My wife Judy and I were married on June 7, 1959. I was scheduled to be released from the army at the end of May and told my wife-to-be to make reservations at a New York City hotel for our wedding night. Judy made reservations at the Waldorf-Astoria for June 7.
After the reception we went to the Waldorf and were told that we had no reservations. Judy had made reservations for June 7 when, in fact, we arrived at the hotel at 2 a.m. on June 8, technically a day later. Naturally we were dumbfounded and upset, thinking we would be out on the street.
The reservation agent at the Waldorf consulted the night manager and came back with a solution. They would put us up in a “special” suite for the same price of $29.40.
To our amazement and glee, we were given the keys to one of the super luxury suites at the “Waldorf Towers.” Our upstairs “neighbor” was General MacArthur and King Hussein was downstairs. The suite was literally a city block long with all the creature comforts you could imagine.
It was a shame that we would only be there for five or six hours because we were being picked up by a limo early the next morning to take us up to the Catskills for our honeymoon.
Our golden anniversary was last month and we decided that after our anniversary dinner with our family we would stay in Manhattan. Judy suggested that perhaps we should stay at the Waldorf again, and I should tell them about what happened 50 years ago. As luck would have it, I saved the original invoice for $29.40, which was in our honeymoon album.
When Judy went to the front desk and showed the reservationist the invoice and told her the story she got very excited and told the story to her supervisor.
Well history repeated itself. We were given a luxury suite on the evening of June 7, 2009, complete with a bottle of champagne compliments of the Waldorf. And the price? $29.40.
A truly unforgettable experience.
Marty Silverstein
Building Three
