The Story of Tonight…

I finally got the opportunity to see Hamilton and, let me just say, it did not disappoint! I had memorized every song of the soundtrack years ago. I remember when the play was available to watch on Disney plus. I sat and watched it on repeat for hours. The play, the actors, and the songs all loomed large in my mind, but seeing the play live lived up to the hype.

After the play ended, my family and I went to the Lotte Hotel.

We sat in the magnificent Gold Room and sipped and ate until close to midnight. The Gold Room was constructed in the late 1800s by architect Stanford White and transports visitors back in time to the opulence of the Gilded Age. It was originally part of a mansion owned by railroad magnate Henry Villard. While most of the mansions on “Millionaire’s Row” that were built during the Gilded Age did not survive, the 6 residences owned by Villard were preserved and came to comprise the present-day Lotte Hotel in 1980. Only in 2019 did the Gold Room, originally intended as a music room by design, become the popular bar and restaurant it is now. The much-loved television series “Gossip Girl” brought some additional fame to the hotel and the Gold Room even has a cocktail named for the series.