I've lived in NYC for 13 years and did not know the history of the Gramercy Park Hotel, so this was eye-opening and, if, as someone quotes in the movie, every building has a story, I wouldn't mind a documentary like this for every building in the city.
The film tells the story of the once-proud Gramercy Park Hotel, once opulent enough to house Humphrey Bogart and Babe Ruth, and how it declined over the years, finding a new life as a bohemian hellhole, the drug and party HQ for a lot of punk rockers and NY nightlife luminaries. The story continues past the decline into the rebirth as Ian Schrager of Studio 54 Fame buys and renovates it into a modern and chic spot.
You follow the story of the Weissbergs, who owned the hotel into its decline, living in it through all the madness and their own family tragedies. Schrager, the perfectionist as he pulls off what he calls his most difficult job of his life. And a handful of old school tenants who decide to live in the building while it is being renovated.
A fascinating if not intensely dramatic story. The Weissbergs tale of how the hotel sort of destroyed their family is the most intriguing, although not entirely explained. That is, things that happened to the family could have happened if they didn't live in the hotel. The Schrager element is interesting in that one first thinks he is going to totally be an evil developer character, the villain of the piece, but he actually just seems like someone wanting to do the best with the property and learn from past mistakes. The people who stayed there during the renovation seem mainly a little kooky, but not overly so.
All told, a fine bit of NY history and look at how old NYC is being supplanted by new NYC all the time, for better and/or for worse.
