Happy 60th Birthday, Loews Regency New York Hotel

Birthdays only come once a year and deserved to be celebrated, especially when one of New York City’s most iconic hotels has a milestone birthday, like the Loews Regency New York Hotel on Park Avenue, which is celebrating its 60th birthday today.

When the hotel’s doors opened on March 1, 1963, technologically, the hotel was ahead of its time, with cutting-edge amenities including bathroom telephones, silent typewriters, combination bar- refrigerators, and stereophonic TV sets. The hotel struck an international note from the start, with a concierge and bilingual busboys. Designed by Morris Lapidus, who had also designed The Americana in Bal Harbour, the ultra-modern hotel was built on the site of Loews’ Lexington theater, the same site where Oscar Hammerstein, the grandfather of the beloved composer, had established the Lexington Opera House in 1913.

Here is a photo of 540 Park Avenue from the 1940s.

Photo Credit: NYC Department of Records

Serving as the only luxury hotel on Park Avenue north of 42nd Street, the Loews Regency New York Hotel set itself apart for many reasons, one being the infamous New York ‘Power Breakfast’ concept that was informally introduced at the Loews Regency New York Hotel.  In 1975 during the New York City financial crisis, Loews Corporation Co-Chairman and Co-CEO Bob Tisch began inviting leaders from the public and private sectors to the restaurant to discuss ways to help the city recover. The Power Breakfast forever changed how business was done, ending the era of the “three martini lunch” in favor of morning meetings that could take place before the official workday began. Over the years, the Power Breakfast has become a signature of the Loews Regency New York Hotel and it still stands as one of the most iconic dining experiences in Manhattan, offering local New Yorkers and hotel guests the perfect opportunity for people-watching and dining with some of the most powerful professionals in New York City.

On January 16, 2014, after the Loews Regency New York Hotel completed a $100 million dollar renovation, the look and feel of the hotel changed but not the staff, some who have been with the hotel for nearly 40 years. In fact, the hotel’s Managing Director, John Maibach is a proud second-generation Loews hotelier to his father, William H. Maibach who retired from Loews Hotels in 1988.

Some of the hotel's most tenured employees from left to right,  Lis Vazquez, Barbara Ramirez, Rosina Kawall, John McKay, Jose Perez, Diego Portes, Juan Alvarez, Johnny Tucker, Kathleen Nugent-Harris

Managing Director John Maibach, left, with his father, William Maibach

Now, 60 years since its original debut, the hotel still remains one of Manhattan’s most iconic hotels and continues to welcome guests like family.

Happy birthday Loews Regency New York Hotel!