Life, 1920-07-15 · page 8 of 40
Life — July 15, 1920 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a straightforward hotel advertisement from *Life* magazine, not political satire. The page promotes the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City (located opposite Pennsylvania Terminal), inviting guests to tour its kitchens. The text emphasizes the hotel's scale and efficiency: it serves 6,000-10,000 meals daily and operates the "biggest hotel kitchens in the world." A memo lists specific consumption figures (25,700 rolls, 455 loaves of French bread, 160 loaves of sandwich bread daily) to demonstrate industrial-scale operations. The bottom illustration shows tourists and travelers of various types visiting the hotel, underscoring the advertisement's appeal to "discriminating travelers." The page includes a signed byline, suggesting an editorial endorsement rather than pure advertising copy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Hotel Pennsylvania, with its 2200 rooms, 2200 baths, is - LIFE HOTEL PENNSYLVANIA Opposite Pennsylvania Germinal Now York You’re Invited Out to the Kitchen The next time you’re stopping at the Pennsylvania, I wish you’d ask to be shown through the kitchens. They’re well worth seeing. Not only because they are the biggest hotel kitchens in the world. That’s something, of course, and we’re duly proud of it. But be- cause we don’t know of any better, more efficient, more interesting and attractive workshop of the sort any- where. Cleanliness—you wouldn’t believe until you saw them how clean and bright and wholesome kitchens can be that are turning out six to ten thousand meals a day. And that higher figure is a good many thousands under their capacity. What we're talking about now is whatwe call the“main kitchens,” There are also kitchens—separate establishments, in other parts of the building—for the RoofGarden the largest Associated with it are the four Hotels Statler in Buffalo, Cleveland, Restaurants, and the Ballroomsand Banquet Rooms. The big Main Kitchens are the most interesting, because they include the Bake- shop, Ice Cream Room, Butcher Shop and other special facilities for the large-scale housekeeping we do at this largest hotel in the world. Come any time—even at the rush hours, when everything’s at its busiest. This invitation is made without reservations. A memo just came to my desk with figures on one day’s con- sumption of bread in the hotel: 25,700 rolls, 455 loaves French bread, and 160 loaves (6 pounds each) of sandwich bread. That will give you an idea of the scale on which the Kitchens work. An entire block of hotel in the world—built and oper- Detroit and St. Louis; and each of ated for discriminating travelerswho these five hotels makes reservations has just been want the best there is. for all the others. All have private Hove Statler. baths, circulating icewater and other unusual conveniences in every room. und in Buffalo