Washington Sq. Hotel keeps Village spirit
BY GABE HERMAN
As the storied Washington
Square Hotel has changed with
the times over the decades —
including a name change from the Hotel
Earle— the family-owned business
continues to move forward. Right now,
that means getting ready for the upcoming
second annual Village Trip festival
celebrating Greenwich Village, of
which the hotel is a sponsor and founding
partner.
The hotel, at 103 Waverly Place,
across from the park’s northwest corner,
opened in 1902 with an eight-story
building. A second building next door
was added fi ve years later, and a ninth
fl oor was added to each in 1910. Finally,
a brownstone on the corner at Mac-
Dougal St. was razed for a three-story
annex in 1917, which is part of the hotel
to this day.
Dan and Rita Paul bought the hotel
in 1973, according to their daughter
Judy Paul, who is the C.E.O. The hotel
business goes back three generations
in the family, including operations at
Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn, plus
two other hotels in Manhattan at 132
W. 47th St. that was bought
in 1967, and at 19 W. 31st
St., acquired in 1971.
Judy Paul formerly worked
in healthcare fi nance for 10
years, but said she always
had a passion for food. She
was drawn into the family
business when the art gallery
formerly in the hotel’s
corner property, at Waverly
Place and MacDougal
St., was turned into a
restaurant in 1992.
“You learn by making
every mistake, but you
persevere and keep going,”
Paul said of the experience
at the restaurant.
Paul has lived in the Village
for 30 years. She was a member
of Community Board 2 for
14 years, serving on its Parks
and Landmarks committees.
Her father was a public member
of the board’s Parks Committee. She
said she learned a lot from her experience
on C.B. 2, and said it was great to
see how involved locals are.
“I’m glad that I did it,” she said. “I
got to know a lot of people from the
community.”
The Pauls have managed to upgrade
the hotel’s facilities, while retaining
much of its history and charm, including
its Art Deco style. In its earlier days,
the place was known for hosting all
manner of famous artists, yet also for
being somewhat of a dingy fl ophouse.
There is a gym with modern equipment,
and a lobby bar that offers smaller
meals for guests, in addition to the
lounge and restaurant. A rooftop garden
The Washington Square Hotel’s lobby includes Art Deco styles and tile work by Rita Paul.
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
Design touches by Rita Paul, including
her tile work, can be
found throughout the hotel.
was added atop the three-story corner
building seven years ago; not open
to guests, it supplies organic herbs and
vegetables for the restaurant.
Despite upgrades and some changes,
the hotel’s artistic legacy continues.
There are beautiful pieces of tile work
throughout the buildings, all done by
Judy’s mother Rita, who also did a lot
of the designs for the rooms and signs.
Rita, who was a fashion illustrator,
also did all the tile work for the lobby
when it was redone for the
hotel’s centennial.
The 100th anniversary
in 2002 also included a live
performance in the lobby
by longtime regular Bo
Diddley. Judy Paul recalled
that the legendary
musician, who died in
2008, often had breakfast
with her and her
dad. She remembered
him as a funny person
who told great stories.
He had his own regular
room in the hotel,
which he liked because
it was quiet during the
day.
The hotel hosts a jazz
brunch every Sunday in its
lounge, and a former breakfast
server there who was an
aspiring musician once submitted
a tape to the hotel.
She turned out to be Norah Jones, who
would eventually move on from the hotel
and make it big.
A seemingly endless roll call of musicians
and artists have passed through
the hotel over the years, among them,
Ernest Hemingway, the Rolling Stones,
Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, Chuck Berry
and Dee Dee Ramone, to name just a
few.
But the hotel isn’t just a remnant of
Greenwich Village’s history. It hosts
Village Nights, a monthly salon series
from musician Richard Barone that
aims to keep the Village’s ’60s spirit
alive with rollicking music shows.
“It’s nice because the history of the
hotel is so involved with music, it’s nice
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
that we’re recreating that,” Judy Paul
said of Village Nights.
And the Village Trip festival, now in
its second year, started by British former
journalist Liz Thomson, celebrates
the art of the Village and will hold some
its events at the hotel, just as it did last
year. The headliner for this year’s festival,
which will run from Sept. 26 to
Sept. 29, will be singer/songwriter
Steve Earle.
The Village Trip, Paul said, aims “to
celebrate what the Village means to all
of us, and we don’t want to lose the history
of the area.”
She added that it’s important to keep
the Village feeling going.
“It’s what we’re trying to do in the hotel,”
she said, “and Washington Square
Park has such an amazing history, so
it’s cool to be able to do a concert.”
As for the fi nancial realities of running
a local business, Paul said things
have gotten tougher in recent years,
partly due to an increase of hotel rooms
in the area and the emergence of Airbnb.
She said the hotel still rents out the
same volume of rooms, though at lower
rates.
But she said it’s still a good business
and fun for her.
“I really enjoy meeting our guests,”
Paul said. “It’s a global clientele and we
get a lot of repeat business.”
Paul said people like the family-run
feeling of the hotel.
Even as the city becomes more gentrifi
ed, New Yorkers can still be known
as being less than friendly at times. But
a common response from guests, Paul
said, is they can’t believe how friendly
everyone is at the Washington Square
Hotel.
Schneps Media TVG July 25, 2019 23