Last week I attended a meeting in Rotterdam. It was a cold, dreary day -- certainly not weather that enhanced the look of the city.
The cab pulled up to the meeting venue, the Hotel New York. A large industrial brick building facing the waterfront on the city's "left bank" of the Maas, I assumed the interior, based on the name, would be some ultra-modern affair, mimicking the SoHo or Tribeca Grand variety of hotel in Manhattan that has become the cliche style of so many boutique hotels around the world these days.
But when I walked into the stark brick entryway, past the random stack of old fashioned luggage and through the heavy black iron revolving door, I was a bit confused and hit with a very different sensation. Was this New York? Was the hotel finished? What did it smell of....old books? What is this decor? It's kind of....retro...sort of...super old school.....like...Ellis Island New York. There was a palpable energy in the place....a good energy, but a bit somber. Or, maybe it was just the dreary day.
The air of mystery was lifted when a Dutch colleague told me that the hotel was built more than 100 years ago and served as the former headquarters of the Holland America Line (somehow I missed the giant "HOLLAND-AMERIKA LIJN" sprawled across the top of the outside of the building -- that's the thing that happens when you're rushing into a meeting).
America and Holland are inextricably linked. And moreover, so are nearby Amsterdam and New York....after all, New York was originally known as "New Amsterdam," founded by Henry Hudson in 1614, who left from Holland and fell upon what is now Manhattan via the (aptly named) Hudson River while seeking a passage to the East Indies.
The first ship "Rotterdam" was built in 1872 and the Holland-Amerika Lijn was started in 1896 with direct steam ship service to America, thus placing Rotterdam in a place of prominence in migrant transport history -- the primary destination being New York from 1873 to 1978.
But as the hotel's brochure so poignantly points out, high points in migrant history equal low points in world history. Rotterdam saw huge numbers of Eastern European migrants, mostly Jews, leave their homes in huge numbers for America in the most unhappy of circumstances. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, 1,300 journeys were made: 90,000 saloon passengers and 40,000 third class passengers made the crossing.
In November 1971, the Nieuw Amsterdam II made it's final crossing from Rotterdam, marking an end to Rotterdam's 100 year shipping history. In 1977, the Holland-Amerika Lijn's headquarters moved to Seattle in the U.S. where the company became the Holland America Line and the old HQ in Rotterdam was put up for sale.
"And so the building stood there, with its two green towers acting not only as a landmark in the Rotterdam harbor, but also as a landmark in history. A silent witness, wondering about the fate of those people she had seen depart the shores, and all of those who had sailed under the banner of the HAL."
A solidarity is no doubt felt between the cities of Rotterdam and New York. And when you step foot into the Hotel New York (especially if you're an ex-New Yorker), you feel it. Despite the bustling cafe/restaurant and all the modern touches the hotel might offer now, it feels of a past that you were not part of but somehow know and understand...maybe it was a dream you had many years ago or a story that was told to you. It’s a place that you know, though the city is unfamiliar. The ambience is unmistakably New York, though in a different time and different era... maybe you experienced it in another life. The past and present come together in this place far away from home, and it's a little bit of magic in yet another corner of the world that you never expected to be, but that makes you feel part of something in time and space that’s all connected.
The cab pulled up to the meeting venue, the Hotel New York. A large industrial brick building facing the waterfront on the city's "left bank" of the Maas, I assumed the interior, based on the name, would be some ultra-modern affair, mimicking the SoHo or Tribeca Grand variety of hotel in Manhattan that has become the cliche style of so many boutique hotels around the world these days.
But when I walked into the stark brick entryway, past the random stack of old fashioned luggage and through the heavy black iron revolving door, I was a bit confused and hit with a very different sensation. Was this New York? Was the hotel finished? What did it smell of....old books? What is this decor? It's kind of....retro...sort of...super old school.....like...Ellis Island New York. There was a palpable energy in the place....a good energy, but a bit somber. Or, maybe it was just the dreary day.
The air of mystery was lifted when a Dutch colleague told me that the hotel was built more than 100 years ago and served as the former headquarters of the Holland America Line (somehow I missed the giant "HOLLAND-AMERIKA LIJN" sprawled across the top of the outside of the building -- that's the thing that happens when you're rushing into a meeting).
America and Holland are inextricably linked. And moreover, so are nearby Amsterdam and New York....after all, New York was originally known as "New Amsterdam," founded by Henry Hudson in 1614, who left from Holland and fell upon what is now Manhattan via the (aptly named) Hudson River while seeking a passage to the East Indies.
The first ship "Rotterdam" was built in 1872 and the Holland-Amerika Lijn was started in 1896 with direct steam ship service to America, thus placing Rotterdam in a place of prominence in migrant transport history -- the primary destination being New York from 1873 to 1978.
But as the hotel's brochure so poignantly points out, high points in migrant history equal low points in world history. Rotterdam saw huge numbers of Eastern European migrants, mostly Jews, leave their homes in huge numbers for America in the most unhappy of circumstances. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, 1,300 journeys were made: 90,000 saloon passengers and 40,000 third class passengers made the crossing.
In November 1971, the Nieuw Amsterdam II made it's final crossing from Rotterdam, marking an end to Rotterdam's 100 year shipping history. In 1977, the Holland-Amerika Lijn's headquarters moved to Seattle in the U.S. where the company became the Holland America Line and the old HQ in Rotterdam was put up for sale.
"And so the building stood there, with its two green towers acting not only as a landmark in the Rotterdam harbor, but also as a landmark in history. A silent witness, wondering about the fate of those people she had seen depart the shores, and all of those who had sailed under the banner of the HAL."
A solidarity is no doubt felt between the cities of Rotterdam and New York. And when you step foot into the Hotel New York (especially if you're an ex-New Yorker), you feel it. Despite the bustling cafe/restaurant and all the modern touches the hotel might offer now, it feels of a past that you were not part of but somehow know and understand...maybe it was a dream you had many years ago or a story that was told to you. It’s a place that you know, though the city is unfamiliar. The ambience is unmistakably New York, though in a different time and different era... maybe you experienced it in another life. The past and present come together in this place far away from home, and it's a little bit of magic in yet another corner of the world that you never expected to be, but that makes you feel part of something in time and space that’s all connected.
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