惜。”
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-03-16 10:55