Hamburg, Germany – 28 February 2017 –
It’s been 120 years since Friedrich Haerlin acquired the hotel “Zu den Vier Jahreszeiten” for 420,100 Deutsche in a compulsory auction – on his 40th birthday. Little did the Swabian hotelier know how big the gift he got himself would become. Starting off with eleven rooms, he paved the way for an unparalleled Grand Hotel with 156 rooms to date – any countless stories.
1 Ingo C. Peters & Jens Meyer-Odewald with the latest book about Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Hamburg, Germany
Author Autor Jens Meyer-Odewald tells these stories in his new book”Four Seasons Hotel – a piece of Hamburg. History and stories” on the occasion of the hotel’s 120th anniversary. Why did the Rolling Stones throw around custard at the ‘Neue Jungfernstieg’, why did Mick Jagger hang from the chandelier and why did Sophia Loren’s bathroom have to be converted into a kitchen? Why did some Sheiks order four roast lambs and 40 grilled pigeons to their Suite, and why did a prima ballerina ‘borrow’ the hotel’s silverware? These amusing anecdotes from twelve decades are the recurring theme in the book that is published by Eiland Verlag. The secret of 14,000 confidential index cards as well as the bombardment by the Red Army in 1918 are stories in the book.
On 260 pages Jens Meyer-Odewald vividly and empathically describes the development from an initially small hotel to an institution in the heart of Hamburg.
Past and present are documented with more than 200 pictures and some hidden treasures from the past are published for the very first time.
Reading between the lines (and the pictures), it becomes clear that the legend is alive. Hanseatic style, timeless elegance and state-of-the-art facilities are the foundation of an unparalleled hotel experience.
The eventful history behind the splendour of the four seasons also reflects the history of Hamburg since 1897. As the staff (from trainees to long-serving employees) have always been shaping the character of this hotel, they also have their say in the book – and they don’t just talk about business. All in all readers get a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of one of the most prestigious places in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg.
Secrets, anecdotes, stories – here’s a little taster of the book 120 years Four Seasons Hotel
- Foreclosure of the „Hotel zu den vier Jahreszeiten“ in 1897
- When The Red Army bombarded the Four Seasons from the Alsterpavillon in November 1918 – and how Director Friedrich Haerlin got the revolutionists to surrender with the help of sausages
- Where regular guest Prince Henry of Prussia is immortalized
- A gas station in the hotel
- New Year’s Eve 1938 was celebrated opulently. Here’s the original menu
- The secret of 14,000 index cards
- When the Rolling Stones were throwing custard – and Mick Jagger was hanging from the chandelier dairy cows for the Sheiks – and two special flights to Saudi Arabia
- The Duchess of Bedford demands blue iris from the French Riviera
- The silverware stealing prima ballerina
- Fraudster Bernie Cornfeld paid his hotel bills from prison
- Why Liz Taylor was refused entry
- When the suite bathroom was converted into a kitchen
- What’s behind the leaded window with the Bremen key?
- Lobster with fried egg from assistant waiter Seppl – and how Paris wondered about this „Homard Bavarois“
- American businessmen ate snails with their shell – and wondered about the German people’s taste
- Who comes first in the pedigree
- Bud Spencer orders eight courses
- When Arabs ordered four lambs, 40 grilled pigeons and 30 roast chickens to their suite – and ate everything with their hands
- The doctrines of true discretion
- A grand piano was carried up to Vladimir Horowitz‘ room
- How Theo Lingen masked his stinginess
- When Erich Kästner and Carl Zuckmayer nosed out the film „Hauptmann von Köpenick“ behind closed hotel doors
- Royal Suite and Presindent’s Suite – it doesn’t get any better
- The miracle of the wooden pineapple
- Rüffer‘s realm of the stars
- The singing head waiter
- Company cantine “Café Royal“
- Master with a license for blowfish at the Nikkei Nine
- Nightcap behind the Italian church door from the 16th century
- Having tea with Ulla Hahn and Klaus von Dohnanyi
