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It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Dubbed the "Midair Murder," the event started as a union disagreement, which led to watchman Michael Butler being hit over the head with a wrench and falling three floors from the eighth to fifth to his death.
Other workers apparently continued to go on with their jobs rather than address the event, however all suspects were later acquitted in the end. With the opening of the new Plaza Hotel came the introduction of the city's first-ever taxi cabs, which lined up along the hotel's entrance on its first day of business. Before filming for Home Alone 2 began, the lobby of the hotel was completely carpeted.
But Donald Trump allowed for it to be removed so as to shoot a scene where Kevin McCallister slid into the elevator.
Once the tile was revealed, the carpet was never put back down after filming. The Scene. Type keyword s to search. Getty Images. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Alfred G. Vanderbilt was the first guest to sign the hotel's register. That was the '80s, of course," she told Satow.
Trump was fixated on buying the hotel since the '70s. By , he finally got what he wanted, thanks in part to the financial troubles of The Plaza's then-owner, Westin. Trump then installed then-wife Ivana as president, the first woman to hold that title, only to soon publicly embarrass her at a press conference by saying, "My wife, Ivana, is a brilliant manager. I will pay her one dollar a year and all the dresses she can buy!
The good times were short-lived. First, the Trumps' divorce fight would spill into halls of the hotel. Then, by the '90s, Trump found himself in debt. He was forced to file for bankruptcy, The Plaza's first, but didn't give up so easily. In an effort to undermine the deal, which was being discussed in the hotel's Vanderbilt suite, a Trump executive hid for ten days in a secret room of the suite to eavesdrop.
Trump still lost. When El Ad Properties bought the Plaza in and promptly started converting hundreds of rooms into luxury condominium units, the offers started pouring in. Tommy Hilfiger bought a penthouse and Patriots owner Robert Kraft bought two units and combined them—the latter was recently implicated in a prostitution sting in Florida.
Then there was real estate developer Harry Macklowe, who is now infamous for his nasty divorce battle with ex-wife Linda, which included their place at The Plaza and the multimillion-dollar art collection they put in there he also made headlines for plastering his and his new wife's face on the facade of Park Avenue, his most high-profile development.
Then there were the buyers with murky sources of wealth. Lev Leviev, the Israeli diamond tycoon, was one of the first to purchase a condo at The Plaza—he was busted last year for smuggling, money laundering, and fraud. His son and brother were arrested while Leviev himself fled to Russia. While selling units for The Plaza's condominiums, El Ad didn't let anyone look at their apartments before purchasing because they were still under construction.
When they were ready in , some buyers were in for a rude awakening. There were missing doorknobs and allegations that cheap Chinese marble was used instead of Italian, and that carpets were cut and pieced together. Then it got worse. When they were ready, his wife Maryana arrived to tour their new home. She left in tears—windows were small and sloped into the apartment like skylights, drainage grates blocked their Central Park view, and a giant column sat in the middle of the living room.
Those who did move in would find the halls practically deserted. Two-thirds of the owners were part-time or absentee. The opening of the condominiums also happened to coincide with the recession. Some could no longer afford to close, and others quickly sold, usually at steep discounts. Owners at the building collectively lost more on their resales than at any other building in Manhattan.
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