Gramercy Park, Bastion of Manhattan Snobbery, Just Got a Little More Nauseating
In a city of snobs, could there be anywhere snobbier than Gramercy Park, where residents of selected buildings near the park are given keys for entry? It's unlikely, as we learn from yesterday's Times. Now that guests of Ian Schrager's Gramercy Park Hotel may enter the park, longtime residents are pissed that the hotel guests are supposedly leaving the gate open, in which case, "hordes of people may come in." Yes, a trustee of the park actually said that:
An open gate may not seem a terribly pressing issue, but keys to this kingdom are highly prized. The hotel keeps its six keys for guest use on giant silver rings, each about the diameter of a Frisbee and decorated with a showy gold tassel.
Arlene Harrison, a park trustee, says she thought that hotel guests occasionally left the gate open because it was too heavy to close, or simply because they didn't realize that according to park rules, it must be closed and locked even when visitors are inside.
And anxiety about the open gate may have less to do with the presence of guests at the hotel, where prices start at $525 a night, than of other people. "The terrible threat," Ms. Harrison said, "is that with the gate wide open, hordes of people may come in."
We can't wait for the first report of marauding hordes in Gramercy Park. Bring on the hordes!
