flashback of cheapest hotel in Midtown

A Night at the Hotel Dixie

This was a great letter in today's paper about the wacky Hotel Carter I blogged about:

To the Editor:

Your article about the Hotel Carter ("What Do You Expect for $99.23 a Night?," news article, Nov. 20) brought back some memories for our family. We stayed there in the early 1970's, when it was the Hotel Dixie.

My newly married sister was arriving from Scotland with her new husband, and since we couldn't attend the wedding, we decided to splurge on a night in the big city after picking them up at Kennedy Airport. The attractions included the location, the price and the promise of free parking.

We checked in and found the condition of the hotel much as it is today - maybe worse.

When we went to get our car out of the parking lot, we were told we would have to pay $10. My husband challenged this and was told, "Yes, it is free to park, but you have to pay to take your car out."

Once he recovered, my husband responded by saying, "That's like promising free rooms, but then charging $20 for the towels." To that the answer was, "Well, we never thought of that."

By the way, my sister says she still hasn't forgiven me for having her spend the first night of her honeymoon at the Hotel Dixie.

Elizabeth Russell
Berkeley, Calif., Nov. 21, 2005

Tags:   hotel carter

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Posted on 11/25/2005 ( Permanent Link )
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