BACKSTORIES REVEALED
Miller’s “life’s motto was ‘Dramatize what you do,’” says collections manager Karen Raines. And that he did, amassing a mammoth collection of art, religious artifacts and other antiquities.
The hotel has more than 8,000 pieces, some of which it displays in rotating exhibits in the hotel and at its museum. (The hotel made a great impression on novelist Anne Rice, who set part of her book Angel Time there, in what her protagonist calls “a giant confection and confabulation of a building.”) Some areas viewable only on the tour include the Grand Parisian Ballroom, with its 1903 custom-made Kimball pipe organ, and the Saint Francis of Assisi Chapel with Tiffany stained-glass windows. Pro tip: You’re more likely to see these rooms on earlier tours, since they’re usually in use later in the day.
3649 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, Calif. missioninn.com
Rooms start at US$219
Tours: US$13 for adults; children 11 years and younger are free with a paying adult. Weekday tour times: 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Weekends: 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Reservations recommended.
PALMER HOUSE, A HILTON HOTEL, CHICAGO
Being both warm and palatial is a neat trick, but, then, the Palmer House has some magic to it. The original hotel was a wedding gift from business and real estate magnate Palmer Potter to his bride, Bertha Honoré Potter, a cultural leader, renowned art collector and advocate for women.
The first Palmer House opened in 1871 but fell to the Great Chicago Fire. Palmer then rebuilt what was advertised as the world’s first fireproof hotel. The current 1,641room hotel is the third incarnation, built in the 1920s in Classical Revival style.
“He was an exceptional man, she was an exceptional woman and they contributed to each other and to the nation,” says Ken Price, resident historian of 37 years.
Price hosts the hotel’s History is Hott tour, revealing the backstory of characters as intriguing as the city they nurtured, and describing the heyday of the legendary Empire Room, which showcased entertainers such as Tony Bennett, Carol Channing, and Sonny and Cher.
Sweet bonus: When Chicago hosted the 1893 World’s Fair, Bertha asked the hotel chefs to create something unique. They came up with the brownie, and their original recipe is still served at this Chicago landmark.
17 East Monroe St., Chicago palmerhousehiltonhotel.com Rates from $109
Tours: Tuesday through Saturday starting at noon, subject to availability. Reservations required 24 hours in advance. The lunch tour is US$70; tour alone is US$40.
THE BUCCANEER, ST. CROIX, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
Before Johnny Depp, there was John Martel, a real-life pirate of the Caribbean.
When Martel fled from British pirate-hunters, the story goes, he abandoned most of his ships in the bay that fronts this property, thus inspiring its name. Originally 11 rooms on a former cattle ranch, the hotel now has 138 rooms, plus a six-bedroom villa and the new Beauregard’s on the Beach restaurant. Elizabeth Armstrong, whose family owns the hotel and has been on the island since 1723, hosts weekly history tours of the property. She covers the Igneri Indians’ arrival from South America, the sugar era (an old sugar mill is the site of Tuesday night cocktail parties) and a charmed time when vacationing celebrities such as Lauren Bacall and Jason Robards would come for extended stays and, she says, “people would rake the beach and make their own drinks.”
Some tourists visit St. Croix for warmth and water, Armstrong says, “but when they find out that there is a deeper story to the island, it makes a difference, and it’s why people fall in love with it.” 5007 Estate Shoys, Christiansted, Virgin Islands thebuccaneer.com Rooms start at US$315
Tours: Every Wednesday at 10: 30 a. m. Reserved for hotel guests. Free.