[Luis Gonzalez]

Dave's nuts! There are no bad Hotels in NYC!

[concerned about politics]

What motel? I thought he was describing all of New Your City. There's not much difference.

[demkicker]

Haven't laughed so hard in ages. This one goes to my e-mail buds... Thanks!

[PUGACHEV]

I can't wait 'til Dave goes to Europe. But, then again, what did he expect for $90 a night in mid-town Manhattan?

[bescobar]

I go camping, I now where my sheets have been, I have a fire and kitchen area, and the views are always the best. Of course I live in Cali.

[bescobar]

I go camping, I know where my sheets have been, I have a fire and kitchen area, and the views are always the best. Of course I live in Cali.

[July 4th]

Lobby of the Hotel Pennsylvania: click

[firebrand]

The only time I have ever been to this hotel was to a comic-book convention, but I wonder why Barry, with his millions, did not go to the many, many, many beautiful old hotels here? The place is chockablock with them. They are legendary.

[Hildy]

When I was in New York, we stayed in a "Boutique" hotel on W. 49th St. Boutique is a euphamism for "incredibly small rooms with old fixtures." I am not lying when I tell you that the bed took up 95 percent of the room. there was about 1.5 feet between each side of the bed and the wall. Only one person could walk at a time. It was actually pretty funny.

[windchime]

Dave's lucky! My daughter and I took our "in your face Bin Ladin" trip to New York in November. The lobby was full of people with reservations and no place to stay. Overbooked! The play for which we had tickets began in an hour, so we dressed in the corridor and small restroom, stored our luggage and went to see "Hedda Gabbler". When the play was over, my daughter called the travel agency with which she'd made reservations and let them know she and her elderly mother were on the streets of Manhattan at midnight with no place to stay! Bit of an exaggeration, but they got the hotel to make arrangements for us at another location. We returned to the more convenient area the next day and enjoyed the rest of our trip. It was more fun laughing about staying in the shtreet than to actually have to do it! My guess is that Dave got a good laugh out of his room, too.

[MadelineZapeezda]

Better than the hotel room at one of the Ambassador East or West,( I can't remember).....my brother -in-law and his wife went to pull the covers and get in bed only to realize someone had been there before. A used condom was between the sheets......eeewwwwwwwww....yuck!!!!!!!

[Rainbow Rising]

If Dave's ever stuck for a column, he ought to stay in The Madison House over in Atlantic City. Their website promises a delightful experience, but the reality makes the Hotel Shpennsylvania look like the Taj Majal! My mom and I spent a weekend there about 3 years ago, and it was a disaster from the getgo. When we arrived at around 8:30 pm, there was no one to help us with our luggage -- we had to bring it up ourselves. The staff at the front desk were rude and snippy, not to mention spectacularly ill-informed. First the checkout time was 11 am, then it was 11:30, and then it was 11 again. Then they neglected to tell us that there was a $20 surcharge for use of the phone, and when I couldn't get a call through and went downstairs to find out why, they acted as if I should have known this all along. The bedspread had bloodstains on it, and the windows looked as if they had last been cleaned around the time James Madison himself was alive. The TV remote was fastened to the night table with the same kind of cord you see on bank pens. The AC was only operating at about 50% strength -- this, during a July weekend when temperatures were close to 100 degrees! And as a final indignity, the room didn't even have a clock! (Come to think of it, maybe there was one and the previous occupants stole it, LOL!) I brought all these complaints to management's attention, along with my assurance that I would never darken their door again, but all I got was a standard "We're sorry you were displeased, we hope you'll try us again." These days I stay at Caesars, and I'm much happier.

[Aria]

OMG!!! I'm crying from laughing!

[PoisedWoman]

Hey Luis, I could tell you plenty of stories about hotels in Schmiami.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

PENNSYLVANIA SIX - FIVE - OH - OH - OH

During the 1930s and later, it was common for telephone prefix numbers to use the first two letters of a name. The song title was the telephone number of the Hotel Pennsylvania , at 7th and 33rd in New York City, which served as Glenn Miller's home base during his many month tenure at the hotel's Cafe Rouge beginning January 1940. The hotel was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad, across the street, to go with the Pennsylvania Station ("You leave the Pennsylvania Station 'bout a quarter to four..." from "Chattanooga Choo-Choo"). In recent years, the hotel was the Statler Hilton but has re-emerged, once again, as the Hotel Pennsylvania. Through all the years, the phone number has remained the same -- 736-5000 or PE 6-5000.