Our Story
“Meet me in the bar at the Albert Hotel,” Jimmy Stewart instructs Raymond Burr in Hitchcock’s 1954 thriller, Rear Window. Then, as for decades, the hotel occupied a vibrant, iconic place in the cultural life of New York’s Greenwich Village. From its opening in 1887, the Albert was home, hotel and hang-out for generations of artists, activists, writers, poets and musicians. Mark Twain lectured at the Albert. Hart Crane wrote his famous poem, The Bridge, in its rooms. Thomas Wolfe styled his fictional Hotel Leopold on the Albert. Anaïs Nin was a guest. Jackson Pollack visited, as did Andy Warhol. Rocky Graziano ate steak in its French restaurant. The Mamas & The Papas wrote California Dreamin’ in the Albert. The list is endless.
This website celebrates the history of a storied institution whose influence ran far beyond Greenwich Village. The Albert also mirrors the arc of New York’s fortunes, from its ascendancy in the late 19th century to its nadir in the 1970s and modern renaissance. The Albert closed as a hotel in the mid-1970s. Today it is a flourishing cooperative of apartments. The story continues. But first we invite you to explore the remarkable backstory of the Hotel Albert.