Celebrating 110 years of Hospitality

PRESS KIT 2012

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Celebrating 110 years of Greenwich Village Hospitality

Marking its 110th anniversary this year, the Washington Square Hotel occupies a unique place in Greenwich Village’s history. Located at Waverly and MacDougal Streets, just off the Northwest corner of , it is the sole survivor from the city’s golden age of hôtellerie in the lower 5th Avenue vicinity. The 100% smoke-free property features 152 guest rooms, an intimate lobby, 24-hour front desk service, fitness room, lobby and complimentary continental breakfast at the highly acclaimed North Square Restaurant & Lounge. Free Wi-Fi™ is available throughout the hotel.

A Haven for Writers, Artists and Visitors for More than a Century

The Washington Square hotel was built in 1902 as a residential hotel named the Hotel Earle after its first owner, Earl S. L’Amoureux. The hotel occupied a single, eight-story, red brick building on , in the heart of affluent Greenwich Village, now an historic landmark district. In 1903, L’Amoureux sold the hotel to Frederick D. Fricke. Fricke, in 1908, built an identical, connecting building to create a grand apartment hotel, complete with reading rooms, restaurant, and banquet facilities. Four years later he added a ninth floor and, in 1917 he built an adjoining three story building, bringing the hotel to MacDougal Street, at the northwest corner of picturesque Washington Square.

In the 1930s, Knott’s Hotels, one of the nation’s first hotel chains, managed the Earle. Twenty years later, a family bought the hotel, and became the new operators. This was a time of great change for the neighborhood. Once a staid, affluent community, (as depicted in Henry James’ Washington Square and The Heiress), Greenwich Village was becoming the center of New York’s Bohemian counterculture; reflected by the who gravitated to the coffee houses and jazz clubs. The once grand hotel deteriorated into a shabby apartment hotel during the 1960s, making it an attractive address for struggling artists, actors, writers and musicians.

Throughout the last century many celebrities made their home at the hotel which include Ernest Hemingway, Dylan Thomas, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Bill Cosby, the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Dee Dee Ramone, the B-52s, Albert King, Bo Diddley, Art Blakey and Dexter Gordon.

In 1973, the Paul family purchased the hotel and began the process of upgrading the property. They converted the residential hotel into a commercial facility, catering to both domestic and foreign travelers. They renamed the hotel in 1986, to reflect the proximity of the historic Washington Square, and the importance of the surrounding, landmark neighborhood. In 1992, Judy Paul opened North Square Restaurant, a first class New York bistro at the hotel.

If the charm and excitement of Greenwich Village attracted guests to the Earle a century ago, it is these same qualities that make the Washington Square Hotel so appealing to travelers today.

Art Deco inspired lobby and rooms at this historic Greenwich Village landmark

The Washington Square Hotel, one of Greenwich Village’s oldest and ’s few remaining family-owned hotels, continues after a century to reflect the personality of its neighborhood in all its charm, sophistication and individuality. The hotel has recently completed a wave of improvements demonstrating its commitment to providing guests with warm personal service, in an elegant and modern atmosphere. Recognized as an inviting Art Deco-style 152-room hotel, the updated rooms, amenities, lobby and lobby bar confirm Washington Square Hotel’s prominence as a rare and historic landmark.

Rooms and Amenities The Washington Square Hotel has been a labor of love for the Paul family. Since purchasing the hotel in 1973, they have upgraded the hotel floor by floor. “We wanted to update the feel of the rooms, while maintaining the charm and comfort associated with the Washington Square Hotel,” explain Rita and Dan Paul.

The rooms at the Washington Square Hotel artfully mix the style of the Art Deco period with contemporary design and are all smoke-free. They embody a sense of warmth and character often lacking in other hotels. The rooms have soft mauve or camel colored walls with the look of suede, rich dark wood furnishings, granite-top vanities and bedside tables. The beds feature pillow top mattresses with padded headboards and fluffy comforters. Lighting in the new rooms is subtle, and soft, with night-lights in the bathrooms. The bathrooms feature convenient touches such as, mahogany storage cubicles and chrome fixtures.

Christina Ziegler of CZ Design and Rita Paul handled the redesign of the rooms. Christina founded CZ Design in 2001 and has created the interior design for a number of high profile residences and commercial spaces in and Montauk. In addition to being an owner of the Washington Square Hotel, Rita is also an artist and has lent her distinctive style to the hotel over the years. Christina and Rita both love Art Deco design and have incorporated references from this period in the rooms. For example, Rita created the artwork by adding playful flower adornments to glamour shots of various actors from the period. Christina used faux baby ostrich leather to upholster the headboards.

The Washington Square Hotel has also installed both high speed internet lines and Wi-Fi™ access in the rooms. Both are complimentary to guests. Other simple luxuries include plush terry robes, pillow-top mattresses, Keurig™ coffee makers, iPod™ compatible clock radios, in- room safes and LCD TVs. Massage and facial services are available upon request. “We are continually striving for ways to make our guests feel comfortable and special,” says Judy Paul. “The rooms reflect the needs of today’s traveler while also providing a place to relax and retreat during their stay.”

The upgrades began in 2002 with the lobby and lobby bar for the hotel’s centennial and then followed with the redecorated guest rooms. The lobby has an inviting reception area, authentic Art Deco light fixtures and handmade tile-work by Rita Paul. The lobby bar provides a relaxing spot for guests to enjoy afternoon tea, cocktails and light fare, Monday through Saturday, 3pm-10pm. This intimate room also provides a unique venue for small parties and private dining.

Greenwich Village The Washington Square Hotel is located in one of New York City’s most celebrated and romantic neighborhoods, Greenwich Village. The area has been a Mecca to the creative, rebellious and Bohemian, who have given Greenwich Village its unique character. Today the neighborhood retains its artistic spirit while also being the home to gourmet food shops, eclectic boutiques, hip restaurants, hidden gardens, jazz, blues, and poetry venues and architecture dating back to the early 1800’s. The Washington Square Hotel has close relationships with a number of famous jazz clubs in Greenwich Village, including the Blue Note and the Village Vanguard and can make ticket arrangements for guests upon request.

Over A Century of Hospitality The Washington Square Hotel was built in 1902 and originally named the Hotel Earle. Over the years, the hotel has been home to actors, musicians and writers, including Ernest Hemingway, Bob Dylan, Bill Cosby, the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Dee Dee Ramone, the B-52s, Albert King, Bo Diddley, Art Blakey and Dexter Gordon. Rita and Dan bought the hotel in 1973 and converted it from a residential hotel into one catering to domestic and foreign travelers. In 1992 the Paul’s daughter, Judy, opened an American bistro in the hotel. Originally called C3, it was renamed North Square in 2002 in honor of its tenth anniversary. The restaurant features the innovative cuisine of Chef Yoel Cruz and has garnered the Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence.

Washington Square Hotel 103 Waverly Place New York, NY 10011 www.washingtonsquarehotel.com

(212) 777-9515 (800) 222-0418 fax (212) 979-8373 e-mail [email protected]

FACT SHEET WASHINGTON SQUARE HOTEL New York City

DESCRIPTION: 152-room Art Deco-style hotel in one of New York City’s most exciting and romantic neighborhoods. The hotel is celebrating its 110th anniversary with special offers and packages throughout the year.

LOCATION: Situated on historic and picturesque Washington Square Park, in the heart of Greenwich Village, the hotel is within walking distance of many of New York’s finest shops, galleries, restaurants and universities, as well as Off- theaters, jazz clubs and nightclubs.

ADDRESS: 103 Waverly Place (Waverly Place and MacDougal Street) New York, NY 10011-9194

REPRESENTATION: Hotel Association of New York Travel Industry Association New York City Visitors Bureau

OPENED 1902

FOUNDER: Earl S. L’Amoureux

OWNER: The Paul Family, since 1973

GENERAL MANAGER: Sonny Christopher

RESERVATIONS: (212) 777-9515 (800) 222-0418 (212) 979-8373 (fax) www.washingtonsquarehotel.com [email protected]

GETTING THERE: Subway: 1 train to A, B, C, D, E, F and M trains to West

GUEST ROOMS: 152 Non-Smoking Rooms

Guest Rooms (exclusively non-smoking): Complimentary Wi-Fi™ access, LCD TV, Keurig™ coffee makers, iPod™ compatible clock radios, Art-Deco style furniture, plush terry robes, pillow-top mattresses

SERVICES & Fitness Facility: with aerobic and weight machines AMENITIES: NORTH SQUARE Restaurant & Lounge: Open 7 Days a week Complimentary continental breakfast Breakfast, lunch & dinner Sunday Jazz Brunch

Lobby Bar: 3:00pm-10:00pm, Monday-Saturday Afternoon Tea 3:00pm-5:00pm Light menu available all evening Complimentary wireless internet access

24-hour Front Desk Service: Transportation service, fax/copier services, theater/concert tickets, restaurant reservations, laundry service, physical trainers, massage and facial services.

Multi-lingual staff

Complimentary Wi-Fi™ access

MEETING FACILITIES: NORTH SQUARE lounge can be used for private meetings. LCD widescreen monitor, LCD projector, DVD player & Wi- Fi™ access are available. Seats 35.

The lobby bar is also available for more intimate gatherings as well as private dining.

PACKAGES & Special rates and promotions through selected travel PROMOTIONS: agents.

Rita and Dan Paul Owners The Washington Square Hotel

Neither Rita nor Dan Paul ever planned to go into the hotel business. But after thirty years in the business, The Washington Square Hotel has become a shared passion and an ongoing source of inspiration and pride. “For me the hotel is an inspiration and a gallery,” says Rita. “It’s never a task to come to work,” adds Dan. “It’s never a chore.”

Rita was born in and spent most of her childhood in Paris, before the family settled in New York. She has always been an artist. “Whenever I was ill, my mother would give me a box of pencils and I would draw until they were just stubs. Then I studied art in all the wrong places (and a few of the right ones) and worked for a long time as a fashion illustrator.”

Dan was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He served in the Combat Engineers in World War II, ending up in occupied Vienna, where he learned German and saw his first opera, “it was Madame Butterfly.” Upon his return from Europe, Dan worked for his father, a jeweler, while studying business administration at the University of Connecticut. After nine years, Dan’s father retired and Dan moved to New York to work with his father in law, a building contractor and developer. One of his projects was redeveloping a 260-room hotel in Brooklyn and, after a three-month apprenticeship, Dan became the manager. “As we improved the building, business improved with it. I did everything, including the laundry. And I discovered that I had a talent for dealing with demanding customers.”

In 1965, in partnership with his brother in law, Dan started buying and restoring old hotels in Manhattan. “Our interest was rehabilitation, taking these old hotels and making them into something that worked,” says Dan. In 1973, they bought the Earle, a residential hotel that had seen better days, on the northwest corner of Washington Square. The park, too, had seen years of neglect and city officials were working to rehabilitate the area. With the help of Ed Koch, who lived nearby, the hotel was converted from a welfare magnate, to a comfortable and affordable option for travelers from the United States and abroad. Year by year and floor by floor the Pauls upgraded the hotel, changing the name to the Washington Square Hotel. The family partnership was dissolved after several years, leaving Dan and Rita as sole owners of the hotel, free to follow their own vision of what it ought to become.

Rita has done much to give the refurbished hotel its distinctive style, with redesigned rooms and colorful informational tiles in the hallways. “We take vacations in Europe, where we talk to hotel owners and managers. We want our hotel to have the personality of a small European hotel.” And they must be doing it right; The Washington Square Hotel operates at a high occupancy rate. “We want people to be glad that they stayed here, and to feel that they were more than a room number,” says Rita. “And that they got more than they expected” adds Dan.

Rita has found new and creative media to meet the practical demands of the hotel. “I had never worked with glass or with lighting before I had to do it here. I had never made columns. Now I have.”

This experiment led to a series of paintings on tiles (some copies of famous canvases, some black and white images of classic film stars, some abstract) that now hang in the hotel and restaurant. In addition Dan and Rita have scoured antique shops, here and abroad, for just the right furniture, lighting and architectural details. One of these, a grille that was purchased in an antique shop in Paris’ Place Des Vosges, became a central feature of the lobby. It now graces the entrance of the lobby bar.

The experience of salvaging the hotel has lead to other pursuits and interests. Dan serves on the boards of the Washington Square Association (which raises money to help preserve Washington Square Park) and The Caring Community, providing services to the older residents on downtown New York. He also serves as a coxswain in the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

When asked what they want people to think of when they think of the hotel, there is a short answer. “We want to offer our guests value and location, and I think we do. We just took a reservation from someone who is staying with us for the fifth time. She says she wouldn’t think of staying anywhere else.”

Judy Paul CEO The Washington Square Hotel

Judy Paul was born into a hotel family and her love of food and entertaining grew out of a childhood spent at her grandfather’s Manhattan Beach Hotel, in Brooklyn.

Though she enjoyed the hotel business, Judy wanted to establish herself outside the family enterprise. After graduating from Vassar College, with a degree in bio-psychology and earning an MBA from Columbia University in 1982, she began her first career by running the Adolescent Health Care Center at Mt Sinai Hospital. She also worked for the New York State Office of the Special Deputy Controller, and as a Vice President in the Health Care Group at AMBAC, a municipal bond insurance company.

Even as a financial executive, food remained a passion for Judy and she always knew that, one day, she would make it her primary professional focus. In 1991 she left her job as a health care financial analyst to follow her dream: She opened NORTH SQUARE Restaurant in the ground floor of the Washington Square Hotel, an historic hotel owned by her family. The transition to the restaurant business has been satisfying and easy, as Judy has found the skills gleaned in her first career to be essential to the second. She has built a close-knit team of colleagues, all as devoted to the enjoyment of hospitality and dining as she is. She has become increasingly involved in hotel operations as CEO, bringing her dynamism and business savvy to the family business.

A proud resident of Greenwich Village, Judy has grown increasingly attached to the strong sense of community her neighborhood. She serves as an appointed board member of Community Board #2. Judy is also a member of Vistage, an international organization of CEOs, the Washington Square Association, the New York Women’s Culinary Alliance, as well as WCR, an international organization of women chefs, restaurateurs and entrepreneurs that promotes the education and advancement of women in the restaurant industry.

Judy’s other pursuits include skiing – a passion she shares with her husband, Marc, whom she met on the slopes at Aspen – and bicycle riding. She also speaks fluent French.

Marc Garrett Managing Director The Washington Square Hotel

After 25 years as sales and marketing executive for BMG (Bertelsmann Music Group), one of the world’s premier music companies in and New York, Marc Garrett decided it was time to change careers and join his wife Judy Paul in running the Washington Square Hotel.

The son of well-known Hollywood photographer and author Murray Garrett, Marc was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and lived just steps off the famed Venice Beach boardwalk. He immediately felt at home when he moved to New York in 1997, settling into yet another bohemian neighborhood, Greenwich Village. He embraced its diversity, the great restaurants, and its unique mix of artists, actors and businesspeople.

Marc sees the fact that he didn’t grow up in the hotel business as a big advantage to the Washington Square Hotel team. He was able to bring in a fresh perspective to the hotel and has been a driving force behind the ongoing updates to the rooms, including the addition of high-speed internet access and the simple luxuries that he would look for as a hotel guest. Travel has always been a large part of his personal and business life, and has allowed him to learn an extraordinary amount through osmosis. Having experienced a broad spectrum of hotels, Marc understands that no matter where or at what price level, it’s how the staff relates to the guest that is of prime importance. “It’s all about providing our guests with the best possible experience during their stay with us,” Marc explains.

Marc pays great attention to new technologies, using the Internet to market the hotel and manage room inventory. He also monitors the change in the guest profile, as US travelers have very different lodging concepts and needs than do International guests. Marc is continually working to create and perfect the vision for the hotel, and provide what International travelers would like when away from home, and what domestic travelers would expect as well.

Marc is a member of Vistage, an international organization of CEOs, and enjoys getting involved in community events. He continues to indulge in his passion for travel, biking, skiing, food and of course, music.

OWNER: Judy Paul EXECUTIVE CHEF: Yoel Cruz GENERAL MANAGER: Raoul Segarra SOUS CHEF: Alberto Mayorga EVENTS COORDINATOR: Chad Smyser PASTRY CONSULTANT: John Cheng

WINE LIST: A comprehensive list of over 110 bottles featuring wines

from over ten countries. Wine Spectator Award of Excellence

SIGNATURE DISHES: Tuna Tartare with avocado, ginger cured vegetables and lemon-lime vinaigrette; Lobster & Crab cakes with thai curry coconut sauce; Filet Mignon au poivre with herb grilled vidalia onions, steak cut fries, spicy mustard and herb au jus; Herb crusted Rack of Lamb with brussels sprouts and bacon, a potato and leek galette and rosemary au jus.

RECENT REVIEWS: Zagat, 2012: Food – 23; Décor – 19; Service - 22 Mostly known to locals" and "NYU professors", this "likeable" New American on Washington Square offers "better food than you'd think" in a "blessedly quiet" corner space; its "grown-up" fan base eats up the "cordial" service and "civilized" pricing.

Gayot.com: The Guide to the Good Life 14/20 -Nouvelle American cuisine with some Latin touches dazzle the taste buds at this Greenwich Village restaurant.

New York Newsday -A Popular, Polished Bistro With Much to Explore… "The polished, sure-handed cuisine of chef Yoel Cruz has persuaded locals as well as guest of the hotel upstairs to return again and again."

New York Daily News - "...relaxed service and honest prices...""(Chef Yoel Cruz's) menu is just familiar enough to keep you grounded, but has enough sex appeal--and surprises--to keep you interested."

HOURS: Breakfast, Mon-Sun: 7:30am--11am Lunch, Mon-Fri: 12pm--3:30pm Brunch, Sat: 12pm--3:30pm Brunch, Sun: 12pm--4pm Dinner, Mon-Sun: 5:30pm--10:30pm Lounge, Mon-Sat: 5pm--12am Lounge, Sun: Jazz Brunch, 12pm--3pm Regular service, 4pm--12am Lobby Bar, Mon-Sat: 3pm--10pm Afternoon Tea, 3pm--5pm

PRIVATE EVENTS: The lounge and lobby bar are available for private functions.

NORTH SQUARE 103 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10011 phone, 212.254.1200; fax, 212.260.1179 www.NorthSquareNY.com