Rush to Experience A Self-Indulgent Waldorf Astoria Staycation Before it Closes

Park Avenue will be a little less glamorous at the end of February. The new owners of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, China's Anbang Insurance are closing the hotel then for extensive renovations that are expected to take 3 years. When the hotel eventually opens, it is expected that ¾ of the rooms will have been converted into private apartments. The next 7 weeks are the public's last chance to drink in the luxury and history of this storied hotel that has been the home away from home of celebrities and aristocrats since 1931. The President of the United States stayed at the Waldorf until recently; Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton fought in the halls, and Frank Sinatra caroused there with the Rat Pack. Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and close adviser of President Elect Donald Trump, dined at the Waldorf's Le Chine, which offers an authentic culinary journey through China and its provinces in a refined setting more befitting 3 star Michelin French restaurant, the night after his father-in-law's election.

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