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NEW YORK - The first time I was in the lobby of New York City's Algonquin Hotel, I spotted an older woman on a couch in the corner. The marcel wave of her hairstyle and her slinky, long dress made me wonder if she had been sitting there since the early '30s.
That's the time period you enter when you come from 44th Street into dimly lit lobby with its oak paneled walls. The decor has been described as Edwardian with its leather and tapestry-covered sofas and chairs grouped in sitting arrangements.
The Algonquin was in its heyday in the 1920s and early '30s. That's when the best, brightest and wittiest of playwrights, newspapermen and authors gathered there.
The venerable hotel still delights theatergoers and literary types. The coffee table in your room has thick volumes on the history of each New York theater and on every musical produced on the Great White Way.
The wallpaper in the corridors is printed with cartoons from The New Yorker - making the elevator come quicker.
The presence of Matilda, too, is a tradition that continues today. The housecat often hangs out in the lobby, lounging on a...