Drake Hotel (Chicago)

The Drake, a Hilton Hotel, located in Chicago at 140 East Walton Place, is a luxury hotel, notable for its many celebrity guests. In 1954, the newlywed couple Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe carved their initials into the wooden bar of the Cape Cod Room. In 1996, during her only visit to Chicago, Diana, Princess of Wales, stayed at the Drake . The hotel is listed since 1980 in the National Register of Historical Places.

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Quotes

... the legendary Sapphire Suite of The Drake .. was used for decades to accommodate visiting royalty and other notables. Among the past occupants of the suite were Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Emperor Hirohito of Japan, King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, and Prince Charles and his aunt Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom.
- Robert V. Allegrini, Chicago's Grand Hotels: The Palmer House Hilton, the Drake, and the Hilton Chicago. Images of America: a history of American life in images and texts. Arcadia Publishing. 2005. p. 80. ISBN 1439616590.

New York food critic Julia Roberts stays at the Drake while plotting the downfall of rival Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend's Wedding (1997). In the dark social satire Risky Business (1983), Tom Cruise and Curtis Armstrong drink pricey hot chocolates in the Drake's Palm Court while waiting to confront high-priced call girl Rebecca DeMornay. Unfortunately for the three of them, Guido the killer pimp (Joe Pantoliano) is also there, flashing his nasty smile and a nastier gun. Scenes from the bland basketball drama Heaven Is a Playground (1991) were also shot here, as well as footage for the The Blues Brothers (1980) and the made-for-television movie Man Against the Mob (1988).
The Drake played a climatic role in Hero (1992).
- Michael Corcoran and Arnie Bernstein, Hollywood on Lake Michigan: 100+ Years of Chicago and the Movies. Chicago Review Press. 2013. p. 58. ISBN 1613745753.

The Drake's first owners were brothers John B. and Tracy Drake, also owners and managers of the Blackstone. With the city's most prominent hotels at either end of Michigan Avenue (both designed by Marshall and Fox), it seemed as though the Drakes encompassed the social, commercial, and political life of Chicago. As one of the grandest of Chicago's palace hotels, the Drake continues to play host to dignitaries, celebrities, and citizens alike.
- William R. Host and Brooke Ahne Portmann, Early Chicago Hotels. Postcard history series. Arcadia Publishing. 2006. p. 122. ISBN 0738540412.

1929 — Chicago's cultural hotspot is a place called The Drake Hotel. The Drake was a residential hotel for the elite, part of the Gold Coast, the greatest concentration of wealth in Chicago. The Gold Coast was cheek by jowl with a slum, Little Hell, the greatest concentration of poverty in Chicago.
- Jacqueline Low and Gary Bowden, "Chapter 10". The Chicago School Diaspora: Epistemology and Substance. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. 2013. ISBN 0773589708.