Hotel Gramatan to Rise Again October 4
Sep. 10, 2014: On Saturday, October 4, from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, an evening at Bronxville's famed Hotel Gramatan will be reimagined by The Bronxville Historical Conservancy at the Jane Ballroom at The Jane Hotel in New York City.
Titled Guest of the Gramatan and organized by the Conservancy's Young Families Committee, the event is designed to make partygoers feel that they are indeed guests of the hotel, attending one of the Gramatan's illustrious Saturday evening balls, circa 1923.
A massive fixture perched atop Sunset Hill from 1905 until 1972, the Hotel Gramatan enjoyed its spectacular heyday in the 1920s. Developed by real estate mogul William Van Duzer Lawrence, the hotel enjoyed an international reputation of exclusivity, attracting stars such as Greta Garbo, John and Ethel Barrymore, Gloria Swanson, Peaches and Daddy Browning, and Theodore Dreiser. Society from all over the world flocked to the Gramatan to rub elbows, its balls and social events serving as mixers for the rich and famous.
The Young Families Committee, the same team that inaugurated the family-oriented Ghosts of Bronxville last October, designed Guest of the Gramatan with a similar spirit of intrigue and surprise. Committee member Erin Saluti explained, "Following Ghosts, we were inundated with requests for an adults-only event with a similarly creative and unexpected spirit." The team went back to the drawing board to develop an intriguing event that would incorporate the creative unexpectedness of Ghosts of Bronxville but spotlight another slice of Bronxville’s history. The sparkling 1920s heyday of the Hotel Gramatan emerged as the perfect theme."
After considering several locations, the committee selected the Jane Ballroom, a popular and exclusive nighttime venue in the West Village. Littered with plush leather and velvet furnishings, fanciful artwork, oriental rugs, and taxidermy, the cavernous two-story space appears more like a glamorous vintage hotel lobby than a ballroom. As committee member Stafford Meyer described, "Its eclectic vintage décor is the perfect venue for a tribute to the Gramatan. It's exactly as we envisioned the Gramatan in her prime, but with a downtown spin."
To communicate the extraordinary history of the Gramatan, an interactive multimedia digital scrapbook has been created. The scrapbook includes layers of photos and links to music and video, as well as specific information about the event. You may visit the digital scrapbook (best viewed on a desktop for full experience) at www.guestofthegramatan.com.
The evening calls for festive vintage 1920s dress, with smart casual welcome for the less adventurous. Committee member Michelle McBride divulged, "Guests are really getting into the dress aspect. We hope to see a lot of different interpretations of 1920s fashion--truly, anything goes!"
Guests of the Gramatan will be served unique cocktails and heavy hors d’oeuvres, with a nod to menus actually served at the Gramatan in the 1920s. Music will run the gamut from 1920s to today, including a good dose of Electro Swing (a mixing of 1920s to '40s swing music with house and hip-hop).
Throughout their three-hour "stay," guests will encounter several unique elements of surprise. Committee member Judy Foley suggested, "Guests of the Gramatan should expect a seriously festive and entertaining evening, celebrating this fascinating chapter of Bronxville's history."
To purchase tickets, please visit the events page of the conservancy website at www.bronxvillehistoricalconservancy.org. The committee encourages you to act quickly, as tickets will only be sold through September 25.
Contact committee member Stafford Meyer with any questions at
The Bronxville Historical Conservancy was founded in 1998 to record and preserve Bronxville's history and life in the village today.
Pictured here: A postcard photo of the Hotel Gramatan, circa 1920.
Photo courtesy village historian Eloise Morgan
