SARANAC LAKE - "The history of the Hotel Saranac has been one financial crisis after another; it's as simple as that," said Charlie Alexander during a lecture he gave Wednesday evening on the hotel's history. About 40 people attended.
The hotel opened in 1927, shortly before the Great Depression, and its storied past has been bookended by another financial crisis and questions about the hotel's current operational status.
During a slide show, including old pictures of the hotel, many of those who attended bemoaned the loss of its former elegance. The grand entrance and arcade on the first floor were closed in and divided generations ago, the vast second-floor dining room was moved to a comparatively modest room on the main floor, and refreshments on the balcony are a thing of the past. Old ballroom chandeliers were recently replaced, and traditional furnishings have been removed.
A more than 60-year relationship with Paul Smith's College ended in 2007 when the college sold the hotel to the Arora family and moved its hospitality program to the Crowne Plaza Resort in Lake Placid, only to pull it back to campus less than a year later. Alexander said the loss of the students took much of the warmth from the place.
"We had students from all over the world here in the Adirondacks," he said. "We would have Japanese tea ceremonies. It really enabled this small community and hotel to achieve so much of its ambitions.
"We miss those kids. Sure, they made a few mistakes, but they were earnest, energetic and wanted to please. That's uncommon in a hotel these days."
Photographs of past visitors, like Winston Churchill, Somerset Maugham and actress Greer Garsen, as well as images of past celebrations, elicited regretful sighs from many.
"If more people realized how much we have lost, I think there would be more of an outcry," said Joan L. Tyler, of Saranac Lake. "Unfortunately, it seems like there is very little we can do."
Alexander said residents can learn from the experience of the Hotel Saranac. He said the town has essentially lost what was once the crown jewel and social center of Saranac Lake, and the experience reaffirms the importance of protecting a community's history.
"It took a long time for us to recognize the value of our history, and I mean bucks," he said. "But it's so much more than money. The recognition of the value of history for all of us means a better place to live." Alexander, like many local people, refers affectionately to the old hotel as the "HotSara," but he said he can't bear to visit it anymore. For the time being at least, it's painful.
"You'll have to take the tour without me," he said.
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Contact George Earl at 891-2600 ext. 25 or gearl@adirondackdialyenterprise.com.
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(Editor's note: The subheadline of this article has been corrected.)
