Phil Seuling will hold another Comic Book Marketplace 1/13, 10–5, at the Roosevelt Hotel, Madison Ave. and 45th St. Paperbacks, comic books, movie-memory stuff, sports memorabilia, and much more for true fans.—“Other Events: Happenings,” New York Magazine, January 14, 1985
The elegant Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown will close this month because of lagging business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to reports.—David Cruz, “Iconic, Near Century-Old Roosevelt Hotel Will Close At The End Of October,” Gothamist, October 10, 2020
The Great Pandemic of 2020 did a real number on all our lives this year (and, unfortunately, is carrying over to next year), and among those hardest hit were businesses of all sizes, from mom-and-pop shops to major retailers that were forced to close (Lord & Taylor and Sears among them) to the convention industry (as I wrote about last week, when the publishing shows BookExpo and BookCon closed their doors for good). The hotel industry suffered, too, as evidenced here in New York by the closures of the Omni Berkshire Place in July, the Hilton Times Square in October, and the Marriott Marquis just this week telling 850 employees they’ll be unemployed come March. No travel + no tourists = empty hotels. And joining them at the end of October (Halloween, in fact!) was the Rooesvelt Hotel, once the home of many a science fiction, record, and comic book convention.
Opened in 1924 and named in honor of late American president Thoedore Roosevelt, the hotel was the height of elegance with a prime location in midtown Manhattan, one block from Grand Central Station and two from Times Square. Galas and balls and New Year’s Eve celebrations were held there, it appeared in countless movies…and occasionally it played host to gatherings of hordes of pop-culture-loving geeks.
Lunacon, for example, was held at the Roosevelt in 1967, as were a number of Creation Conventions Doctor Who shows in the 1980s, not to mention Phil Sueling’s monthly Comic Book Marketplaces. But the first convention I ever attended was Creation Entertainment’s final New York Comic Book Convention held at the Roosevelt, in June 1987 (Seuling—considered the father of the direct-market comic sales system—had passed away in mid-1984, and Creation stepped in to fill the comic-con void). I have a pretty vivid memory of buying a copy of the extremely hot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 there and the comic vendor pointing out that it was a third printing—which back then meant absolutely nothing to me. Was it the same comic, at the same cover price? Then I didn’t care, I just wanted to buy it.
The one panel I remember attending at that show was a small gathering of indie comic creators, which piqued my interest—people were making comics not from Marvel and DC? What’s that about? There were, I think four people on stage, but I only recall three of them: Bob Boze Bell, creator of the Texas slice-of-life comic strip “Honky Tonk Sue,” and Wendy and Richard Pini, the husband-and-wife creative team behind the fantasy series Elfquest. It was the first time I’d ever really paid attention to the notion of “independent comics”—but hearing the Pinis and Bell recount their experiences started the gears turning in my head as to the possibilities…
After that, the Roosevelt was pretty much abandoned by genre conventions as organizers moved their shows to less-expensive locations on the West Side of Manhattan: the Omni Park Central/Park Central Hotel and the New York Statler/New York Penta/Hotel Pennsylvania on 7th Avenue, the New Yorker on 8th Avenue, the Holiday Inn on 9th Avenue. And once the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center opened in 1986, everybody for the most part shifted over to 11th Avenue to stay.
So, thanks for the memories, Roosevelt Hotel. With any luck, a conversion from hotel rooms to luxury condominiums may be in your future—following in the footsteps of the world-famous Plaza Hotel on 5th Avenue. Unless, of course, someone thinks it would be the perfect spot to erect a soulless, glass-box office building in your place. After all, New York developers aren’t really known for honoring the city’s rich architectural history…
