January 23, 2005

Kicking Out the Rock Star Ghosts and Selling Off the Doorknobs

ver the last 80 years, the Gramercy Park Hotel has sheltered Babe Ruth, a young John F. Kennedy, Joe Strummer of the Clash and many other notables. But none have left their mark on the hotel as much as Frank Long, a big and genial man from Dayton, Ohio.

Mr. Long is president of International Content Liquidations, and although he and his crew will not soon be mistaken for rock stars, they can dismantle a hotel room with the best of them. Their current project is the Gramercy, a shabby old structure just off the park where they are selling off all the furniture, fixtures and decorations, in a sale that started Jan. 7 and closes Friday. The sale will resume in February.

The Morgans Hotel Group, the hotelier Ian Schrager's company, now owns the 18-story building but considers it "premature" to discuss its plans, said Holly Taylor, a spokeswoman. But the gutting, which began in the 120-room section of the hotel that faces East 21st Street, continues.

"It's conceivable if you had stayed in Room 2015 on Saturday night the first, then you could have bought your bed," Mr. Long said. Business has been brisk, but the main attraction starts Feb. 3, when the sale moves to the 230-room main building, where Humphrey Bogart was married on the rooftop garden and rockers from all eras haunted the lobby. "Everybody's waiting on this one," Mr. Long said, "because we have the chandeliers."

Still, plenty of merchandise was already available. In green-carpeted Room 819, there were a desk and an end table for $30 each. Resting on the table was a Gideons Bible (price unknown). In other rooms, some corners remained in suspended animation: a full ashtray and a Chinese takeout menu in Room 327, a New Year's Eve 2005 party hat in Room 725. On the ground floor, there was an artificial Christmas tree - decorated - for $95, a brass mailbox for $2,000, and doorknobs for $10 apiece.

Nearby, in the formerly exclusive Cobalt Club room, which opened in 2003 in a late grab for retro hipness, marble-topped dressers went for $110. The floor behind the bar ($2,500) was still sticky, but the velvet that lined the walls was gone; someone had bought it to make pillows.

A three-piece sofa set was gone, too, for $3,000. "When the guy bought it, I said, 'What are you buying it for?' " said Bob Grzenia, vice president for operations of International Content Liquidations. "It was 'Pimp My Ride' kind of stuff."

Bargain hunters browsed for chairs that may have once accommodated Bob Dylan or Elvis Costello. "This is the first place I ever stayed in New York," said Simon Monjack, a British-born filmmaker. "It was where the Beatles stayed, and was still seen as kind of an artsy hotel. If you couldn't get into the Chelsea Hotel, you came here."