The Pennsylivania Hotel in NYC is closing. 3 3

[VintageComics]

I've only been going for a bit over a decade but there is a LOT of comic history in that hotel, most noteworthy Carbo's shows.

That building just screamed NYC to me.

https://www.curbed.com/2021/04/so-long-to-the-hotel-pennsylvania.html?fbclid=IwAR00gVQ9H-9gGpkKzwVJlQ4Uq_ks5mdfih8sA1OvF7lT-vH4iWgnEmkzHkU

Anyone got any Penn Plaza hotel stories to share?

[NP_Gresham]

I don’t know, do you have anymore China stories you want to share?

[KPR Comics]

Used to stay there during Dead fall tour shows at MSG.  Always a good time.

[Bird]

Never stayed there but went to many years of Carbo shows from year 1 until about 5 years ago...went to just about every one. Michael Lark didn't want to refund one year when it snowed balls and I was going home at 2 pm or so...he eventually came through but the ending of my collecting his art started here. He was great on so many things, from Scene of the Crime and Hawkman to a different but equally great style on Gotham Central. But alas what could have been.

Let's see...many times seeing Bill Sienkiewicz there until he would say hello to me as I passed or approached instead of the other way around. Albert moy facilitating Jae lee commission of Dr strange (long gone as are most of these things) and Jae bringing it over for me and chatting. larry hama being dour but then fun. A few Gene & Adrienne Colan meetings, they were sweet together. A shame about how that ended. Seeing The Warriors when they first started going to shows. Calling wifey and saying guess who has bed head and is at a table 25 ft from me right now...Ira from Mad About You! Telling Major Don West I wasn't buying anything but that he was the coolest and manliest man on tv when I was a young'un and him grinning and chatting.

Darwyn.  He was sitting alone at the table, groovy hat on as always, but I knew who he was. He lit up when I talked about his work and pulled some sketches and prelims out to show me. So genuine.

And honestly, maybe the most significant part of my hobby life that happened at Penn was finding an artist I enjoy still 20 years later, Andy MacDonald. He was doing NYC Mech at the time and him and Brandon put the time in and worked that table every minute. But I would pass him by regularly until an unpublished guy who did IP ripoff stuff (sorry if you see this) showed me a commission Andy was doing, New Mutants one per show. The guy had seen me around and said hello, very nice guy, and we noticed each other in many of the same lines, then he would go to his booth and I would talk to him some while I waited all day for commission to be completed. I asked one day what he had and he said check this out...guy over there...Andy MacDonald. BANG! I had 50 or so pieces by Andy at one point...I think he kinda ghosted me after about 5 commissions because I was going through the Starman Universe and getting 7 characters commissions (ended up with 3...7 Starman, 7 villains, & 7 supporting heroes (Black Condor, Adam Strange, Grundy, The Shade, etc). He is now on Wonder Woman I think, looks good as ever and even a little better. He always inks his own stuff as well, Big Two allows him to do that so that says a lot I think.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Bird

[Bird]

Taking the daughters to see Tom Feldon when they were about 6 and 10. they were stunned that he was RIGHT THERE! Meeting and talking to him would have been too intimidating though so they watched from afar. Daughter #1 is an artist herself now, graduated last year from Pratt and has 2 working art field jobs and that also likely started at the Penn shows. Before the girls were born I would pay for a sketch and often get an additional head sketch, often on a jam. Then I started getting small sketches for the girls as add ons instead and she would watch them draw for her in wonder. She still has them all, as does her sister. She was penciling, inking and then erasing the pencil when she was 9. All started at those small shows at the Penn.

 

[ttfitz]

On 12/1/2021 at 8:12 PM, Bird said:

Calling wifey and saying guess who has bed head and is at a table 25 ft from me right now...Ira from Mad About You!

To be fair, "bed head" was pretty much "Ira from Mad About You"'s natural state.

Edited December 2, 2021 by ttfitz
Quotation marks are your friend

[speedcake]

It's always sad to me when another piece of New York City history is torn down. And I feel that way about the nameless, disheveled tenements on the Upper East Side, where I live, as well as the more noteworthy and significant buildings. 

Once they are gone, they are gone. And as the article states, far far more often than not they are replaced by something truly forgettable. I'm a fan of big buildings and skyscraper architecture. And the truth is that New York really doesn't have anywhere else to go but up, or that used to be the truth.

The skyline has changed a ton just since I've lived here, almost eight years now. And these days, there are almost no new buildings proposed for Midtown and southern Manhattan that aren't supertalls. In another quarter century it will be quite difficult to pick out remnants of the mid to late 20th century city skyline. Even now buildings like the Chrysler are in danger of being completely overwhelmed by new supertall neighbors.

But things change, and I don't know if  the Penn Hotel could be saved. But I'd like to imagine a world in which it is somehow. There aren't many like it left, and when it's gone it's gone.

[The Lions Den]

On 12/2/2021 at 1:34 AM, speedcake said:

It's always sad to me when another piece of New York City history is torn down. And I feel that way about the nameless, disheveled tenements on the Upper East Side, where I live, as well as the more noteworthy and significant buildings. 

Once they are gone, they are gone. And as the article states, far far more often than not they are replaced by something truly forgettable. I'm a fan of big buildings and skyscraper architecture. And the truth is that New York really doesn't have anywhere else to go but up, or that used to be the truth.

The skyline has changed a ton just since I've lived here, almost eight years now. And these days, there are almost no new buildings proposed for Midtown and southern Manhattan that aren't supertalls. In another quarter century it will be quite difficult to pick out remnants of the mid to late 20th century city skyline. Even now buildings like the Chrysler are in danger of being completely overwhelmed by new supertall neighbors.

But things change, and I don't know if  the Penn Hotel could be saved. But I'd like to imagine a world in which it is somehow. There aren't many like it left, and when it's gone it's gone.

Lovingly dubbed "The Hotel Transylvania" by some of my friends, we used to stay there when doing onsite grading for CGC. Great memories, man...  

[Buzzetta]

The LIRR shuts down, NYPD pulls the gates on 7th Ave and creates checkpoints on all areas leading to the Penn platform levels due to overcrowding.  Your cop friends have already gone home so you are not going to be able to tin your way through a checkpoint as their tag along.  

What do you do?  The Hotel across the street. 

Hopefully this time the sheets are fresh and the stains have been cleaned from the furniture and floors.  What’s that? Oh… yeah.  No such luck.  

I’ve never stayed after a show at MSG though because you just take the train home.  However… there was already quite the assortment of characters over the years that did from school class trips from other cities to airline personnel to criminals.

I cannot imagine what some will do without the supply of free bed bug ridden mattresses located in the dumpsters alongside the building on 33rd that you would see periodically thrown out.  

Edited December 2, 2021 by Buzzetta

[Buzzetta]

Live from the scene of many crimes…

 

[Buzzetta]

Where the bed bug dumpsters usually are 

 

[Pitboss]

New York Marriott Marquis  Top notch joint when I have stayed there. 

Sad to see the old school going down. Good Management means EVERYTHING.

[Buzzetta]

One of the things that should be mentioned is that it looks like the Manhattan Mall will also shut down.    The mall was struggling long before the pandemic.  The anchor stores starting closing their doors in the mid 90's and it has been a downward slide ever since culminating in the loss of JC Penny.    Supposedly there are only one or two stores that are inside of that space. 

I could easily see that being torn down as well to build a supertall that takes up the entire block and avenue space. 

[valiantman]

On 12/1/2021 at 4:59 PM, VintageComics said:

Anyone got any Penn Plaza hotel stories to share?

I believe it was 2006, Big Apple Con - George Romero (Night of the Living Dead) was a guest at the show.  Me and the guys are staying at the hotel and decide to leave our hotel rooms and head out on the town around 9pm or so.  The elevator opens and it's George Romero and his family, heading to their room for the night.  All together the guys say "it's George Romero!" and he mutters something equivalent to "I thought I was done with these fans" since it was 9pm, long after the con had ended.

Anyway, we go out and mess around a while and get back to the hotel around 2am.  Our elevator door opens on the right floor and there's George Romero in a bathrobe scooting down the hall for ice.  All together again, we say "it's George Romero!" and he looks up, sees it's all the same guys again and just yells "S#IT!"

Good times.

Edited December 4, 2021 by valiantman

[VintageComics]

On 12/2/2021 at 7:26 AM, Buzzetta said:

One of the things that should be mentioned is that it looks like the Manhattan Mall will also shut down.    The mall was struggling long before the pandemic.  The anchor stores starting closing their doors in the mid 90's and it has been a downward slide ever since culminating in the loss of JC Penny.    Supposedly there are only one or two stores that are inside of that space. 

I could easily see that being torn down as well to build a supertall that takes up the entire block and avenue space. 

Is that the mall downstairs under the Penn plaze where the train station is or another?

[greggy]

On 12/2/2021 at 3:36 AM, Pitboss said:

New York Marriott Marquis  Top notch joint when I have stayed there. 

Sad to see the old school going down. Good Management means EVERYTHING.

Stayed there many times but didn't really like the way the elevator system worked.  

[Buzzetta]

On 12/3/2021 at 7:07 PM, VintageComics said:

Is that the mall downstairs under the Penn plaze where the train station is or another?

Another. The Manhattan Mall is literally right next to the Hotel Pennsylvania.  Those two buildings make up the entire area between 6th and 7th and 32nd and 33rd.

They are basically building a city under the post office across from MSG and connecting it underground with the redeveloped Amtrak and Penn Station areas.   The new area that opened up is Moynihan Hall.  

[Aman619]

It’s about time. What a dump. 

[Point Five]

On 12/3/2021 at 7:41 PM, Aman619 said:

It’s about time. What a dump. 

Yeah, honestly even as a New Yorker that was my first reaction. I’ve got deep affection for many of NYC’s old hotels, but the shows on the 2nd floor  felt like they were taking place… somewhere between a giant sunken battleship and the set of the movie Brazil. That space was pretty bleak.

 

[devilsrain]

it’s not the only hotel closing in this city 
 

But Yea I’ll miss the shows there too.  


From the lobby