Michael DeAloia's "Lost Grand Hotels of Cleveland" (The History Press, $19.99)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland is in the midst of a hotel renaissance. From the chic Aloft to the swanky Metropolitan at the 9 to the sleek Hotel Indigo, the urban Westin and the upcoming Kimpton and Drury Plaza hotels, the city is flourishing with places to spend the night, have a bite or visit a club.

But a hotel boom is nothing new for Cleveland. In fact, the current crop of hotels pales in comparison to the myriad grand hotels that once stood proudly in Cleveland, when it was the sixth-largest city in the country, a metropolis of more than 1 million people.

The names of these grand hotels linger in our collective memory: the Hotel Hollenden, Hotel Cleveland, Hotel Statler, the Lake Shore Hotel, the Allerton, the Hotel Winton and of course the Alcazar, still standing but set to be converted into high-end apartments. They evoke images of another more glamorous, prosperous, urban era. And a wilder one, too.

"A lot of people tend to forget how raucous and wild this city used to be, when there were one million people living here and even more visitors," says Cleveland author and historian Michael DeAloia. His fascinating new book, "Lost Grand Hotels of Cleveland" (The History Press, $19.99) looks back at this gone but not forgotten era of local history, focusing on the monumental structures built between 1880 and 1930.

"These hotels were not only places for people to stay, but also centers of entertainment and politics and high society."

Luminaries such as Teddy Roosevelt dined in the Hotel Hollenden's luxurious Crystal Ballroom. Bob Hope and Jack Benny joked and stayed at the famed Alcazar, whose biggest claim to fame may be that Cole Porter wrote his iconic "Night and Day" within its Moorish walls.

Dino Crocetti, who rose to the highest echelons of fame under the name Dean Martin launched his career at a Cleveland hotel, performing at the Hotel Hollenden's Vogue Room in the 1940s. The Hollenden was also the site of the 1922 signing of the NFL charter, on June 24 and 25.

But more than the celebrities who performed and the luminaries who slept over, these hotels were the true stars of the local scene, the grand dames who lured locals and international to their gilded walls. Hotels such as:

-- The Moorish styled Alacazar Hotel at Surrey and Derbyshire roads in Cleveland Heights, was dedicated on October 1, 1923. The five-story, 195-room structure is celebrated for its Spanish-style courtyard and tiles, and patio dining room that drew celebrities, mobsters and locals alike. "The hotel was opulence personified and hidden directly off a major avenue. It was brilliant in design, location and construction," writes DeAloia.

-- The Allerton Hotel, part of a chain that also included Chicago's famed Allerton, opened in 1926 on the southwest corner of Chester Avenue and East 13th Street. Today low-income housing, at the time the Allerton was a mixed-use hotel-residence - much like today's Metropolitan. It featured a swimming pool, squash courts parlor, rooftop patio, billiard room and 150-seat coffee shop at the time of its 1926 opening. It closed in 1971.

"It was supposed to be a stag hotel for men, with a big club and pool and dining room by the pool," says DeAloia. "It had all these unique features of a private club embedded into a hotel."

-- Hotel Hollenden, opened in 1885 as "a new hotel on the European plan," may have been Cleveland's most glamorous hotel - ever. Updated in 1926 and demolished in 1962 to make way for the Hollenden House, the first major hotel east of Public Square was located at Superior Avenue and East 6th Street. In addition to the many celebrities and five presidents who visited, the 1,000-room hotel, one of the first to feature electricity, was known for its ornate lobby, stone portico - Cleveland's first outdoor dining room - and luxurious restaurants and bars.

It was built by real estate developer and Plain Dealer owner Liberty E. Holden, who used an Anglicized form of his name for the property.

"The Hollenden did not witness history in Cleveland. The hotel was an active participant in making history for this great city," writes DeAloia.

The Hotel Hollenden was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the more "modern," brutalist style 14-story, 350-room Hollenden House. It opened in 1965 and "was hailed as new urban development model," writes DeAloia. It was also celebrated as the first downtown hotel to offer Showtime for free.

-- Hotel Statler opened at the northwest corner of Euclid Avenue and East 12th Street on Oct. 19, 1912. "The Statler reeked of sophistication," says DeAloia. The 700-room hotel had its own radio antenna for broadcasting, a grand ballroom, a chic Terrace Room lounge and a coffee shop and restaurant. It is now a 295-unit downtown residential building. Back in the day, it was also a known mob hangout, with a popular rumor stating the first American meeting of La Cosa Nostra was within in its luxurious walls.

-- The elegant art deco Lake Shore Hotel at 12506 Edgewater Drive, Lakewood, opened in 1929 and is still standing. It was a 450-room residential hotel at its opening, said at the time to be the "finest residential hotel between New York and Chicago." "No other building along the Gold Coast can compare to the beauty of the fine Lake Shore Hotel," says DeAloia. The lakefront property included a swanky pool, cabana and patio.

--The Hotel Winton at 1012 Prospect Ave. was best known for two things: First, its world-famous Rainbow Room where Cleveland's 1920s glitterati gathered, Artie Shaw played and sometimes the room was even turned into an ice rink. Second, its chef, the equally world-famous Hector Boiardi, whose spaghetti dinners were a local sensation. The Winton had 600 rooms, 200 of which cost $1.50 a day in the '20s.

-- The Hotel Cleveland, today the Renaissance Hotel at Public Square, is a rare example of a grand hotel still standing, as a hotel. Visitors to the grand lobby can get a sense of what it was like when the Hotel Cleveland opened in 1918, built for $4.5 million. Graham, Burnham & Company designed the 14-story hotel, which included the Grand Lobby, billiard rooms, the intimate Bronze Room and the private Rose Room. "The hotel earned the 'grand dame' moniker," writes DeAloia. "It was a sumptuous place that spoke to its guests and offered the allure of something special and different."

"And this is just a handful of the hotels," says DeAloia. "I chose to focus on the ones that had the most accessible stories. There were so many more."

While celebrating the rich past, DeAloia is cautiously optimistic about the future of Cleveland's hotels.

"Cleveland is not nearly as big now as it was back then with a million people," he says. "It's a great thing they're coming back, but I hope people are cognizant that every weekend can't be the RNC."

Or the time Cole Porter wrote "Night and Day" at the Alcazar. Or the week the NFL was chartered. Or a night Dean Martin performed at the Hotel Hollenden, or Chef Boiardi made dinner at the Winton. But those sure are fun nights to remember.

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