title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 3)

text: Critics discussed the season's parallels with the real world, something that Lovett said was done by all the best "Star Trek" series. He compared the lack of dilithium to the dwindling supply of fossil fuels in the modern world. Collura said it was a "thinly veiled analog for our own state of being", while Salyer said the season was a "striking reflection of our common social isolation over the past year". Burt said "Star Trek" gives hope that real-world problems can be solved and this was especially welcome during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 United States presidential election. Maloney agreed, stating, "Not to be dramatic, but the world really needs "Star Trek" to be great right now." Thielman said the season was the most thoughtful of the series so far, and Melanie McFarland from "Salon" felt it showed how to carry on from adversity, which was appropriate following the 2016 United States presidential election. Collura said the secret behind the Burn being the grief of a child was a great concept, as did Edwards who thought it was a "classic "Trek" twist". Authors and commentators Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo Marquez felt the series understood what "Star Trek" was about more than some of its detractors gave it credit for, but criticized its continued focus on emotional characters over science, diplomacy, and problem-solving. Handlen also criticized the series' reliance on emotional moments and felt the season was "pretty much the same show we left behind in season two, for better and worse". Several critics felt the season's conflicts were given too-easy solutions. Both Pat Brown at "Slant Magazine" and Cox criticized it as taking the "safe" options, and Brown said it would be more in the spirit of "Star Trek" to move on from the Federation than try to restore it. Baker-Whitelaw was critical of the "one-note political issues" and their representation as a "tiresome season-wide arc about saving the galaxy", while Collura questioned what the season actually revealed about the loss of hope and stated: "Right now things seem worse than ever in the real world, while all "Discovery" problems were solved in 13 episodes flat". Nelson said the writers had introduced complex storylines and ideas and then wrapped them up with "feel-good simplicity", undermining the exploration of key ideas such as resource scarcity, colonialism, trauma, the burdens of leadership, and gender identity. In contrast, Whitbrook said the theme of hope was a "bright, consistent core" throughout the season, something that the first two seasons were missing in his opinion, and he praised how the characters were rewarded at the end of the season for having hope. He said this proved that modern incarnations of "Star Trek" could still have the "simple, optimistic core" of early franchise iterations. Baugher also felt the season affirmed its central messages by the end.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 3)

text: The season is one of 117 television series that received the ReFrame Stamp for the years 2020 to 2021. The stamp is awarded by the gender equity coalition ReFrame as a "mark of distinction" for film and television projects that are proven to have gender-balanced hiring, with stamps being awarded to projects that hire female-identifying people, especially women of color, in four out of eight critical areas of their production.


title: Centre-right politics

text: Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and mercantilism, towards capitalism. This general economic shift toward capitalism affected centre-right movements, such as the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom, which responded by becoming supportive of capitalism.


title: Centre-right politics

text: The International Democrat Union is an alliance of centre-right (as well as some further right-wing) political parties – including the UK Conservative Party, the Conservative Party of Canada, the Republican Party of the United States, the Liberal Party of Australia, the New Zealand National Party and Christian democratic parties – which declares commitment to human rights as well as economic development.


title: Centre-right politics

text: Ideologies characterised as centre-right include liberal conservatism and some variants of liberalism and Christian democracy, among others. The economic aspects of the modern centre-right have been influenced by economic liberalism, generally supporting free markets, limited government spending and other policies heavily associated with neoliberalism. The moderate right is neither universally socially conservative nor culturally liberal, and often combines both beliefs with support for civil liberties and elements of traditionalism.


title: Centre-right politics

text: Historical examples of centre-right schools of thought include One Nation Conservatism in the United Kingdom, Red Tories in Canada, and Rockefeller Republicans in the United States. New Democrats in the United States also embraced several aspects of centre-right policy, including balanced budgets, free trade, and welfare reform. These ideological factions contrast with far right policies and right-wing populism. They also tend to be more supportive of cultural liberalism and green conservatism than right-wing variants.


title: Centre-right politics

text: According to a 2019 study, centre-right parties had approximately 27% of the vote share in 21 Western democracies in 2018. This was a decline from 37% in 1960.


title: Centre-right politics

text: The prominent inspiration for the centre-right (especially in Britain) was the traditionalist conservatism of Edmund Burke. Burke's traditionalist conservatism was more moderate than the continental conservatism developed by Joseph de Maistre in France, that upon experiencing the French Revolution completely denounced the status quo that existed immediately prior to the revolution (unlike Burke) and de Maistre sought a reactionary counter-revolution that would dismantle all modern society and return it to a strictly religious-based society. While Burke condemned the French Revolution, he had supported the American Revolution that he viewed as being a conservative revolution. Burke claimed that the Americans revolted for the same reason as the English had during the Glorious Revolution, in both cases a monarch had overstepped the boundaries of his duties. Burke claimed that the American Revolution was justified because King George III had overstepped his customary rights by imposing taxes on the American colonists without their consent. Burke opposed the French Revolution because he opposed its anti-traditionalism and its use of abstract ideas, such as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and its universal egalitarianism that Burke rebuked by claiming that it effectively endorsed "hairdressers" being able to be politicians.


title: Centre-right politics

text: In Britain, the traditionalist conservative movement was represented in the British Conservative Party. Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Benjamin Disraeli sought to address social problems affecting the working class due to lack of assistance from the laissez-faire economy and formed his one nation conservatism that claimed that lack of assistance for the lower classes had divided British society into two nations – the rich and the poor as the result of unrestrained private enterprise, he claimed that he sought to break down. Disraeli said that he supported a united British nation while presenting the other parties representing the upper-class or the lower-class. Disraeli was hostile to free trade and preferred aristocratic paternalism as well as promoting imperialism. However, with the revival in Britain of the socialist movement with the rise of the Labour Party and the demise of the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party shifted to become a supporter of capitalism and an opponent of socialism, while advocacy of capitalism was promoted within the principles of traditionalist conservatism.


title: Centre-right politics

text: Another centre-right movement that arose in France in response to the French Revolution was the beginning of the Christian democracy movement, where moderate conservative Catholics accepted the democratic elements of the French Revolution. The first Christian democratic party was founded in Italy in 1919 by Luigi Sturzo, but it was suppressed by the Italian Fascist regime and was forced into exile in France. In France, Sturzo founded an international movement that supported the creation of a European common market and European integration to prevent war, amongst those who attended the group included future German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, Alcide de Gasperi and Robert Schuman.


title: Centre-right politics

text: In Europe after World War II, centre-right Christian democratic parties arose as powerful political movements while the Catholic traditionalist movements in Europe diminished in strength. Christian democratic movements became major movements in Austria, the Benelux countries, Germany and Italy.


title: Centre-right politics

text: Neoliberalism arose as an economic theory by Milton Friedman that condemned government interventionism in the economy that it associated with socialism and collectivism. Neoliberals rejected Keynesian economics that they claimed advocate too much emphasis on relieving unemployment in response to their observance of the Great Depression, identifying the real problem as being with inflation and advocate the policy of monetarism to deal with inflation.


title: Centre-right politics

text: Neoliberal economics was endorsed by Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who adapted it as part of a free-market conservatism closer to the developments in American conservatism, while traditionalist conservatism became less influential within the British Conservative Party. However, the British Conservative Party still has a large traditional conservative base, particularly the conservative Cornerstone Group. Thatcher publicly supported centre-right politics and supported its spread in Eastern Europe after the end of the Marxist-Leninist regimes in the late 1980s and early 1990s. After the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, a variety of centre-right political parties have emerged there, including many that support neoliberalism.


title: Centre-right politics

text: In the United States, President Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) adopted many policies stemming from Milton Friedman's economic theories, including principles from the Chicago school of economics and monetarism. While social conservatives and the rise of the Christian Right contributed greatly to forming the Reagan Coalition, the President also had the support of centre-right economic neoliberals. Using Friedman's neoliberal theories, the Reagan administration cut the marginal income tax from 70% to 28% and slowed government spending growth from 10% in 1982 to 1% in 1987, thereby reducing inflation from 13.5% to 4.1% and civilian unemployment from 7.6% to 5.5% of the workforce throughout his tenure.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, and is between 58th Street and Central Park South ( 59th Street), at the southeastern corner of Central Park. Its primary address is 768 Fifth Avenue, though the residential entrance is One Central Park South.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The 21-story, French Renaissance-inspired château style building was designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh. The facade is made of marble at the base, with white brick covering the upper stories, and is topped by a mansard roof. The ground floor contains the two primary lobbies, as well as a corridor connecting the large ground-floor restaurant spaces, including the Oak Room, the Oak Bar, the Edwardian Room, the Palm Court, and the Terrace Room. The upper stories contain the ballroom and a variety of residential condominiums, condo-hotel suites, and short-term hotel suites. At its peak, the Plaza Hotel had over 800 rooms. Following a renovation in 2008, the building has 282 hotel rooms and 181 condos.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: A predecessor hotel of the same name was built from 1883 to 1890. The original hotel was replaced by the current structure from 1905 to 1907; Warren and Wetmore designed an expansion to the Plaza Hotel that was added from 1919 to 1921, and several major renovations were conducted through the rest of the 20th century. The Plaza Operating Company, which erected the current building, operated the hotel until 1943. Subsequently, it was sold to several owners during the remainder of the 20th century, including Conrad Hilton, A.M. Sonnabend, Westin Hotels & Resorts, Donald Trump, and a partnership of City Developments Limited and Al-Waleed bin Talal. The Plaza Hotel was renovated again after El Ad Properties purchased it in 2005, and the hotel was subsequently sold to Sahara India Pariwar in 2012 and then to Katara Hospitality in 2018. The hotel has been managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts since 2005.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Since its inception, the Plaza Hotel has become an icon of New York City, with numerous wealthy and famous guests. The restaurant spaces and ballrooms have hosted events such as balls, benefits, weddings, and press conferences. The hotel's design, as well as its location near Central Park, has generally received acclaim. In addition, the Plaza Hotel has appeared in numerous books and films. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the hotel's exterior and some of its interior spaces as city landmarks, and the building is also a National Historic Landmark. The hotel is also a member of Historic Hotels of America.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Plaza Hotel is at 768 Fifth Avenue and One Central Park South in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It faces Central Park South (59th Street) and the Pond and Hallett Nature Sanctuary in Central Park to the north; Grand Army Plaza to the east; and 58th Street to the south. Fifth Avenue itself is across Grand Army Plaza from the hotel. The hotel's site covers . It measures along 58th Street and along Central Park South, with a depth of between the two streets. As completed in 1907, it measured along 58th Street and along Central Park South, with an "L" running the entire 200-foot depth of the lot along Grand Army Plaza.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The hotel is near the General Motors Building to the east; the Park Lane Hotel to the west; and the Solow Building, Paris Theater (Manhattan), and Bergdorf Goodman Building to the south. The hotel's main entrance faces the "Pulitzer Fountain" in the southern portion of Grand Army Plaza. An entrance to the Fifth Avenue–59th Street station of the New York City Subway's is within the base of the hotel at Central Park South.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Fifth Avenue between 42nd Street and Central Park South was relatively undeveloped throughout the late 19th century, when brownstone rowhouses were built on the avenue. By the early 1900s, that section of Fifth Avenue was becoming commercialized. The first decade of the 20th century saw the construction of hotels, stores, and clubs such as the St. Regis New York, the University Club of New York, and the Gotham Hotel. The corner of Fifth Avenue, Central Park South, and 59th Street was developed with the Plaza, Savoy, and New Netherland hotels during the 1890s; the Savoy would be replaced in 1927 by the Savoy-Plaza Hotel, which itself would be demolished in 1964. All three hotels contributed to Fifth Avenue's importance as an upscale area.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Plaza Hotel, a French Renaissance-inspired château-style building, contains 21 stories and is tall. The hotel's floors are numbered according to European usage, where floor 1, corresponding to the second story, is directly above the ground floor. The building was designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh in 1907, with a later addition, by Warren and Wetmore, being built from 1919 to 1922. The interiors of the main public spaces were primarily designed by Hardenbergh, Warren and Wetmore, and Schultze & Weaver. The other interior spaces were by Annabelle Selldorf and date largely to a renovation in 2008. Numerous contractors were involved in the construction of the hotel, including the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company and brick contractor Pfotenhauer & Nesbit.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The detail of the facade is concentrated on its two primary elevations, which face north toward Central Park and east toward Fifth Avenue. The facade's articulation consists of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and crown. The northern and eastern elevations are also split vertically into three portions, with the center portion being recessed. The northeastern and southeastern corners of the hotel contain rounded corners, which resemble turrets. There are numerous loggias, balustrades, columns, pilasters, balconies, and arches repeated across various parts of the facade. The 1921 annex contains a design that is largely similar to Hardenbergh's 1907 design.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The first and second stories of the facade, respectively corresponding to the ground floor and floor 1 of the interior, are clad with rusticated blocks of marble. The third story, corresponding to floor 2 of the interior, contains a smooth marble surface. The hotel had two guest entrances in the 1907 design: the main entrance on Central Park South and a private entrance for long-term residents on 58th Street. The main entrance, in the center of the Central Park South facade, contains a porch above the three center bays, and large doorways. Since the hotel's 2008 renovation, the Central Park South entrance has served as the entrance to the building's condominiums.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Grand Army Plaza side originally contained a terrace called the Champagne Porch. There were three minor entrances, including one to the porch. The Champagne Porch was replaced by a large central entry in 1921. The entrance there consists of six Tuscan-style columns, supporting a balcony on the second story, immediately above ground level. The second and third stories at the center of the Grand Army Plaza facade contains paired Corinthian-style pilasters supporting an entablature.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The fourth through fifteenth stories, respectively corresponding to interior floors 3 through 14, are clad with white brick and typically contain rectangular windows. These stories contain terracotta veneers that harmonize with the marble facade below it and the mansard roof above. At the center of the Central Park South facade, the five center bays at the twelfth and thirteenth stories (floors 11 and 12) contain an arcade composed of arches with paired pilasters. On the Grand Army Plaza side, there are horizontal band courses above the thirteenth story. The 58th Street facade is a scaled-down version of the two primary elevations on Central Park South and Grand Army Plaza. A marble balcony runs above the thirteenth story on all sides.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The top floors are within a green-tile mansard roof with copper trim. The Grand Army Plaza side contains a gable, while the 58th Street and Central Park South sides have dormer windows on the sixteenth through nineteenth stories, corresponding to interior floors 15 through 18. The turrets on the northeastern and southeastern corners are topped by domed roofs. The twentieth story (floor 19) is the top story of the mansard roof; above it is a twenty-first-story penthouse, labeled as floor 20.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The hotel originally contained three sets of pneumatic tube mail systems: one for guest mail, another for guests to order food from the kitchen, and a third for the hotel's various operating departments. The hotel also originally had 10 passenger elevators, 13 dumbwaiters, and three sidewalk elevators. These elevators included four at the Central Park South lobby, three at the 58th Street lobby, and two near Central Park South, for long-term residents. The hotel's water storage tanks had a capacity of , and the hotel could filter of water from the New York City water supply system each day.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The mechanical plant in the subbasement originally contained nine boilers; a coal plant with a capacity of ; fourteen ventilating fans; and an electric generating plant with a capacity of . Also in the subbasement was a refrigerating plant that could make of ice every 24 hours, as well as a switchboard made of Tennessee marble, which controlled the hotel's power and lighting.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The hotel has a steel frame superstructure with hollow tile floors, as well as wired-glass enclosures around all stairways and elevators. Originally, five marble staircases led from the ground floor to all of the other floors. As constructed, the stories above the ground floor surrounded a large courtyard, which was covered over with office space in a 1940s renovation. Hardenbergh, in designing the Central Park South foyer, had believed the lobby to be the most important space in the hotel, as did Warren and Wetmore when they designed the Fifth Avenue lobby. Furthermore, Warren and Wetmore had thought restaurants to be the second most significant space in a hotel, in designing the Terrace Room.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: There were originally laundry rooms in the basement and on floor 18. When the hotel opened in 1907, the basement also contained a grill room, kitchen, various refrigeration rooms, and amenities such as a Turkish bath and a barber shop. Originally concealed within the mansard roof were the housekeepers' quarters and maids' dormitories; the eighteenth floor had carpentry, ironing, and tailors' departments. The spaces on floor 18 had become offices by the late 20th century.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: In Hardenbergh's original design, a main corridor connects the primary spaces on the ground floor. The corridor, which still exists, connects the lobbies on 58th Street, Grand Army Plaza, and Central Park South. The layout of the ground-floor hallways dates largely from the 1921 expansion by Warren and Wetmore. The corridor wraps around the south, east, and north sides of the Palm Court, which is in the center of the ground floor. Various smaller corridors lead off the main corridor. All of the halls have floors decorated with mosaics, coffered ceilings made of plaster, and marble columns and pilasters with bronze capitals.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Central Park South entrance foyer served as the original main lobby, and is in the shape of a "U", with an overhanging mezzanine. It contains veined Italian-marble finishes, gold-colored trimmings, a mosaic floor, a plaster coffered ceiling, and columns similar to those in the main corridor. There is a bank of four elevators, with decorative bronze doors, directly in front of the entrance. A crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling. The entrance doorways contain bronze frames with lunettes. The original design had the branch offices of major brokerage houses adjoining the foyer, including in the modern-day Oak Bar.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: During Warren and Wetmore's expansion, the Grand Army Plaza lobby, also called the Fifth Avenue lobby, was created as the hotel's new main lobby, which occupied the former Plaza Restaurant's space. The lobby contains a "U"-shaped mezzanine running above the northern, eastern, and southern walls, with three entrance vestibules below the eastern section of the mezzanine. The Fifth Avenue lobby was decorated with bas-reliefs; and it preserved some of the original decorations from the Plaza Restaurant, including paneled pilasters and a beamed ceiling. Other features, including the mosaic floor and a crystal chandelier, were added by Warren and Wetmore.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The 58th Street entrance has three elevators and adjoins what was formerly a women's reception room. West of this lobby is a staircase leading up to a mezzanine-level corridor, which has marble floors and ashlar walls and abuts the Terrace Room's balcony to the north and a foyer to the south. The mezzanine-level foyer has marble floors, a painted coffered ceiling supported by two square columns, and a bank of two elevators to the ballroom on floor 1. A marble staircase, with a marble and wooden balustrade, leads from the mezzanine foyer to the ballroom level.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The layout of the upper floors was based on the layout of the ground-floor hallways, because all the stairways and elevators were placed in the same position on upper floors. On floor 2 and all subsequent stories, a centrally located C-shaped corridor runs around the north, east, and south sides of the building and connects every room.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Oak Room, on the western part of the ground floor, was built in 1907 as the bar room. It is west of the Central Park South foyer, separated from the foyer by a corridor. Compared to other spaces in the hotel, it retains more details from the original design. The Oak Room was designed in a German Renaissance style, originally by L. Alavoine and Company. It features oak walls and floors, a coved ceiling, frescoes of Bavarian castles, faux wine casks carved into the woodwork, and a grape-laden brass chandelier. The eastern wall contains a gridded glass double door leading to the main hallway, while the northern wall contains two openings to the Oak Bar.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Oak Bar is just north of the Oak Room, at the northwest corner of the ground floor. It is designed in Tudor Revival style with a plaster ceiling, strapwork, and floral and foliage motifs. The bar room contains walnut woodwork with French furnishings. It also has three murals by Everett Shinn, which were added in a 1945 renovation and show the neighborhood as it would have appeared in 1907. Prior to the renovation, the Oak Bar served as a brokerage office.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Edwardian Room, previously known as the Men's Grill or Fifth Avenue Cafe, is at the northeast corner of the ground floor and measures . It was originally designed by William Baumgarten & Company and McNulty Brothers, but it has been redecorated multiple times. It contains dark Flemish-oak paneling, high, with finishes and doorway surrounds made of Caen stone. The floor is inlaid with mosaic tiles. The beamed ceiling is inlaid with mirrors, giving the impression of highly decorated trusses. The room is lit by large windows and eight large bronze chandeliers. The room's original color scheme was a relatively toned-down palette of green, dark brown, and gray hues. When first built, there was a musicians' balcony overlooking the room. The room also had an entrance at Grand Army Plaza, which was closed with the creation of the Fifth Avenue lobby. The space housed the Green Tulip and Plaza Suite restaurants in the late 20th century; by the 2000s, it was known as One CPS.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Palm Court, previously known as the tea room, is in the center of the ground floor. It contains a design inspired by the Palm Court at the Carlton Hotel in London. It has walls made of Caen stone. As in the main corridor, the Palm Court contains mosaic floors, as well as marble pilasters and columns, topped by bronze capitals. The Palm Court initially had a stained glass ceiling, which was removed in a 1940s renovation; it was restored in the mid-2000s. There were also mirrors on the western wall, against which are four caryatids carved by Pottier & Stymus, which frame the wall mirrors and represent the seasons. The Palm Court was renovated in 2014; its modern design includes four palm trees as well as a central marble-and-brass bar. East of the Palm Court, separated from it by the main corridor, were once the Plaza Restaurant and the Champagne Porch. The Palm Court and Plaza Restaurant, which shared nearly identical designs, originally formed a "vast dining hall". Removable glass panes along the main corridor abutted both spaces.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Terrace Room, west of the Palm Court, is part of Warren and Wetmore's 1921 design. The room was so named because it contains three terraces that increase in height from east to west and divide the room into three sections, which are separated by balustrades and connected by small staircases. The space contains Renaissance-style motifs on the pilasters, ceilings, and wall arches, as well as three chandeliers and rusticated-marble walls. John B. Smeraldi was commissioned to paint the Terrace Room's ornamentation. The room is surrounded by a balcony, with a painted coffer ceiling possibly commissioned by Smeraldi, as well as marble pilasters and floors. A balcony runs slightly above the room on its southern wall. Immediately south of the balcony is the Terrace Room's corridor and foyer.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The southeastern corner of the ground floor originally contained the 58th Street Restaurant, which was exclusively for the hotel's long-term residents. In 1934, it was replaced by a nightclub called the Persian Room, which had red and Persian-blue upholstery by Joseph Urban, five wall murals by Lillian Gaertner Palmedo, and a bar. The room operated until 1978.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The original double-height ballroom from Hardenbergh's plan was on the north side of the second story, or floor 1 according to the Plaza Hotel's floor numbering system. The old ballroom, with a capacity of 500 to 600 people, was served by its own elevator and staircase, and contained a movable stage. The old ballroom was overlooked on three sides by balconies, and contained a white-and-cream color scheme similar to the current ballroom. It was served by its own entrance on 58th Street. By the 1970s, the old ballroom was replaced by offices.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The current ballroom on floor 1 is at the center of that story. It was initially designed by Warren and Wetmore, and had a capacity of 800 people for dinners and 1,000 people for dances. The room contained a coved ceiling designed by Smeraldi, with crosses, hexagons, and octagons, as well as six chandeliers. The ballroom had a stage on its western wall, within a rectangular opening. A balcony ran across the three other walls and was supported by pilasters with bronze capitals.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: In 1929, Warren and Wetmore's ballroom was reconstructed according to a neoclassical design by Schultze & Weaver. The room has a white-and-cream color scheme with gold ornamentation, evocative of the original ballroom's design. The stage remains on the western wall, but is within a rounded opening. The redesign added audience boxes, with decorative metal railings, on the north and east walls. The ballroom contains a coved ceiling with roundels, lunettes, bas reliefs, and two chandeliers. South of the ballroom proper is a corridor running west to east. The corridor has a decorative barrel-vaulted paneled ceiling and had a balcony that was removed during the 1929 redesign. On the southernmost section of floor 1 is the ballroom foyer and the stair hall, two formerly separate rooms that were combined in 1965 to form a neoclassical marble-clad space. The stair hall contains the stairs leading from the mezzanine foyer.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Plaza Hotel's condominiums and suites start on the third story, labeled as floor 2. As originally built, they contained three primary types of suites: those with one bedroom and one bathroom; those with two bedrooms and two bathrooms; and those with a parlor and varying numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms. The walls were originally painted in rose, yellow, cream, and gray hues. For decorative effect, the rooms contained wooden wainscoting and furniture, while the plaster ceilings supported crystal chandeliers. A guest or resident could request multiple suites, since there were smaller private hallways adjacent to the main hallway on each floor. There were also staff rooms at the corners of the main corridor on each floor. Dumbwaiters led from the staff rooms to the basement kitchen, allowing guests to order meals and eat them in-suite.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Following its 2008 renovation, the building contains 181 privately owned condominiums, which are marketed as the Plaza Residences or One Central Park South. The condominiums are on the north and east sides of the building and have a variety of layouts, from studio apartments to three-story penthouse units. The condos' interiors include parquet floors and stone counters, and largely reflect the original design of these rooms. There are also 282 hotel units on the southern side of the building. Of these, 152 condo-hotel units occupy the eleventh through twenty-first stories, respectively labeled as floors 10 through 20. The condo-hotel units serve as residences for investors or staff for up to four months a year, and are used as short-term hotel units for the remaining time. In addition, there are 130 rooms exclusively for short-term stays on the fourth through tenth stories, respectively labeled as floors 3 through 9. The hotel portion of the building retains a butler on each floor, reminiscent of the hotel's original ambience.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Hardenbergh's design included the State Apartment on the northern side of floor 1. This apartment was one of the most lavish suites in the entire hotel; it had a drawing room, antechambers, dining rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms, and food storage. Also on floor 1 were private banquet, reception, and card rooms. The apartment was turned into a private dining area and restored in 1974. Similarly ornate suites were located along the Central Park South side on eleven of the upper floors. The twenty-first story (labeled as floor 20) was created as part of the 2008 renovation, and is part of a four-bedroom penthouse, the largest condominium in the building.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: In the early- and mid-20th century, several designers, such as Elsie de Wolfe and Cecil Beaton, were hired to design special suites for the hotel, which has also offered suites or experiences that are themed to notable books or films set there. During 2013, a suite on the 18th floor of the hotel was furnished with various decorations from the movie "The Great Gatsby". The furnished room was based on the novel of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which had several scenes set at the hotel (see ). During 2017 and 2018, the Plaza Hotel sold vacation packages with memorabilia, photo opportunities, an in-suite ice cream sundae, and visits to New York City tourist attractions based on the film "", which is partially set in the hotel. Another room in the hotel was redecorated in 2022 to promote the TV series "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel".


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The land lots making up the site of the present-day Plaza Hotel were first parceled and sold by the government of New York City in 1853, and acquired by John Anderson from 1870 to 1881. Prior to the Plaza Hotel's development, the site was occupied either by the New York Skating Club, or was vacant. When John Anderson died in 1881, his will stipulated that his land would pass to his son, John Charles Anderson. The first development on the site was proposed in 1882, when Ernest Flagg was enlisted to design a 12-story apartment building for a syndicate led by his father, Jared. However, the Flagg apartment development was not built, likely due to a lack of funding.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: John Duncan Phyfe and James Campbell acquired the site in 1883. Phyfe and Campbell announced plans for a nine-story apartment building at the site in October of that year, to be designed by Carl Pfeiffer; and construction on the apartment block began that same year. The builders borrowed over $800,000 from the New York Life Insurance Company, and obtained a second mortgage from John Charles Anderson for a total investment of $2 million. By 1887, after taking three loans from New York Life, Phyfe and Campbell found that they did not have enough funds to complete the apartment block. The extent to which the apartment building was completed before the builders' bankruptcy is unclear.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: In February 1888, brothers Eugene M. and Frank Earle entered into a contract to lease the hotel from Phyfe and Campbell and to furnish it. New York Life concurrently foreclosed on the apartment building and that September bought it at public auction for $925,000. Shortly afterward, New York Life decided to remodel the interiors completely, hiring architects McKim, Mead & White to complete the hotel. New York Life leased the hotel to Frederick A. Hammond in 1889, and the Hammond brothers became the operators of the hotel for the next fifteen years.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The first Plaza Hotel finally opened on October 1, 1890, at a cost of $3 million. The original hotel stood eight stories tall and had 400 rooms. The interiors featured extensive mahogany and carved-wood furnishings; lion motifs, representing the hotel's coat of arms; and a dining room with stained glass windows and gold and white decorations. Moses King, in his 1893 "Handbook of New York City", characterized the hotel as "one of the most attractive public houses in the wide world". Despite being described as fashionable, it was not profitable. "The New York Times" reported in 1891 that the hotel netted $72,000 in rental income, against the $1.8 million that New York Life had spent to complete the hotel, including loans to Phyfe and Campbell.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The first Plaza Hotel had been relatively remote when it was completed, but by the first decade of the 20th century was part of a rapidly growing commercial district on Fifth Avenue. Furthermore, several upscale hotels in Manhattan were also being rebuilt during that time. In May 1902, a syndicate purchased the Plaza and three adjacent lots on Central Park South for $3 million. The sale was the largest-ever cash-only purchase for a Manhattan property at the time. The purchasers were headed by Harry S. Black—who headed the George A. Fuller Company, one of the syndicate's members—as well as German financier Bernhard Beinecke. Shortly after the purchase, Black and Beinecke formed the Plaza Realty Company to redevelop the hotel. In mid-1905, Black also formed the United States Realty and Construction Company, a trust whose subsidiaries included the Fuller Company and the Plaza Realty Company. To acquire sufficient funding for the redevelopment, Black and Beinecke approached barbed-wire entrepreneur John Warne Gates, who agreed to fund the project on the condition that Frederic Sterry be named the managing director of the hotel.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Henry J. Hardenbergh was hired as architect in 1905, initially being commissioned to expand the existing hotel by five stories. Hardenbergh had already gained some renown for designing other upscale hotels, such as the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, twenty-five blocks south, during the 1890s. Beinecke, Black, and Gates subsequently discovered that the foundation of the existing hotel could not support the additional stories, so they decided to rebuild it completely. The George A. Fuller Company was contracted to construct the new hotel. Hardenbergh designed the new hotel building while the owners waited for the existing lease to expire. His design took advantage of the fact that the site faced Grand Army Plaza and could thus be seen from many angles.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The first Plaza Hotel was closed on June 11, 1905, and demolition commenced immediately upon the expiration of the lease there. The existing hotel's furnishings were auctioned immediately. The site was cleared within two months of the start of demolition. Hardenbergh filed plans for the hotel with the New York City Department of Buildings that September. By the next month, contractors were clearing the old hotel's foundation. The new hotel was to use of steel, and a group of 100 workers and seven derricks erected two stories of steelwork every six days. The Fuller Company decided to hire both union and non-union ironworkers for the hotel's construction, a decision that angered the union workers. Patrolmen were hired to protect the non-union workers, and one patrolmen was killed during a dispute with union workers. By October 1906, the facade of the new hotel was under construction.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Hardenbergh and Sterry directed several firms to furnish the interior spaces. Sterry recalled that all of the interior features were custom-designed for the hotel, such as 1,650 crystal chandeliers and the largest-ever order of gold-rimmed cutlery. Much of the furniture was manufactured by the Pooley Company of Philadelphia; where the Pooley Company could not manufacture the furnishings, the Plaza's developers chartered ships to import material from Europe. Sterry himself was dispatched to Europe to purchase these materials. The developers anticipated that the hotel would cost $8.5 million to construct, including the furnishings. However, additional expenditures pushed the final construction cost to $12.5 million. To pay for the construction costs, the developers received a $5 million loan in mid-1906, followed by another $4.5 million loan in 1907.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The new 800-room Plaza Hotel was opened on October 1, 1907, twenty-seven months after work had commenced. The opening was attended by people such as businessman Diamond Jim Brady; actresses Lillian Russell, Billie Burke, Maxine Elliott, and Fritzi Scheff; producers David Belasco and Oscar Hammerstein I; actor John Drew Jr.; and author Mark Twain. Though the opening coincided with the Panic of 1907, the hotel suffered minimal losses. The new hotel more than doubled the capacity of the first structure, and it was intended as a largely residential hotel at opening, although the terms for "hotel" and "apartment" were largely synonymous at the time. Estimates held that ninety percent of the units were for long-term residents. The owners charged short-term guests $2.50 nightly. In addition to the apartments, there were 500 bathrooms, ten elevators, a myriad of marble staircases, and two floors of public rooms. Gates, one of the original investors, was among the residents of the new Plaza; when he died in 1911, his funeral was held at the hotel.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Most of the public rooms were not originally given formal names. Although Hardenbergh had predicted that gender-segregated spaces were going out of fashion, there was a women's reception room near 58th Street; and the bar room and men's grill (respectively the present Oak and Edwardian Rooms) were exclusively used by men. In practice, the men's grill acted as a social club where discussing business was socially inappropriate, while the bar was a space to talk business. Sometime between 1912 and the start of Prohibition in the United States in 1920, the brokerage office near the entrance, now the Oak Bar, was turned into an extension of the bar room. The Champagne Porch along Grand Army Plaza was the most exclusive area of the hotel, with meals costing between $50 and $500. The basement's grill room hosted ice-skating in the summer, as well as a "dog check room" where residents' dogs could be fed luxuriously. In its first decade, the Plaza employed a staff of over 1,500.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: From the start, the Plaza Operating Company was already preparing for the possibility of expansion, and acquired the lots between 5 and 19 West 58th Street in the first two decades of the 20th century. This land acquisition commenced before the second hotel had even opened. By 1915, the Plaza Operating Company had acquired four lots on West 58th Street and one on Central Park South, and it received an exemption from the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which set height restrictions for new buildings on the 58th Street side of the lots. The company filed plans for a 19-story annex along 58th Street in August 1919, to be designed by Warren and Wetmore. The final lots, at 15 and 17 West 58th Street, were acquired in 1920 after the plans had been filed. The George A. Fuller Company was again hired as the builder. To fund the construction of the annex, the Plaza Operating Company took out mortgage loans worth $2.275 million.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Champagne Porch was only frequented by the extremely wealthy; and in 1921, after the start of Prohibition, Sterry decided to remove the room altogether. An enlarged entrance took its place. The work also included building a new restaurant called the Terrace Room, as well as a ballroom and 350 additional suites. Warren and Wetmore designed the expanded interior with more subtle contrasts in the decor, compared to Hardenbergh's design. The annex opened October 14, 1921, with an event in the ballroom, but was not officially completed until April 1922. With the advent of Prohibition, the bar room was also closed, and the gender segregation rule was relaxed. The space occupied by the present-day Oak Bar became the offices of brokerage EF Hutton. The Plaza had become the city's most valuable hotel by 1923, and contributed to the parent U.S. Realty Company being highly profitable and paying increasingly high dividends during the 1920s.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: For unknown reasons, Warren and Wetmore's ballroom was reconstructed from June to September 1929, based on neoclassical designs by Schultze & Weaver. Shortly afterward, U.S. Realty's stock price collapsed in the Wall Street Crash of October 1929, which commenced the Great Depression in the United States. Plaza Hotel co-owner Harry Black killed himself the following year, and his partner Bernhard Beinecke died two years later. The rebuilt Plaza's first manager, Fred Sterry, died in 1933. The early 1930s were also financially difficult for the Plaza Hotel, as only half of the suites were occupied by 1932. To reduce operating costs for the hotel's restaurants, the grill room in the basement was converted into a closet, while the Rose Room became an automobile showroom. The furnishings of the hotel fell into disrepair; and during some months management was unable to pay staff.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: By the mid-1930s, the old tea room was officially known as the Palm Court, having been frequently referred to as the "Palm Room" during the previous decade. The back room was reopened as the Oak Room restaurant in 1934, although it was still referred to as the "back room" by its frequent visitors, which included bankers and brokers. The same year, the Fifth Avenue lobby received display windows and a doorway on the southern wall; and the southeastern corner of the ground floor was remodeled into the Persian Room.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: U.S. Realty continued to lose money through the 1930s, and started selling off its properties, including the Plaza Hotel. In October 1943, Atlas Corporation, collaborating with hotelier Conrad Hilton, bought the Plaza Hotel for $7.4 million. At the time, the Plaza was 61 percent occupied, and many public areas were closed due to supply shortages caused by World War II. Hilton subsequently spent $6 million refurbishing the hotel. During mid-1944, the lobby on Fifth Avenue was renovated and its mezzanine was enclosed. The Palm Court skylight, having fallen into disrepair, was removed for the installation of air conditioning equipment. A mezzanine was also built above the hotel's former courtyard, and the room itself became the Court Lounge. The brokerage office at the ground level's northwestern corner was turned into the Oak Bar, which opened in January 1945; and EF Hutton was relegated to the Fifth Avenue lobby's mezzanine. The contractor for the renovations may have been Frederick P. Platt & Brother, which was the Plaza Hotel's primary contractor in the 1940s.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Plaza Hotel Corporation, the hotel's operator, was merged with the Hilton Hotels Corporation in 1946. The following year, the Plaza Rendez-Vous opened within the old grill room space. By the early 1950s, women were allowed inside the Oak Room and Bar during evenings and in the summer. The Oak Room and Bar was still a men-only space before 3 p.m., while the stock exchanges were open.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Hilton sold the hotel in 1953 to Boston industrialist A.M. "Sonny" Sonnabend for $15 million, and immediately leased it back for 2.5 years. Sonnabend became president of national restaurant chain Childs Company in 1955, and Childs purchased the Plaza that November for $6.2 million in stock. The same year, the ground-floor Plaza Restaurant was renamed the Edwardian Room. James S. Graham Jr. simultaneously renovated the State Apartment, and air conditioning was installed in each guest room. Childs became the Hotel Corporation of America (HCA) in 1956, and Hilton's lease was renewed indefinitely that year. HCA sold the Plaza to Lawrence Wien in November 1958 for $21 million and immediately leased it back for 25 years. The transaction included curtailing Hilton's lease to April 1960, at which time HCA assumed the operating lease.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Plaza Hotel experienced financial difficulties during the early 1960s; but under Sonnabend's management, the Plaza's financial outlook improved by 1964. The facade of the hotel was cleaned in late 1960, the first time that the exterior had been fully cleaned since its construction. This was followed, in 1962, by extensive exterior and interior renovations, which resulted in the redecoration of many of the suites and public rooms. Four of the hotel's hydraulic elevators were replaced with electric elevators in 1964, including the three elevators in the 58th Street lobby. A second phase of renovations was announced the same year, which entailed enlarging some public rooms and replacing the ground-floor barber shop with a Trader Vic's bar. The ballroom's foyer and stair hall were combined during this renovation, which was completed by 1965, having cost $9 million.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Upon Sonny Sonnabend's death in 1964, his son Roger took over the hotel. Further changes to the hotel's ownership occurred the next year, when Sol Goldman and Alexander DiLorenzo's firm, Wellington Associates, bought an option to obtain a half-interest in the underlying land from Hilton. Gender restrictions at the Oak Room were removed in 1969, after the National Organization for Women held a sit-in to protest the men-only policy during middays. HCA, by then renamed Sonesta Hotels, announced another round of renovations in 1971. This included the redecoration of the Grand Ballroom, as well as the replacement of the Edwardian Room with a restaurant called the Green Tulip, whose pink, lime, and brown design by Sally Dryden received a largely negative reception from the public. The ballroom was also renovated at this time.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The renovations coincided with a decline in Sonesta's and the Plaza's finances, with the hotel recording negative net income in 1971. Sonesta repurchased the Plaza Hotel from Wien in 1972. Shortly afterward, Sonesta looked to sell its interest in the hotel to Harry Helmsley, and Wellington attempted to take over Sonesta by buying its shares. Both the sale and the attempted Sonesta takeover were unsuccessful; and Wellington made an offer for Sonesta's share of the hotel in April 1974, which Sonesta refused.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: In November 1974, Western International Hotels announced its intention to buy the Plaza Hotel from Sonesta for $25 million. The same year, the Edwardian Room was largely restored according to designs by Charles Winslow, and was rebranded as the Plaza Suite. Following Western International's acquisition of the Plaza, it renovated the interior spaces, cleaned the exterior, and restored much of the hotel according to the original designs, at a total cost of $200 million. The four hydraulic elevators serving the Central Park South lobby, among the last of their type in the city, were replaced with electric elevators in 1976. Westin also bought the Shinn murals that year for $1 million; they had not been part of the original sale. The Rambusch Company was hired to restore the Oak Room and Bar. The next year, a 204-seat theater called Cinema 3 opened in the basement. The Persian Room was closed in 1978, and a clothing boutique opened in its place. Westin had planned to restore the Palm Court's skylight, but this did not happen.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: By the late 1970s, the Plaza Hotel was again making a net profit. Western International changed its name to Westin Hotels in 1981; and the hotel was renamed soon after, becoming "The Westin Plaza". However, Westin started to lose money in the late 1980s. By 1987, Westin's parent company Allegis Corporation announced its intent to sell the Plaza, generating interest from at least 150 investors. The Plaza, along with the rest of the Westin chain, was transferred to the Aoki Corporation and Robert M. Bass in January 1988. Shortly afterward, Philip Pilevsky and Arthur G. Cohen expressed their intent to buy the Plaza and turn it into a hotel-cooperative.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: In March 1988, real estate developer Donald Trump bought the Plaza for $407 million he borrowed from banks. After gaining title to the hotel in July, Trump put his wife Ivana in charge of renovating and managing the hotel. The Trumps subsequently announced a major renovation program, which entailed restoring the lobby and some of the other interior elements. The work also involved gilding many surfaces, replacing carpets, and reupholstering furniture. Trump also decided to shut the Trader Vic's in the basement in 1989, saying it had become "tacky". The hotel made a modest profit for about two years after Trump's purchase, largely from increased occupancy, suite rates, and banquet bookings.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Trump had borrowed extensively to purchase the Plaza, but the hotel's operating income was several million dollars below the breakeven point. As a result, the hotel's debt ultimately grew to $600 million. By 1991, Trump was making plans to pay off the hotel's debt by selling off the vast majority of its units as condominiums. Trump estimated that the conversion would net $750 million, almost twice the purchase price. Trump also considered converting the offices under the mansard roof to penthouse condos, according to designs by Lee Harris Pomeroy. The conversion plan failed because it would have been unprofitable, due to a then-recent drop-off in prices in the city's real estate market. In March 1992, as a last resort, Trump approached the Plaza's creditors, a group of seventy banks led by Citibank, who agreed to take a 49% stake in the hotel in exchange for forgiveness of $250 million in debt and an interest-rate reduction. The agreement was submitted as a prepackaged bankruptcy in November 1992 and approved the next month.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: By 1994, Trump was looking to sell the Plaza before Citibank and other creditors could find a buyer, which would have wiped out his investment. One of his executives identified Hong Kong–based Sun Hung Kai Properties as a potential buyer. The deal fell through after the family of Sun Hung Kai executive Walter Kwok got trapped behind a jammed door while touring the Plaza Hotel. Trump, attempting to maintain appearances, threatened to sue the "New York Post" that December for reporting that the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, had made an offer for the hotel. Meanwhile, the creditors had also identified Singaporean developer Kwek Leng Beng as a likely buyer. Kwek's company, Singaporean chain City Developments Limited (CDL), offered to take over the creditors' ownership stake. Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal was also interested in buying the Plaza; and by March 1995, Al-Waleed and CDL had raised $325 million for a controlling stake. Trump unsuccessfully petitioned Kwek to partner with him instead of Al-Waleed.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Trump sold the controlling stake to Kwek and Al-Waleed in April 1995. As part of the transaction, the hotel's debt was reduced to $25 million. Kwek and Al-Waleed each bought a 42 percent stake, and Citibank received the other 16 percent stake, a move intended to prevent Trump from intervening in the sale. The partnership also agreed that, if the mansard penthouses were ever created, some of the profits would be shared with Trump. In 1997, Hong Kong developer Great Eagle Holdings agreed to buy half of Al-Waleed's stake in the Plaza Hotel. DiLorenzo International renovated the ballroom in the mid-1990s, and Adam Tihany refurbished the Edwardian Room prior to 2001. The Plaza was highly profitable in the late 1990s, with operating income of almost $46 million at the end of that decade.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The September 11 attacks in 2001 resulted in a downturn in the New York City tourism industry. Correspondingly, the Plaza's operating profits decreased greatly, leaving Kwek and Al-Waleed unable to refurbish the Plaza as they had previously planned to do. In 2004, they sold the Plaza Hotel for $675 million to El Ad Properties, run by developer Yitzhak Tshuva. El Ad wished to add residential and commercial units, but initially faced pushback from hotel unions and preservationists, who opposed El Ad's plan to remove most of the hotel rooms and convert the restaurant spaces to stores. After over sixty hours of discussions between El Ad and the hotel unions, they came to an agreement on April 14, 2005, under which El Ad would convert fewer units to apartments, while preserving more of the hotel suites.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Plaza Hotel temporarily closed for a $450 million renovation on April 30, 2005, two weeks after the agreement had been brokered. Fairmont Hotels and Resorts took over operation of the hotel portion during late 2005. The Plaza's furnishings were auctioned on-site and at a Christie's auction in 2006. During the renovation, most of the short-term hotel rooms were converted into residential units, and the Palm Court's stained glass ceiling was restored. In addition, floors 18 and 19 were extended toward the interior courtyard, while a small floor 20 was created above the existing roof.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The hotel reopened on March 1, 2008. Though the real-estate market in general had slowed down due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008, apartments at the Plaza Hotel were being sold for millions of dollars, disproportionately impacting average apartment prices in Manhattan. The hotel unveiled its retail collection, an underground mall featuring luxury brands, in November 2008. Two years later, the Plaza Food Hall opened in the underground mall, anchored by the Todd English Food Hall in collaboration with chef Todd English. By early 2010, El Ad was struggling to find tenants for the mall, and several residents had lost money selling their apartments. The Oak Room restaurant closed in July 2011, two years after the renovation was completed.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: In mid-2012, Sahara India Pariwar agreed to buy a 75 percent controlling stake for $570 million from El Ad Properties. The deal closed that December. However, even at the time of the sale, Sahara was experiencing legal issues and was selling off other properties that it owned. The development of the nearby Billionaires' Row, an area with several residential skyscrapers marketed for the ultra-wealthy, also negatively affected sales at the Plaza. The Plaza's net income decreased from $3.67 million, in 2012, to negative $1.2 million, in 2014, a figure that declined even further, to negative $10 million, by 2017. Two years after buying the Plaza, Sahara's Subrata Roy announced that he was looking for a buyer for his company's $4 billion majority stake. The Sultan of Brunei bid $680 million, but Sahara rebuffed the sultan's bid as too low. In August 2017, after he was unable to secure a buyer, Roy hired a broker to sell the hotel, prompting inquiries from about 50 potential buyers.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Simultaneously, former co-owner Al-Waleed, whose Kingdom Holding Company now owned a minor stake in the hotel, partnered with Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation. Kingdom and Ashkenazy's partnership included a right of first refusal, which allowed the companies to match any third-party offer for the hotel. In May 2018, the Sahara Group announced it had finalized a deal with businessmen Shahal M. Khan and Kamran Hakim to buy a majority share of the hotel for $600 million. However, Ashkenazy and Kingdom exercised their right of first refusal, and sued Sahara for trying to sell the hotel to a third party. Ashkenazy and Kingdom received an extension to close their purchase of the Plaza, but instead opted to sell their stake to Qatari state-owned hotelier Katara Hospitality, which the companies felt was better positioned to close the sale.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: In July 2018, Katara Hospitality acquired full ownership of the Plaza Hotel after buying Sahara's and Askenazy and Kingdom's stakes. Under Katara's ownership, the condominium units garnered high asking prices: for instance, a four-bedroom unit was listed for $45 million in early 2020. Around the same time, the Plaza's condominium board sought to make repairs to the facade. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, and a corresponding downturn in tourism globally, the Plaza's hotel rooms were temporarily closed in March 2020 for an indefinite period, and several hundred employees were laid off. The Plaza Hotel officially reopened in May 2021; public spaces such as the Palm Court were rearranged to allow for social distancing.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: When the Plaza Hotel opened in 1907, the first guest to sign its register was Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt. The hotel also housed other wealthy residents, such as George Jay Gould, as well as Oliver Harriman Jr. and his wife Grace Carley Harriman. John Gates, the hotel's co-developer, had a 16-room apartment on floor 3. Harry Frank Guggenheim lived in the hotel's State Apartment, while Russian princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy, a prominent portrait painter in the early 20th century, lived in a suite on floor 3 with her lion. The hotel's appeal to the wealthy came from the fact that, in the early 20th century, apartments at the Plaza were generally cheaper than in more upscale apartment buildings, and that it faced Central Park, which at the time was well patronized by the wealthy.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Later in the 20th century, the Plaza Hotel served as home to "wealthy widows", such as performer Kay Thompson, who wrote the "Eloise" children's book series about a young girl who lived at the hotel. During the Great Depression, the "wealthy widows" were considered "a tourist attraction in their own right", with their rents keeping the hotel solvent. The hotel's other residents included playwright Ferenc Molnár.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: After many units were converted to condominium units in 2008, the Plaza Hotel became even more coveted by the wealthy. However, only about a third of these buyers were full-time residents, with the remainder using their Plaza condominiums as pieds-a-terre. The residents included executives such as New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, JetBlue CEO David Barger, Bear Stearns CEO James Cayne, Viacom CEO Thomas E. Dooley, Sony Music Entertainment CEO Doug Morris, and "Idols" franchise producer Simon Fuller. Other notable residents included musician Moby, developer Christian Candy, and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The guest rooms have also housed notable personalities, such as opera singer Enrico Caruso, as well as novelists F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald. Frank Lloyd Wright often stayed at the Plaza when he was designing the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on Fifth Avenue, considering the hotel to be his home. Art dealer Joseph Duveen, 1st Baron Duveen, who helped assemble the Frick Collection at the nearby Frick House, lived at the Plaza and held important auctions in the ballroom. In addition, the Beatles stayed at the Plaza Hotel during their first visit to the United States in February 1964.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Plaza Hotel became associated with celebrities and the wealthy upon its opening, surpassing the original Waldorf Astoria in that respect. The Palm Court (then the tea room), with its mostly female guest list, was particularly frequented. Weeks after the hotel's 1907 opening, actress Mrs Patrick Campbell attempted to smoke there, and the resulting controversy boosted the Plaza's stature. In January 1908, crowds flocked to see heiress Gladys Vanderbilt and her fiancé, Hungarian count László Széchenyi, have tea, while Theodora Shonts arrived with her fiancé Emmanuel d'Albert de Luynes, the Duke of Chaulnes. That year, the "New York World" dubbed the hotel the "Home-for-the-Incurably Opulent". By 1909, the Palm Court was consistently exceeding its 350-person capacity.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: During the 1920s, the basement's grill room was a popular meeting place for young adults born during the Lost Generation. The Oak Room was frequented by actor George M. Cohan, and a commemorative plaque for Cohan was installed in the room in the 1940s after his death. The Persian Room was popular with the "cafe society", being frequented by socialites and fashion trendsetters. Eddy Duchin and Hildegarde were among the Persian Room's early performers, and it later attracted others, such as Eartha Kitt, Peggy Lee, and Liza Minnelli. By the 1970s, the Persian Room hosted performances by pop singers such as Robert Goulet and Dusty Springfield.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The hotel has also been popular among world leaders, particularly presidents of the United States. The first of these was Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th U.S. president, who moved his Republican Party's events to the Plaza Hotel from the Fifth Avenue Hotel after the closure of the latter in 1908. Theodore Roosevelt's distant cousin, president Franklin D. Roosevelt, had his birthday luncheon in the Palm Court in 1935. Other U.S. presidents who frequented the hotel's guestrooms or restaurants have included William Howard Taft, Harry S. Truman, and Richard Nixon, as well as onetime owner Donald Trump. For other world leaders, the Plaza Hotel kept a set of national flags, so that an appropriate one could be displayed whenever a foreign head of state visited. Chiang Ching-kuo, at the time the Vice Premier of the Republic of China, was shot by Taiwanese student Peter Huang in an attempted assassination at the hotel on April 24, 1970.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Plaza Hotel has hosted diplomatic events, as in September 1985, when the finance ministers of several countries signed the Plaza Accord, by which the U.S. dollar was depreciated in relation to other currencies.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Terrace Room has frequently been used for press conferences, luncheons, and receptions. For instance, it hosted a 1956 press conference where Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe talked about their upcoming film "The Prince and the Showgirl." At a press conference in the Terrace Room in 1968, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor discussed their film "Dr. Faustus". During the Beatles' 1964 stay at the hotel, visitors were allowed to take pictures with the Beatles in the Terrace Room.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Upon the Grand Ballroom's opening in 1921, it immediately became popular as a venue for debutante balls, including those in honor of Joan Whitney Payson and Cathleen Vanderbilt. The rebuilt ballroom hosted social benefits, such as a dinner honoring physicist Marie Curie in 1929, and a meeting of the Girls Service League in 1935 that was attended by U.S. first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Following World War II, the Grand Ballroom again became a popular venue for debutante balls and benefits, including a disabled veterans' benefit called the December Ball, as well as an event benefiting the Kennedy Child Care Study Center in 1959. Writer Truman Capote hosted the "Black and White Ball" there in 1966, in honor of publisher Katharine Graham. Another popular venue for benefits was the Terrace Court, which hosted events such as the Mid-Winter Ball in 1949.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Grand Ballroom and Terrace Room have also been used for weddings and wedding receptions. For example, the Terrace Room held the reception for figure skater Sonja Henie's 1949 wedding to Winthrop Gardiner Jr. Peter Lawford and Patricia Kennedy Lawford's wedding reception was hosted in the ballroom in 1954, as was David Eisenhower and Julie Nixon Eisenhower's reception in 1968. The ballroom also hosted Donald Trump and Marla Maples's 1993 wedding. In 2000, actors Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones married at the Plaza.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The Plaza Hotel has become an icon of New York City. Paul Goldberger, writing for "The New York Times" in 1982, stated that the Plaza had become an important part of the city's architectural history, similar to the Grand Central Terminal and the New York Public Library Main Branch. As another historian said, "Every tourist I've ever met, every [tour] group I've ever had, they all know the Plaza Hotel". The National Trust for Historic Preservation recognized the Plaza Hotel as a Historic Hotel of America.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: Upon the present building's opening, the design of the hotel, particularly the interiors, received mostly positive criticism. "The New York Times" characterized the exterior as "a fitting introduction to the interior", praising the interior for its relative modesty compared to other hotels. However, H. W. Frohne wrote that Hardenbergh had "fail[ed] to make the public rooms entertaining". Critics for two architectural magazines also praised the carved woodwork in the Oak Room and the greenery that originally adorned the Palm Court. For the latter, the "Times" praised the "gardenlike" effect of the Palm Court, enhanced by its glass ceiling. Frank Lloyd Wright wrote that Hardenbergh's exterior design for the Plaza Hotel was an early skyscraper with "a human sense", in contrast to later skyscrapers, which Wright described as "monstrous thing[s]".


title: Plaza Hotel

text: In the 1967 book "The Plaza, Its Life and Times", Eve Brown wrote that "The Plaza has managed always to be in tune with the times, its dignity unruffled, its good taste unimpaired". Ada Louise Huxtable wrote for "The New York Times" in 1971 that the Plaza Hotel was the city's "most celebrated symbol of cosmopolitan and turn-of-the-century splendor", speaking negatively only of the short-lived Green Tulip restaurant. Judith Gura described the interior spaces as "merg[ing] seamlessly into a harmonious ensemble", despite each space having a distinct character. Curtis Gathje, the Plaza Hotel's official historian and a 25-year veteran of the hotel, stated in 2007, "The Plaza is the epitome of civilized New York."


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The site, facing Central Park, was seen as particularly prominent. As early as 1892, Moses King called it "a location of unsurpassed beauty". The rebuilt Plaza was described in a 1907 "Architectural Record" article as having a site that was "the most unobstructed and charming which could have been selected for a large metropolitan hotel", despite being smaller than that of competitors, such as the Waldorf Astoria. According to Goldberger, the Plaza Hotel's location along both Grand Army Plaza and Central Park made it particularly imposing, with two primary facades. The 2010 edition of the "AIA Guide to New York City" emphasized the park views, characterizing the third- through fifth-floor suites along Central Park South as having "one of the most exciting views of New York".


title: Plaza Hotel

text: The demolition of the nearby Savoy-Plaza in 1964, and its replacement with the General Motors Building, resulted in a preservation movement to save the Plaza Hotel and nearby structures. This prompted the New York City Planning Commission to rezone a three-block area around Grand Army Plaza, including the Plaza Hotel, in 1968. The Plaza Hotel's exterior was designated a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1969. The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and it was made a National Historic Landmark in 1986.


title: Plaza Hotel

text: A large part of the main public space in the interior—including the lobbies, ballroom, and restaurant spaces—was made a New York City designated landmark in 2005. The interior-landmark designation was partially motivated by opposition to El Ad's original plans to renovate the hotel during 2004.<ref name=p420437782>


title: Discordianism

text: Discordianism is a religion, philosophy, or paradigm centered on Eris, a.k.a. Discordia, the Goddess of chaos. Discordianism uses archetypes or ideals associated with her. It was founded after the 1963 publication of its "holy book," the "Principia Discordia," written by Greg Hill with Kerry Wendell Thornley, the two working under the pseudonyms Malaclypse the Younger and Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst.


title: Discordianism

text: The religion has been likened to Zen based on similarities with absurdist interpretations of the Rinzai school, as well as Taoist philosophy. Discordianism is centered on the idea that both order and disorder are illusions imposed on the universe by the human nervous system, and that neither of these illusions of apparent order and disorder is any more accurate or objectively true than the other.


title: Discordianism

text: There is some discord as to whether Discordianism should be regarded as a parody religion, and if so, to what degree. It is difficult to estimate the number of Discordians because they are not required to hold Discordianism as their only belief system, and because there is an encouragement to form schisms and cabals.


title: Discordianism

text: The foundational document of Discordianism is the "Principia Discordia", fourth edition (1970), written by Malaclypse the Younger, an alias of Gregory Hill. The "Principia Discordia" often hints that Discordianism was founded as a dialectic antithesis to more popular religions based on order, although the rhetoric throughout the book describes chaos as a much more underlying impulse of the universe. This has been done with the intention of merely "balancing out" the tight order of society.


title: Discordianism

text: Episkoposes are the overseers of sects of Discordianism, who have presumably created their own sect of Discordianism. They speak to Eris through the use of their pineal gland. It is said in the "Principia Discordia" that Eris says different things to each listener. She may even say radically different things to each Episkopos, but all of what she says is equally her word (even if it contradicts another iteration of her word).


title: Discordianism

text: Most episkoposes have an assumed name and/or title of sometimes "bizarre" nature and self-proclaimed 'mystic import', such as Malaclypse the Younger, Omnibenevolent Polyfather of Virginity in Gold; Lord Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst, Bull Goose of Limbo; Professor Mu-Chao; Jay Bee the Elder; and Kassil the Erratic. Some Discordians choose their entire title by themselves, some turn to random generators, others assimilate things from other people, and a few never really offer any explanation.


title: Discordianism

text: According to the "Principia Discordia", “every single man, woman, and child on this Earth” is a pope. Included in the "Principia Discordia" is an official Pope card that may be reproduced and distributed freely to anyone and everyone. Papacy is not granted through possession of this card; it merely informs people that they are “a genuine and authorized Pope” of Discordia.


title: Discordianism

text: This understanding of the notion of Pope has far reaching consequences in Discordianism. For example, the introduction to "Principia Discordia" says, “Only a Pope may canonize a Saint. ... So you can ordain yourself—and anyone or anything else—a Saint."


title: Discordianism

text: In most of his public presentations and lectures, Robert Anton Wilson's first gesture when taking the stage would be to declare everyone within the audience to be ordained Discordian Popes.


title: Discordianism

text: There are also five classes of saints within Discordianism, who are those who best act as exemplars and are closer to perfection. Only the first of these classes "Saint Second Class" contains real human beings (deceased and alive), with higher classes reserved for fictional beings who, by virtue of being fictional, are better able to reach the Discordian view of perfection.


title: Discordianism

text: A well-known example of a second-class saint is Emperor Norton, a citizen in 19th century San Francisco, who despite suffering delusions was beloved by much of the city. He is honoured as a saint within Discordianism for living his life according to truth as he saw it and a disregard for reality as others would perceive it.


title: Discordianism

text: In discordian mythology, Aneris is described as the sister of Eris a.k.a. Discordia. Whereas Eris/Discordia is the goddess of disorder and being, Aneris/Harmonia is the goddess of order and non-being.


title: Discordianism

text: The sterile Aneris becomes jealous of Eris (who was born pregnant), and starts making existent things non-existent. This explains why life begins, and later ends in death.


title: Discordianism

text: The names of Eris and Aneris (who are later given a brother, "Spirituality"), are used to show some fundamental Discordian principles in "Psycho-Metaphysics":


title: Discordianism

text: The "five-fingered hand of Eris" (shown at right) is one of several symbols used in Discordianism. It was adapted as an astronomical/astrological symbol for the dwarf planet Eris. Initially, the planetary symbol, designed by Discordian Denis Moskowitz, was rotated 90 degrees and had a cross-bar added so that it resembled two lunate epsilons (Є) back-to-back (), with epsilon being the Greek initial of 'Eris'. The cross-bar was later dropped, but the vertical orientation retained. (The Discordian symbol has no set orientation, but is most commonly horizontal.) The symbol has seen use in public-outreach publications by NASA, though planetary symbols play only a minor role in modern astronomy.


title: Discordianism

text: The "original snub" is the Discordian name for the events leading up to the judgement of Paris, although more focus is put on the actions of Eris. Zeus believes that Eris is a troublemaker, so he does not invite her to Peleus and Thetis's wedding. Having been snubbed, Eris creates a golden apple with the word "kallisti" (, “for the prettiest”) inscribed in it. This, the Apple of Discord, is a notable symbol in Discordianism for its inclusion in the Sacred Chao, and is traditionally described as being made of gold (although whether that gold was metallic or Acapulco is noted as uncertain).


title: Discordianism

text: Some recent interpretations of the original snub place Eris as being not at all mischievous with her delivery of the apple, but instead suggest that Eris was simply bringing the apple as a wedding gift for Thetis. This interpretation would see Eris as innocent and her causing of chaos as a by-product of the other wedding guests’ reactions upon seeing her at the wedding.


title: Discordianism

text: The "Principia Discordia" holds three core principles: the Aneristic and Eristic principles representing order and disorder, and the notion that both are mere illusions. The following excerpt summarizes these principles:


title: Discordianism

text: Operation Mindfuck is an important practice in the Discordian religion, in which "all national calamities, assassinations, or conspiracies" are publicly attributed to the Bavarian Illuminati, an 18th century secret society, in an attempt to "sow the culture with paranoia," as well as to highlight the absurdity of conspiracy theories. The concept was developed by Kerry Thornley and Robert Anton Wilson in 1968 and given its name by Wilson and Robert Shea in "The Illuminatus! Trilogy".


title: Discordianism

text: Discordian works include a number of books, not all of which actually exist. Among those that have been published are "Principia Discordia", first published in 1965 (which includes portions of "The Honest Book of Truth"); and "The Illuminatus! Trilogy", which had its first volume published in 1975.


title: Discordianism

text: The "Principia Discordia" is a Discordian religious text written by Greg Hill (Malaclypse the Younger) with Kerry Wendell Thornley (Lord Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst). The phrase "Principia Discordia", reminiscent of Newton's "Principia Mathematica", is presumably intended to mean "Discordant Principles", or "Principles of Discordance".


title: Discordianism

text: "Summa Universalia" was another work by Malaclypse the Younger, purported to be a summary of the universe. It was excerpted in the first edition of "Principia" but never published. It was mentioned in an introduction to one of the "Principia" editions, and the work was quoted from in the first edition.


title: Discordianism

text: "Zenarchy" was first self-published by Thornley, under the pen name Ho Chi Zen, as a series of one-page (or "broadsheet") newsletters in the 1960s. A selection of the material was later reedited and expanded by Thornley and republished in paperback by IllumiNet Press in 1991. The book describes Thornley's concept of Zenarchy "a way of Zen applied to social life. A non-combative, non-participatory, no-politics approach to anarchy intended to get the serious student thinking."


title: Discordianism

text: One of the most influential of all Discordian works, "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson purportedly between 1969 and 1971. In a 1980 interview given to the science fiction magazine "Starship", Wilson suggested the novel was an attempt to build a myth around Discordianism.


title: Discordianism

text: "Zen Without Zen Masters" is a book by Camden Benares (The Count of Five), published in 1977, of koans, stories and exercises of a Discordian nature. It includes tales of several early Discordians including Hill (as Mal) and Thornley (as Omar and Ho Chi Zen). "Enlightenment of a Seeker" from this book is also present in "Principia Discordia" as "A Zen Story".


title: Discordianism

text: The first edition was printed allegedly using Jim Garrison's Xerox printer in 1963. The second edition was published under the title "Principia Discordia or How The West Was Lost" in a limited edition of five copies (and released into the public domain) in 1965.


title: Discordianism

text: In 1978, a copy of a work from Kerry Thornley titled "THE PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA or HOW THE WEST WAS LOST" was placed in the HSCA JFK collections as document 010857. Adam Gorightly, author of "The Prankster and the Conspiracy" about Kerry Thornley and the early Discordians, said the copy in the JFK collection was not a copy of the first edition but a later and altered version containing some of the original material. In an interview with researcher Brenton Clutterbuck, Gorightly said he had been given Greg Hill's copy of the first edition. This appeared in its entirety in "Historia Discordia", a book on Discordian history released in spring of 2014.


title: Discordianism

text: "Historia Discordia" (2014) was compiled by Adam Gorightly with foreword by Robert Anton Wilson. It is a compilation of early Discordian photos, tracts, art collages, and more including works by Discordianism founders Greg Hill (Malaclypse the Younger) and Kerry Thornley (Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst). Among other things, it contains the long-missing "The Honest Book of Truth" and the first edition of "Principia Discordia". It features a blurb by famed comic book writer Alan Moore.


title: Discordianism

text: "Chasing Eris" (2018) by Brenton Clutterbuck is a snapshot of the state of international Discordianism sixty years after its foundation, documenting "a cross-section of international Discordianism" and exploring its influences on counterculture, nerd culture, the copyleft movement, pop music and other art forms as well as connections to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Charles Manson and the German secret service. The book includes several interviews and reports from the author's travels in North and South America, Australia, and Europe to meet Discordian individuals as well as whole groups. It also includes an interpretation of the "Principia Discordia" chapter "The Parable of The Bitter Tea" by its original author. It is reviewed on Goodreads and has gained the attention of websites such as RAWillumination.


title: Radio spectrum

text: The radio spectrum is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum with frequencies from 0 Hz to 3,000 GHz (3 THz). Electromagnetic waves in this frequency range, called radio waves, are widely used in modern technology, particularly in telecommunication. To prevent interference between different users, the generation and transmission of radio waves is strictly regulated by national laws, coordinated by an international body, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).


title: Radio spectrum

text: Different parts of the radio spectrum are allocated by the ITU for different radio transmission technologies and applications; some 40 radiocommunication services are defined in the ITU's Radio Regulations (RR). In some cases, parts of the radio spectrum are sold or licensed to operators of private radio transmission services (for example, cellular telephone operators or broadcast television stations). Ranges of allocated frequencies are often referred to by their provisioned use (for example, cellular spectrum or television spectrum). Because it is a fixed resource which is in demand by an increasing number of users, the radio spectrum has become increasingly congested in recent decades, and the need to utilize it more effectively is driving modern telecommunications innovations such as trunked radio systems, spread spectrum, ultra-wideband, frequency reuse, dynamic spectrum management, frequency pooling, and cognitive radio.


title: Radio spectrum

text: The frequency boundaries of the radio spectrum are a matter of convention in physics and are somewhat arbitrary. Since radio waves are the lowest frequency category of electromagnetic waves, there is no lower limit to the frequency of radio waves. Radio waves are defined by the ITU as: "electromagnetic waves of frequencies arbitrarily


title: Radio spectrum

text: lower than 3000 GHz, propagated in space without artificial guide". At the high frequency end the radio spectrum is bounded by the infrared band. The boundary between radio waves and infrared waves is defined at different frequencies in different scientific fields. The terahertz band, from 300 gigahertz to 3 terahertz, can be considered either as microwaves or infrared. It is the highest band categorized as radio waves by the International Telecommunication Union. but spectroscopic scientists consider these frequencies part of the far infrared and mid infrared bands.


title: Radio spectrum

text: Because it is a fixed resource, the "practical" limits and basic physical considerations of the radio spectrum, the frequencies which are useful for radio communication, are determined by technological limitations which are impossible to overcome. So although the radio spectrum is becoming increasingly congested, there is no possible way to add additional frequency bandwidth outside of that currently in use. The lowest frequencies used for radio communication are limited by the increasing size of transmitting antennas required. The size of antenna required to radiate radio power efficiently increases in proportion to wavelength or inversely with frequency. Below about 10 kHz (a wavelength of 30 km), elevated wire antennas kilometers in diameter are required, so very few radio systems use frequencies below this. A second limit is the decreasing bandwidth available at low frequencies, which limits the data rate that can be transmitted. Below about 30 kHz, audio modulation is impractical and only slow baud rate data communication is used. The lowest frequencies that have been used for radio communication are around 80 Hz, in ELF submarine communications systems built by a few nations' navies to communicate with their submerged submarines hundreds of meters underwater. These employ huge ground dipole antennas 20–60 km long excited by megawatts of transmitter power, and transmit data at an extremely slow rate of about 1 bit per minute (17 millibits per second, or about 5 minutes per character).


title: Radio spectrum

text: The highest frequencies useful for radio communication are limited by the absorption of microwave energy by the atmosphere. As frequency increases above 30 GHz (the beginning of the millimeter wave band), atmospheric gases absorb increasing amounts of power, so the power in a beam of radio waves decreases exponentially with distance from the transmitting antenna. At 30 GHz, useful communication is limited to about 1 km, but as frequency increases the range at which the waves can be received decreases. In the terahertz band above 300 GHz, the radio waves are attenuated to zero within a few meters, so the atmosphere is essentially opaque.


title: Radio spectrum

text: A radio band is a small contiguous section of the radio spectrum frequencies, in which channels are usually used or set aside for the same purpose. To prevent interference and allow for efficient use of the radio spectrum, similar services are allocated in bands. For example, broadcasting, mobile radio, or navigation devices, will be allocated in non-overlapping ranges of frequencies.


title: Radio spectrum

text: For each of these bands the ITU has a bandplan which dictates how it is to be used and shared, to avoid interference and to set protocol for the compatibility of transmitters and receivers.


title: Radio spectrum

text: As a matter of convention, the ITU divides the radio spectrum into 12 bands, each beginning at a wavelength which is a power of ten (10) metres, with corresponding frequency of 3×10 hertz, and each covering a decade of frequency or wavelength. Each of these bands has a traditional name. For example, the term "high frequency" (HF) designates the wavelength range from 100 to 10 metres, corresponding to a frequency range of 3 to 30 MHz. This is just a symbol and is not related to allocation; the ITU further divides each band into subbands allocated to different services. Above 300 GHz, the absorption of electromagnetic radiation by Earth's atmosphere is so great that the atmosphere is effectively opaque, until it becomes transparent again in the near-infrared and optical window frequency ranges.


title: Radio spectrum

text: These "ITU radio bands" are defined in the ITU Radio Regulations. Article 2, provision No. 2.1 states that "the radio spectrum shall be subdivided into nine frequency bands, which shall be designated by progressive whole numbers in accordance with the following table".


title: Radio spectrum

text: The table originated with a recommendation of the IV CCIR meeting, held in Bucharest in 1937, and was approved by the International Radio Conference held at Atlantic City, NJ in 1947. The idea to give each band a number, in which the number is the logarithm of the approximate geometric mean of the upper and lower band limits in Hz, originated with B. C. Fleming-Williams, who suggested it in a letter to the editor of "Wireless Engineer" in 1942. For example, the approximate geometric mean of band 7 is 10 MHz, or 10 Hz.


title: Radio spectrum

text: Frequency bands in the microwave range are designated by letters. This convention began around World War II with military designations for frequencies used in radar, which was the first application of microwaves. Unfortunately, there are several incompatible naming systems for microwave bands, and even within a given system the exact frequency range designated by a letter may vary somewhat between different application areas. One widely used standard is the "IEEE radar bands" established by the US Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.


title: Radio spectrum

text: Designations for television and FM radio broadcast frequencies vary between countries, see Television channel frequencies and FM broadcast band. Since VHF and UHF frequencies are desirable for many uses in urban areas, in North America some parts of the former television broadcasting band have been reassigned to cellular phone and various land mobile communications systems. Even within the allocation still dedicated to television, TV-band devices use channels without local broadcasters.


title: Radio spectrum

text: The Apex band in the United States was a pre-WWII allocation for VHF audio broadcasting; it was made obsolete after the introduction of FM broadcasting.


title: Radio spectrum

text: Airband refers to VHF frequencies 118 to 137 MHz, used for navigation and voice communication with aircraft. Trans-oceanic aircraft also carry HF radio and satellite transceivers.


title: Radio spectrum

text: The greatest incentive for development of radio was the need to communicate with ships out of visual range of shore. From the very early days of radio, large oceangoing vessels carried powerful long-wave and medium-wave transmitters. High-frequency allocations are still designated for ships, although satellite systems have taken over some of the safety applications previously served by 500 kHz and other frequencies. 2182 kHz is a medium-wave frequency still used for marine emergency communication.


title: Radio spectrum

text: Marine VHF radio is used in coastal waters and relatively short-range communication between vessels and to shore stations. Radios are channelized, with different channels used for different purposes; marine Channel 16 is used for calling and emergencies.


title: Radio spectrum

text: Amateur radio frequency allocations vary around the world. Several bands are common for amateurs worldwide, usually in the HF part of the spectrum. Other bands are national or regional allocations only due to differing allocations for other services, especially in the VHF and UHF parts of the radio spectrum.


title: Radio spectrum

text: Citizens' band radio is allocated in many countries, using channelized radios in the upper HF part of the spectrum (around 27 MHz). It is used for personal, small business and hobby purposes. Other frequency allocations are used for similar services in different jurisdictions, for example UHF CB is allocated in Australia. A wide range of personal radio services exist around the world, usually emphasizing short-range communication between individuals or for small businesses, simplified license requirements or in some countries covered by a class license, and usually FM transceivers using around 1 watt or less.


title: Radio spectrum

text: The ISM bands were initially reserved for non-communications uses of RF energy, such as microwave ovens, radio-frequency heating, and similar purposes. However, in recent years the largest use of these bands has been by short-range low-power communications systems, since users do not have to hold a radio operator's license. Cordless telephones, wireless computer networks, Bluetooth devices, and garage door openers all use the ISM bands. ISM devices do not have regulatory protection against interference from other users of the band.


title: Radio spectrum

text: Bands of frequencies, especially in the VHF and UHF parts of the spectrum, are allocated for communication between fixed base stations and land mobile vehicle-mounted or portable transceivers. In the United States these services are informally known as business band radio. See also Professional mobile radio.


title: Radio spectrum

text: Police radio and other public safety services such as fire departments and ambulances are generally found in the VHF and UHF parts of the spectrum. Trunking systems are often used to make most efficient use of the limited number of frequencies available.


title: Radio spectrum

text: The demand for mobile telephone service has led to large blocks of radio spectrum allocated to cellular frequencies.


title: Radio spectrum

text: Reliable radio control uses bands dedicated to the purpose. Radio-controlled toys may use portions of unlicensed spectrum in the 27 MHz or 49 MHz bands, but more costly aircraft, boat, or land vehicle models use dedicated radio control frequencies near 72 MHz to avoid interference by unlicensed uses. The 21st century has seen a move to 2.4 GHz spread spectrum RC control systems.


title: Radio spectrum

text: Licensed amateur radio operators use portions of the 6-meter band in North America. Industrial remote control of cranes or railway locomotives use assigned frequencies that vary by area.


title: Radio spectrum

text: Radar applications use relatively high power pulse transmitters and sensitive receivers, so radar is operated on bands not used for other purposes. Most radar bands are in the microwave part of the spectrum, although certain important applications for meteorology make use of powerful transmitters in the UHF band.


title: Hines Ward

text: Hines Edward Ward Jr. (born March 8, 1976) is an American football coach and former wide receiver of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Georgia and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 1998 NFL Draft. He is currently the Head Coach of the San Antonio Brahmas. Ward played his entire professional career for the Steelers and he became the team's all-time leader in receptions, receiving yardage and touchdown receptions. Ward was voted MVP of Super Bowl XL and upon retirement was one of eleven NFL players to have at least 1,000 career receptions. Ward is often regarded as one of the best wide receivers of the 2000s, as well as one of key figures for the Steelers success during the 2000s. Aside from his career in the NFL, Ward has appeared in various forms of film and television media, including the reality TV series "Dancing With The Stars" and brief cameos in the 2012 film "The Dark Knight Rises" and in the television series "The Walking Dead". He was a studio analyst for NBC's "Football Night in America" from 2012 to 2015. Ward joined CNN and HLN in May 2016. He was the player relations executive of the Alliance of American Football. In 2019, Ward began his coaching career as an offensive assistant for the New York Jets, working with wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson. In 2021, Ward was hired by Florida Atlantic as special assistant to the head coach.