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Lore & Background

The Drake Hotel served as a preferred accommodation for touring rock bands throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In July 1973, Led Zeppelin stayed at the hotel, only to have $203,000 in cash stolen from a safe deposit box; the money was never recovered, and the thief remains unidentified. The band later sued the Drake Hotel for the theft. Other British rock bands like Slade and Sweet also made the hotel their home away from home during gruelling US tours that decade. Beyond music, the hotel hosted a permanent suite reserved by publishers Bob Guccione and Kathy Keeton prior to 1977. In its final years, restaurateur Toots Shor lived there, while silent film star Lillian Gish called it home from 1946 to 1949.

In Their Own Story

On November 5, 1945, songwriter Jerome Kern collapsed on the sidewalk in front of the Drake. Inside, the atmosphere was equally electric. The Drake Room, opened in 1945 and presided over by Beniamino Schiavon until 1968, featured Cy Walter playing piano from its opening to 1951 and again from 1959 until his death. Upstairs, the nightclub Shepheard's operated as New York's first discotheque in the mid-1960s. Celebrities like Lee Radziwill and Julie Newmar danced there seven days a week until 3 a.m., despite the tiny dance floor. The club even distributed cards titled 'How to Do the Newest Discotheque Dances at Shepheard's in New York's Drake Hotel,' teaching guests the Jerk, Watusi, Frug, and the Monkey.

Reader's Guide

Visitors to the Drake Hotel during its Swissotel era (early 1980s) experienced a $52 million room-by-room renovation completed in 1991. The hotel gained national exposure when the talk show Donahue used it to accommodate guests, featuring mentions on every episode. In 2006, the property sold for $440 million (equivalent to $660 million in 2024) to developer Harry Macklowe. Demolition began in 2007, clearing the site for a 1,398-foot residential skyscraper designed by Rafael Viñoly. Construction on 432 Park Avenue started in mid-2012, and the tower topped out in October 2014. At completion, it held the title of the tallest building in New York City by roof height and the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere.

Did You Know?

• Led Zeppelin had $203,000 stolen from a safe deposit box at the hotel in July 1973, which was never recovered.
• The nightclub Shepheard's distributed printed cards with step-by-step instructions for dancing the Jerk, Watusi, Frug, and the Monkey.
• Songwriter Jerome Kern collapsed on the sidewalk directly in front of the Drake Hotel on November 5, 1945.
• Publishers Bob Guccione and Kathy Keeton maintained a permanently reserved suite at the hotel as their New York residence until circa 1977.