Hotel Le Negresco located at 37 Promenade des Anglais, has a hundred year history of elegance, It is probably the best known Belle Epoque hotel in the world. That says a lot! The Negresco first opened its door on January 8th 1913 and for that event, twelve kings from around the world were in attendance. Even I don’t get that kind of treatment! I was thinking that in all likelihood, no one in attendance that day had any inkling whatsoever of the gathering storm that lay ahead into the new year and reversal of fortunes for so many let alone the horrors of a war that was to end all wars.
The hotel was designed by Henri Negrescu
, the son of an innkeeper and a gypsy violinist, who by this time already had a well-heeled clientele including such names as the Vanderbilt’s and Rockefeller’s. Everyone was quite impressed with the hotel and the private telephones in every room, electric lights that could be turned on and off at the touch of a button, mink bedspreads;text-align:start;”> on every bed, and a revolutionary heating and air conditioning system which also cleaned the air in the hotel by means of a steam turbine. No surprise that the hotel quickly grew in popularity. A year later in 1914, Negrescu (Negresco) was drafted to the front and the hotel was turned into Temporary Hospital No. 15 for wounded French soldiers. As quick as old money flowed in, it flowed out with equal or greater speed for the duration of the war and the years after. Facing financial difficulties, the hotel was seized by creditors and sold to a Belgian company. Negresco returned to Paris where he died in 1920 a ruined man.
The hotel quite clearly oozes extravagance. From its doormen dressed in the manner of the staff in 18th-century elite bourgeois households, complete with red-plumed hats to 22 suites and a fifth floor (VVI) reserved for very, very important guests and of course a private beach. One would expect nothing less especially at a nosebleed price. The current owners have filled the hotel with five centuries of French paintings and art. As a clear nod to Nice’s role in the jazz scene, there is a great portrait of Louis Armstrong which should not be missed. I have to say, one of the more impressive cozy little spaces in the hotel is the Royal Lounge, formerly a majestic ballroom, and hanging form the large glass domed ceiling is a spectacular Baccarat 16,309-crystal (I counted 16,311) chandelier that was commissioned by Czar Nicholas II. It seems that the October revolution got in the way and the Czar, tied up as he was, was unable to take delivery. I understand that the twin to this chandelier hangs in the Kremlin. I certainly can’t vouch for that as Mr. Putin has not returned my repeated (OK one) phone calls. While everyone tells me that it was in fact Gustave Eiffel who designed the glass domed ceiling, I have heard rumors to the contrary. Nothing like a little controversy and so appropriate for the hotel.
Care for a Martini? I always do. But how often do you set foot in a bar with authentic walnut woodwork from 1913 and exceptional tapestry from 1683? I suspect for must of us, not all that often but my basement has a little bit of that flavor. Negresco’s bar is a place that encourages hushed conversations so vulgarity and/or tourists are forewarned. But when evening comes the bar stirs awake to the rhythm of smooth Latin jazz. Everyone appears in their finest. Approach the bar with caution as the prices are a little steep for most people (including yours truly) with mixed drinks in the $24.00 US range. I’m told that I should have tried a Royal Negresco which is a sparkling cocktail of champagne and kirsch with a zest of orange and gold leaf thrown in for good measure. The sun was over the yard-arm by then and anyway those kinds of drinks I reserve for before noon. In the restaurant, which I did not frequent, I remember my driver wagging his finger at me and telling me: Monsieur, just one thing, remember a cup coffee will cost you $10.00. Words of wisdom to live by.
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Over time, the hotel guest lists has read like a veritable “Who’s Who” in art, movies and politics and power. Names such as Dali, Matisse and Picasso; movie tycoons the likes of French star Alain Delon, Cary Grant, Lauren Bacall, Frank Sinatra, and of course you have to include The Beatles in that heady mix. That’s just for starters. Ernest Hemingway dropped in to check out the bar and heads of state like Jacques Chirac and Winston Churchill took time off from their busy duties to relax in the sun.
It was outside the Negresco when Isadora Duncan, the famous American dancer, met her fate. Apparently, her silk scarf that was draped around her neck, became entangled around the open-spoked wheels and rear axle of her Bugatti, thus breaking her neck. The lesson there is obvious: Be careful with your political sympathies (in this case cozying up to the Soviets) or ditch the long scarf. I am certainly not implying anything. The hotel has also been prominent in a few movies we all know such as “It Takes a Thief” with Cary Grant and his beautiful co-star Grace Kelly who later returned to the hotel but this time as Princess of Monaco. Also the hotel has had many brief cameos in movies like “The Day of the Jackal” and Woody Alen’s most recent movie “Magic in the Moonlight.”
For a hundred years now, this Grande Dame has been overlooking the Promenade des Anglais and the French Riviera’s most beautiful bay – la Baie des Anges. She still stands to this day, proud as ever.One cannot go to Nice without paying their respects to the Negresco. She deserves nothing less.