Hotel Kid: A Times Square Childhood (Hardcover)

by Stephen Lewis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This literary memoir, ideal for chuckling at with a glass of port near a roaring fireplace while surrounded by sleepy grandchildren and old photos, is perfect for those who long for the way things were. For New Yorkers of many decades and for the younger set who push strollers along upper Madison Avenue to church on Sundays, Lewis the founder of a New Mexico memoir-writing workshop produces pages of carefully honed prose about his childhood growing up in the landmark Taft Hotel, where his father was general manager. The nostalgic goings-on unfold in the Times Square hotel and in the New York suburbs during the 1930s, WWII and the postwar boom years. With an appealingly innate whimsy, the author dutifully tries to provide psychological insight into human motives ("If power corrupts, hot fudge corrupts absolutely"). The book is as much a family history as a time capsule, as Lewis chronicles the menu from his father's bar mitzvah dinner and tells of collecting victory stamps with the hope of turning them in for a war bond. Lewis, who is kind in print to his family and those he knew, wraps up his book with a contrasting snapshot of his old Taft Hotel home in its new incarnation as the Michelangelo, and speaks with distaste of the "Roy Rogers Family Restaurant and TGIF on the corner." Sweet and unchallenging, this is a friendly portrait of a bygone Big Apple. Photos.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The founder of a Santa Fe memoir-writing workshop, Lewis grew up in midtown Manhattan's Hotel Taft, where his father presided as general manager for 33 years. In this beautifully written memoir, he lovingly recaptures the experience. Lewis's parents moved to the hotel in 1931, when he was 18 months old and his brother 17 months younger. The establishment provided them with everything; Lewis writes that he never needed to buy a bar of soap until he traveled to Europe in his mid-twenties. His mother rarely left the hotel and, unlike most mothers, did not shop, cook, or clean. Instead, employees brought meals to the suite, and shops delivered dresses. As a result, observes Lewis, "she grew increasingly imperious on a steady, heady diet of servility"; the only employee she never yelled at was Robbins the Package Boy (at the Taft, people's names were their jobs). Lewis pays tribute to an earlier New York, when there were at least 25 theaters within eight blocks of his home and the Roxy, a movie palace, was next door on Seventh Avenue. That was before the city's penchant for demolition and excess development blotted out much of the neighborhood's light as well as its character. This delightful yet poignant memoir is highly recommended for both public and academic libraries. Elaine Machleder, Bronx, NY
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Paul Dry Books; 1 edition (August 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967967589
• ISBN-13: 978-0967967585
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,712,178 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How Suite it is., November 17, 2002

By	Maureen Ogorman "leneker" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Hotel Kid is the story of the Lewis Family and the hotel Mr. Lewis managed back in the golden days of Times Square.

Living in a two room apartment might not have been that uncommon for many New York children but few of them also ate only room service or signed for snacks in the resturaunt in the lobby. It is an interesting tale about life in a gilded age now gone.

More than just the logistics of Steven Lewis' life were uniqe. He was more than just a kid hanging around the hotel. He was the Crown Prince of place as well. The most telling parts of the book reveal how he came to understand the borrowed athority he possesed or how even a child he could make the adults nervous. When a strike at the hotel pits managment and staff against each other you see the conflicting loyalites of the author. Scion of the boss he was still a friend to many on the picket line.

This book was an enjoyable read about a time so far away and yet not really that long ago. It was a quick read and well worth the time it took.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than a cold drink at the hotel bar on a steamyhot day, August 3, 2002

By	Larry Mark "editor of MyJewishBooks.com" (nyc) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Lewis is the founder of a memoir writing workshop in New Mexico, and he follows his teachings and creates a sweet memoir that recreates a vanished Manhattan in the 1930s and 1940s, when he grew up in the now extinct Hotel Taft in midtown Manhattan. (I was cleaning out my closet while reading this book, and found a coat hanger from the Hotel Taft.) Reading his prose, you can feel the summer heat of Manhattan, the hot asphalt, the bright sunlight, and the cool large drinks offered at the hotel bar. His father was the general manager of the Taft Hotel for decades, at Seventh Avenue of West 50th Street (now a TGIF, Roy Rogers, and Michaelangelo hotel); and Stephen and his younger brother, Peter, played in the halls, ate at the grills, had their birthdays with the hotel's band leaders, and grew up in an environment where the porters and nannies were Irish and the elevators operators were Black. Outside was the depression, but inside the hotel, he, his brother and mother were royalty. Best parts... the real Barney Greengrass has a cameo; and while Stephen never became a Bar Mitzvah, his brother had one for the presents. The rabbi inveighed against the evils of Times Square, and the temptations a boy being raised in the neighborhood would face. The author's mother never returned to a synagogue, but his father did go to the Actor's Temple every Yom Kippur (where Toots Shor would always contribute a cool $2000). A great read for anyone who wants to be transported back to a different age (yet only 50 years ago)

4.0 out of 5 stars greatbook, August 23, 2008

By	B. Phelps "Book worm" (Summerville, SC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hotel Kid: A Times Square Childhood (Paperback)

I've stayed in the michealangelo several times and this is such a great description of the hotel and nyc.