Daily News from New York, New York • 1682

Section Two Sunday" news, December 19, i9G3 The Park Avenue Refugees (Continued from page 1) --t in to ir.e. It's a very dear tr.err.be of my i -j CD I 1 1 aai 5 IH tor raj-roonts. 21-year-r--ie-ts the New WeUn. echoed Sii-J Mrs. Gray-r.

"V'v found a very lovely over Sat: Pit but 1 rr. it's gir.i to take a long time wonderful plac. So rr.i-r o. I friends, and all of them New frer.era! manager James a top executive in the Knott vl -h operated the New West was a bit more philosophical. i I'm to miss the New very much.

After all. it wi tr.e e.ty's irr.ax'is. It rests on t.r.-i Columbia University. h.n be-rt around since 14. But.

are changing in this eeigh- 2 'r i to change I I i 1 2 1 i irt! 1 1 Ofier fVobemj the NV.v WV: with tei -e-rve-i ir. the inner lobby. West Court bar ar.J grill. rr.ii i.r.ir.g room an I accent on i. pas in the rr.iem New York.

Its r. was teratei bv the reai e-Uite price, but faced ir. labor C53U. i 2 in r. a-y y-ar.

of its giests rei.ier.2. bit ai tha 3 15 j-' 11 a 0 a 0, 0 0 A SI II II rt 1 St 9" 'i .1. Tigv I 3 1 (SEW3 foto by El Olorandlno) John Sakellarios was with the Viodtr-bilt from it befinaanf to its end. with vi t'ill, and thote that have survived give every indication of confini-ing to. The glory of the Plaza is in the hands of the Hotel Corporation of America, which has just informed its stockholders that the splendid old landmark won't be touched.

The Waldorf-Astoria's trranHeur is in the safe hands of Conrad Hilton. The owners of the St. Regis and its famed Kinj Cole bar have promised not to submit to the temping offers of business. The Cartyle lfava-rit of Presidents Truman and Kennedy) remains intact. Other bastions of the ways Include the Pierre, the Sherry-Netherland, the Lombardy and the Hampshire House.

This latter group have moved under "cooperative ownership and mana.cre-ment. The major advantage for a cooperative hotel is the guaranteed income from the maintenance costs paid by the tenant-owners of the suites. Another benefit is that part of these costs are tax-deductible. The tenant-owner may also receive income from his suite by allowing the management to rent it when he is out of the city. Looking Around There is another encouraging note.

The Sheraton people have served notice that while they have agreed to give up the Sheraton East, they are already searching for another prime location. But at the moment there is no obvious roll-back-the-tide movement underway to stop the demolition of other graceful holdouts to the march of industry. Mrs. Ethel Ricketts of 532 W. 143d Manhattan, is one of the Park Ave.

refugees who believes the day of grace is gone. Mrs. Ricketts has been a member of the Knott Hotel "establishment" for the past 23 years. She got that way by necessity. A grammar school teacher by profession, she was forced to seek extra money when her husband faced a long and costly hospital stay.

She took a "temporary second job as an elevator operator at the New Weston. The temporary job lasted 23 years. With the closing of the New Weston, Mrs. Ricketts announced she was out of the hotel business forever. "They just don't have places like this anymore," she said.

"People have changed, too. I'm going back to City College to finish work on my degree. I think III go back to teaching after that," she said. -u- i I XEWS to by Ei Gloran lino) Wreckiaf craw ply tbclr ear-plittiac trad ia Savoy Plaxa. Fifth Ave at SStk wbcra wealthy once lived ia qaiet laxury.

Part of roof is already gone. Tfca thouzbt or mavi tbem of the first with panic Aa executive of one ty Ct Pya) Mm. Eter Anti Abeltoa of ker totel-fcoma. t-u it )-! 13 were permar.er.t. 1 p.t it is competition t.

tri-i a-i an older hitel i ivar.tae in this t-ael also has been a nta'-or planning to go out of business, not by a long shot. It notes that there are currently no less than 125.000 rooms in 4 )0 hotels doing a healthy business ia the city. Of this number, 160 are "first class-hotels with a total of 80.000 rooms. Further, during 1959-60, hotel space expanded by 13,000 rooms. Tfct oder a Versions The list of new hotels In town Is.

inde. impressive. Tha cheery lobbies and sleek, modern rooms and suites at the New York Hilton, the Summit and the Americana are comfortable and efficient. Such is the case with the growing number of motels dotting the West Side. The Sheraton Motor Inn.

for instance, has a swimming pool on its roof, with a spectacular view of the city. They art hovever, the vara of the future. Sone besrt tha Edwardian, ele ginre of old Sew l'orfc. For. this, if yon are ot" of those seeking such quarters, tke fvld is indeed shrinking.

But it isn't gone. A few of the grand old hotels art the city 'a hotel indus- iv; of flight departures. lioteU to fall the real estate boom spent an entire year rIocatin 6 aach displaced women. "It 11 th tougktit jab "re erer i w-j life, but trvubUl trere not If compared t9 uhat (Ao Home ttffertl until ut finally got them resettled," hi taid. "The' didn't belter kelp tker.

Tkey felt betrayed en hotel vat that their en irt world vai ctllaptw and we vere tk cai it oil. Miring ji tvmeuh.it like teaching a new language a aoint it didn't want to learn it at alLm This same executive, in fcis efforts to rel.rate his dispossessed quests, fiund that they had great difficulty in adjusting to any new routine. To a woman, they feared automated elevators. They distrusted building employes not ia uniform, and were shocked to find that in many modern buildinsrs it was possible to hear noises from the apartment next door. They were also appalled tha.t the telephones in their new abodes had to be dialed.

A common complaint was: "How will I manage without the switchboard?" a a a VI7HEX a top hotel goes down, it is something like a ship sinking. Just about everything goes. While many of the new o3ice buildings replacing them offer ground floor store fronts, the his shortereJ the average i-v frKti fjur daya to day i a ha.f. Those Expensive Lobbies Lr.tr- ir-? rr.jte", with itj ar. i earde space, also haa the Amer.can traveler" habits.

th- that the mit real, estate ia the worM is a New i -City tel partietilarly those of d-pth ar.d breadth, t- i hi- a cxe t-i arrtie p- thse fune oli r.T5 th ar a'. '4 Pari: Are. wi) ar- ierly alone In York. Th-y are. the most part, x.sxi Vir sjr.p.rtei by their hus- i' e-tatei.

Trey are on a budget. if 1-1 'I I A If rer.t is such that mar.y of the oli hotel i- r.a- tr.e years, come i of rei.Jenr.iai hotel shop tenants also become refugees. When the New Weston is Tazed next I year, it will take with it some excellent shops. Forced to move will be four fine restaurants, a Sower shop, a book store, t'ao jewelers, two ir.enswear stores, a druggist ani a government inf jrmatijn office. r.e also will be the bar and grill, a longtime favorite spa for the Ave.

crowd. One advertising executive. t.r.g djn his mai'-ira on closing day. r-. 'i-y these worten the pro- is ore of economics as one of ex They've settled in the rivhili stiff are more is thai arvi there is r.fr.

ia the th jur.t that they're only switchboard from a.ii at day or Mir. rarely leave the hotel. There l.ttle reason fr them so. other few7)- w4 down the informed the bart-neir he was thinking ens." Their chief entertainment. seriously of moving ti Chicago or Los Angeles.

They're drying up this damned to a. that's what," he said. if i men Awvr i than TV, comes from what dek -r's term Jia. the- INEWS (oto by Charles Payne) offered poik Iivinf plus suburban spaciousness right ia heart Ctt wKf tf Ht it's aM over nw. UK rw Weitoa Hotel.