The Nature of New York

There’s something about honey bees that delights us. They are known as “social” for a reason: they care for each other throughout their lives. They are born to serve one another and this devotion to the tens of thousands of bees within their community ensures the survival of the hive.

In the fall of 2011, I learned from Peter Betz, my nephew and executive sous chef at the Waldorf Astoria, that the newly hired director of culinary, David Garcelon, would be bringing bee hives and a chefs’ garden to the 20^th story rooftop of the Waldorf, and that chefs, cooks, waiters, and workers from all over the hotel would be working during their days off to build the hives and the raised garden beds. I was both moved and intrigued. I had written several books about the parks, natural history, trees, and birds of New York City, but this book would have to weave together the history of the hotel, of early New York, of the biology of bees, and of the symbiotic relationship between bees and flowers. My research led me to the 130-year history of the hotel known as “the greatest of them all.” The Waldorf Astoria was home to some of the most celebrated, creative, and historic figures of our century, including Cole Porter, Frank Sinatra, and Marilyn Monroe. Every president from Herbert Hoover to Barack Obama stayed in the Presidential Suite. Winston Churchill stayed in the Churchill Suite. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor stayed in the Royal Suite. Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Lena Horn, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong entertained there. The art deco craftsmanship is astounding. The original hotel stood on Fifth Avenue between 33^rd and 34^th Streets, and when it was torn down, the Empire State building rose from that site. The history of the Astor family alone, starting in 1783 when John Jacob Astor first arrived as a poor German immigrant, is a history of our young city and young country.

My initial desire to write Honeybee Hotel was inspired by the caring community within the hotel and the social life within the darkness of the hive. The care the honey bees took with each other mirrored the care that the chefs, the wait staff, the support staff, and people from other realms within the hotel applied to their work and to caring for the bees and for the garden. It also shone through the chefs’ work with the homeless shelter and food pantry across the street at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church.

From the time of David Garcelon’s arrival at the hotel, food from Oscar’s Brasserie was shared with Crossroads Community, the charitable wing of St. Bart’s, that feeds a hot breakfast to 150 people each morning, provides dinner and shelter to 10 women each night, and serves food to 1,000 people each month through their food pantry. Some years ago, the Reverend Edward Sunderland, who was the chair of Crossroads and worked closely with the chefs at the Waldorf, came up with the idea for a spectacular dinner for the homeless and the hungry that would take place the day after Thanksgiving, which they called Fare Share Friday. Food prepared by the chefs of the Waldorf and other famous hotels in midtown near St. Bart’s is served to 500 guests in the magnificent nave of the church. Half of the guests are homeless and hungry and half are paying guests. My husband and I volunteered to serve food at this spectacular yearly event, which the chefs at the Waldorf had created with St. Bart’s. Produce, vegetables, fruit, and herbs from the chefs’ garden, and honey from the Waldorf’s bees; traditional Thanksgiving turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and gravy; and desserts created by the famous pastry chefs from each hotel were shared those nights. Everything was donated, including the hours spent by the chefs and the volunteers preparing and serving.

The sharing of food, of respect, and of attention is the light that shines through this experience. My nephew said that many of the hotel workers were immigrants. The 140 chefs that work for him come from a variety of places around the world. This diversity was something he loved and respected. The chefs would bring in food they had prepared at home--food from their cultures--and share it with him. At times he would integrate this food into dishes that they served. One member of the wait staff who was originally from Thailand brought coconut sticky rise balls infused with lemongrass and ginger that he had made at home. The chefs used his recipe and made a galette (a type of pancake) using those ingredients. In Peter’s kitchen, up to thirty countries were represented at any given time. Peter said, “The diversity is amazing. And so many of our staff are interested in the bees and the garden. Some go up every day and pick herbs and incorporate them into a recipe they are preparing. Others might go up every day just to collect flowers or leaves or sprigs to decorate platters for our receptions. People participate in the garden because they are so inter­ested in it.”

The people working in this historic and revered hotel had a profound effect on me: I was touched by their acts of everyday kindness and respect toward each other, toward the hotel guests, and toward the Waldorf itself. Here in my city of many languages and many cultures, with the Lady of the Harbor welcoming the most vulnerable to our shores, was a successful business where love of food, of history, of nature, and of humanity came together--a place where empathy and caring coexisted with making money and running a palace of a hotel.  

Together with the chefs, the bees, and the workers from the hotel, Andrew Cote, head beekeeper for New York City and founder of the New York City Beekeepers Association, helped take care of the bees. George Pisegna of the New York Horticultural Society taught the chefs how to plant their garden and brought a crew of former detainees from Rikers Island and other prisons who were learning horticulture to the roof garden to care for the plants.

This community of people, honey bees, and plants brought together by Chef Garcelon lasted for five years. The Waldorf Astoria was sold to the Chinese insurance giant, Anbang, who had plans to convert 2/3 of the hotel suites to condos. The Art Deco Society of New York, the Landmark Conservancy, the Historic Districts Council of New York, the Landmarks Committee of Community Board 5, and preservation societies around the world banded together to protect the Waldorf’s magnificent art deco craftsmanship and its iconic and historic public spaces. They fought to preserve the Grand Ballroom, the Starlight Roof, Peacock Alley, and the magnificent Wheel of Life mosaic by art deco master Louis Rigal. In the spring of 2017, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to landmark the public space interiors of the Waldorf. During the winter of 2018, the Chinese government took over the properties of Anbang Insurance and work has begun in the conversion of hotel rooms into condominiums.

We don’t know what the future holds for the Waldorf, but I am hopeful that when I next walk through the doors of the hotel, I will feel enormous relief and gratitude to find the preserved public spaces. I also look forward to seeing the changes that are made, but mostly, what I expect to feel is that I’m still in a place where, once upon a time, the chefs and the staff of the Waldorf Astoria and St. Bartholomew’s Church united with a garden filled with honey bees to show the world the real New York, a city of creative and compassionate people, where nature can thrive. That is the true heart of my city.

Leslie Day is a New York City naturalist. Dr. Day taught environmental science and biology for more than twenty years. Today, she leads nature walks, gives talks, and teaches at the New York Botanical Garden. She is the author of Honeybee Hotel.