I don’t know why I have a catastrophic irrational attraction to the lobby of a posh hotel. I think maybe a bit flipped in my brain back in 1983, when the family stayed at the Contemporary Resort Hotel during a Walt Disney World visit in the early days of EPCOT, and I was mesmerized by the monorail sliding silently through the Grand Canyon Concourse. (This may also be where I get my catastrophic irrational attraction to commuter rail transit, whether it be the Metro or the VTA light rail or Caltrain or the Underground or…but I digress.)<\/p>\n
As it turns out, assorted lobbies of assorted Disney resorts became the scenes of a number of moments throughout my life, from 1989 to 2003. But somewhere along the way, I stumbled into others. Two stays at the Mayflower in Washington DC, right across the road from my future employer. A spring break spent in the Kansas City Riot Regency during the NAIA tournament – there wasn’t a Vitale-esque All-Lobby team, but if there had been, I would have been first team. More than one drive to Nashville to spend hours hanging out in the Opryland Hotel, with its outrageous jungle of greenery and fountains that to this day strikes me as the world’s greatest Quake map. And all that just gets you up to the end of the undergrad years.<\/p>\n
I think the appeal lies in the fact that a very nice hotel means you’re away from home. You’re in rarified air, and normal activity is on hold in favor of something unique – dare I say, adventurous. Plus people are probably treating you very well (e.g. Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay) and have no objection if you want to swan across the lobby bearing a tumbler of $28 Scotch (e.g. Ahwahnee in Yosemite Valley). Something as simple as hanging out after a movie becomes an event<\/em> if you’re doing it at Fahrenheit in the Ritz in Georgetown. And let’s face it: getting a spontaneous round of applause as we sailed through the St Francis, still in the tuxedo and wedding gown, is probably as close as we’ll ever get to feeling like we just won the Sugar Bowl. (For the record: she was wearing the gown.)<\/p>\n If I’d had a lick of sense, I’d’ve skipped out on buying tickets for the NCAAs and just spent my money drinking at the Doubletree in San Jose with the Vanderbilt entourage. At least it would have been over quickly and for less money. Assuming I’d had the sense to read the bar menu first…<\/p>\n NB: Yes, I did have the “El Capitini” this weekend at the Ahwahnee. However, it was their hotel bar’s signature cocktail, created to commemorate the ascent of El Capitan in 1958. Vodka, champagne, Cointreau, and (I think) just a dash of something pomegranate, served in a moderate-sized birdbath with a carabiner clipped to the stem. What the hell – you only go around once, so you may as well go around waving something with a sugared rim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don’t know why I have a catastrophic irrational attraction to the lobby of a posh hotel. I think maybe a bit flipped in my brain back in 1983, when the family stayed at the Contemporary Resort Hotel during a Walt Disney World visit in the early days of EPCOT, and I was mesmerized by … <\/p>\n