Hotel Adlon

If you were a Berliner in 1925, how would you spell Waldorf Astoria in German ? How would you spell Claridge or Hotel Ritz ? How translate Hotel Astoria, St Petersburg, or Hotel Imperial, Vienna, to Berliner dialekt ? You would just say : « Adlon » :

Whenever one hears of elegant, high standing places in Berlin, the name Adlon comes immediately to one’s mind. Hotel Adlon, on the Unter den Linden. Grand Hotel, the film with Greta Garbo, based on a best-selling novel by Vicki Baum, is staged in Hotel Adlon. It also appears in Isherwood’s stories, in books by William Shirer, Philip Kerr or Volker Kutscher. In fact, it is difficult to find a book about Berlin in the twenties where Adlon doesn’t appear, as an accomodation or merely as a prestigious name, to stress the importance of one character or another. Any phrase describing those characters or that milieu, without the word Adlon in it, would be considered incomplete…

The hotel was built in the site of an ancient palais. Behind a rather sober façade, it was Germany’s most modern, with hot and cold running water and with its own power plant to generate electricity. It boasted a huge lobby with enormous square marble columns, a restaurant, a cafe, a palm court, a ladies' lounge, a library, a music room, a dancing hall, and more. Already its location told much about its importance : in the heart of the government quarter on the Wilhelmsstrasse, next to important embassies and to Brandenburg Gate.

The Adlon opened in 1907 and it quickly became the social center of Berlin. The Kaiser kept suites always available for his guests. And the Foreign Office used the Adlon for accommodation during state visits. The concierge, instead of receiving a salary, paid the establishment for the privilege of working there and ... to pocket the tips of famous hosts such as Albert Einstein, Enrico Caruso, Josephine Baker, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo and Charlie Chaplin! Not to mention scandalous Anita Berber... The hotel was a favorite hangout of international journalists, including William L. Shirer. It remained a social center throughout the Nazi period, though the Nazis themselves preferred the Kaiserhof a few blocks south.

Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks at the Adlon in 1926

At the bar of Hotel Adlon, New Year's Eve 1928

Tea dancing at the Adlon was a recurrent event. And the hotel was even known as « Gigolo school ». This is not so bad as it sounds : Gigolos or ‘Eintänzer’ (one dance dancer) were very common in 1920s Berlin, often young handsome men in nice outfits who would attend dance halls willing to dance with whoever was willing to pay them. It was not frowned upon at all, because – after the war – there was a shortage of male dance. Many ‘Gigolos’ were also dance teachers and knew the latest dance crazes. Sometimes one thing led to another and the gigolo would accept to do more than just dancing. Go out on a date, maybe more … However, generally they were seen as no more as a dancer-for-hire.

Many of these men were veterans or students who had found it difficult to pay their bills or to afford their lifestyle in expensive Berlin. But also members of the impoverished aristocracy found themselves making a living on the dance floors of Berlin. And at über posh Hotel Adlon, they were very welcome.

 

Thomas Mann, a frequent guest

 

 

Bellboy uniform