Did you know?

Did you know that we cater at the Peabody Essex Museum? These photos were taken earlier this year at an event that we did at the PEM, and as I was looking through digital photo files with another member of our staff this week, she exclaimed that we should post these on our Blog.

So, here they are.

If you are interesting in booking a catered event at the PEM, please call Lindsay Otis directly at 978-745-9500, extension 3156. She will make sure that you have an effortless event.

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel's Flags of the Week ~~ December 31, 2007 through January 6, 2008

Happy New Year to all our loyal (and new) Hawthorne Hotel blog readers. Here are this week's flags.

Monday , December 31 ~~ Spain and Rhode Island
Tuesday , January 1 ~~ Sri Lanka and South Carolina
Wednesday , January 2 ~~ Sudan and South Dakota
Thursday , January 3 ~~ Suriname and Tennessee
Friday , January 4 ~~ Swaziland and Texas
Saturday , January 5 ~~ Switzerland and Utah
Sunday , January 6 ~~ Sweden and Vermont

I hope to see you here.

Juli

We Love Our Loyal Guests

The group of young ladies that you see here on the stairs in our Lobby (and in front of our poinsettia tree) were here this December for their seventh annual visit to our Santa Brunch, they have been coming since 2001, obviously an important tradition for them for years.

Seen from left to right are Jackie Ford, Sharyn Anderson, Jenn Dohorty, Maria Dakopoulos, and Cristy Ellis. Unfortunately, one of their group was missing this year, and she is Danielle Robichaud We hope to see her, and all of this charming group, next year.

Juli

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Hockey at the Hawthorne Hotel

This is the time of the year for colleges to participate in big hockey tournaments. Since there is a great rink here at Salem State College, a lot of the tournaments are held here in Salem.

These few snapshots show the team descending on the lobby just before checking out today.

Since it was a bit incongruous to how sedate our lobby usually appears, we thought you might get a kick out of seeing this unusual slice of life at the Hawthorne Hotel.

Juli

Not all history is 82 years old ~~ This is 21years old

These are photos of a Salem Rotary Club regular meeting in 1986. I thought you would be interested to see the room set up with a built-in bar (long gone), and the Palladian windows closed up (and now restored). Members shown are: Chuck Soucy, John Quinn, Jim Robinson & Buck Alexander

Not only are the styles very dated, but we have greatly improved on our presentations within our function space here at the Hawthorne Hotel. Today you would simply never see a display table set up like this with its legs exposed. How ugly was this??!! We also know better these days where the U.S. Flag should be placed -- to the speaker's right, not the left side as you see here.

A lot of what sets the current era Hawthorne Hotel apart, not only from its past, but also from its competitive set, is our attention to those small kinds of details that are so important to a fine function.

I hope you enjoy learning a little bit more about the Hawthorne Hotel, its history, and its current day standards of excellence.

Juli

J

An Unusual Award for an Unusual Staff Member

Sometimes here at the Hawthorne Hotel we find ourselves with a bit of a hole when it comes to staffing. When that happens, it seems we can often rely on Steve Jennings to help us out.

Steve, you see, is my brother-in-law, and the times when we have needed someone here have happily coincided with times that Steve has been available to help us out.

In the past several years he has worked in Dining Services as a Supervisor, at the Front Desk as Night Manager, and now, most recently he has been filling in as a Banquet Cook for the Kitchen while our Chef was out for some elective surgery.

All-in-all, Steve seems to have a can-do attitude about whatever we need him to do. And so, this month the managers asked if we could recognize his with a special award, and here it is.

In the last photo of this series you see Steve with Jenn Normant, Ken O'Keefe (both Sous Chefs here at the Hawthorne), and Shannon Civitarese, our Rooms Division Manager. Steve has helped them all out this year, and you can see they were happy to have him, and to recognize all his hard work.

So am I.

Juli

Merry Christmas from the Staff at the Hawthorne Hotel

If you came for brunch and are in search of your photos, here is the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/HawthorneHotel


Here are some photos from our Christmas Day at the Hawthorne Hotel. We were, as usual, very busy on this holiday. Our staff members maintained their good cheer throughout the day, and even took

In this first photo you see Cheryl Louf, of our banquet staff, with guest John Boccello of Lynn, Massachusetts. Mr. Bochello was in a jolly mood, wearing a Christmas tie complete with lights, for the occasion.


In this second photo we caught Lee White, one of our bartenders, in action, mixing a drink and hamming it up for the camera at the same time.

This photo shows Jonathan Hotz, David Pagano and Karah Kidger.

The coursages our staff were wearing were all courtesy of our extraordinary harpist, Nina Vickers.

Thank you, Nina, and everyone who made our holiday a special one.


We all wish you a wonderful holiday, and hope to see you here soon.

Juli

Christmas Eve at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, Massachusetts

Every year on Christmas Eve for the past 25 years we have hosted a caroling session in our Grand Ballroom for the public. Each and everyone of those years has seen Julie Doherty and friends entertain a room full of local residents, visitors, friends and family come to enjoy an evening of pure Christmas entertainment, courtesy of the Hawthorne Hotel.

This year I recorded the group singing one of my favorite carols, Silver Bells. I hope you enjoy this slice of (video) life at the Hawthorne Hotel.

BTW, I still am not a great (or even good) videographer, so please take it for what it is, an amateurish video.

Thanks,

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel Announces Full-Time Employee of the Month ~~ Kelly Grimmer

Today we got to recognize Kelly Grimmer of our Front Desk Staff as the full-time employee of the month for December 2007. Kelly not only serves our guests at the front desk, but she also assists from time to time in our Housekeeping Department.

Kelly has quickly developed into a very able clerk who seems adept had handling whatever comes her way. She will go above and beyond to help our guests, and does so very quicly as well.

Thanks for all you do, Kelly!

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel's Flags of the Week ~~ December 24 through December 30, 2007

In this special season, we at the Hawthorne Hotel wish you all of the best wishes we can! It is a pleasure to manage a hotel that is as inclusive as the Hawthorne, where every country's flag is flown, and every state is recognized several times each year. Most of all, it is a blessing to live in a country where we are all free to practice our own religions, or none if that is our choice, and where we can respect one another because of where we live.

Here is to true PEACE on the earth, where all are mutually respected.

Juli

Monday , December 24 ~~ Sierra Leone and North Carolina
Tuesday , December 25 ~~ Singapore and North Dakota
Wednesday , December 26 ~~ Slovakia and Ohio
Thursday , December 27 ~~ Slovenia and Oklahoma
Friday , December 28 ~~ Solomon islands and Oregon
Saturday , December 29 ~~ Somalia and Pennsylvania
Sunday , December 30 ~~ South Africa and Puerto Rico

Hawthorne Hotel Names Employees of the Month

This photo shows two of our Employees of the Month. Seated are Cheryl Ennis and Jonathan Hotz, both of the Banquet Department.

Cheryl's award was a little past due -- it was for the Part-time Employee of the Month for October.

Jonathan's award was for the Full-time Employee of the Month for November.

They are surrounded by a number of their teammates from the banquet department, for if there is a department in the hotel that depends on teamwork, it is this one.

Seated on the arms of the chair are two members of the Banquet managemet staff, (L) Liz Dube, Banquet Manager, and (R) Melissa Letterman, Banquet Supervisor.



This was also Melissa's last weekend before leaving to have her first baby, due on Christmas Day.

We are so lucky to have such an excellent team at the Hawthorne Hotel. Thank you to each and every one of you.

Juli

Arber Doci was named our Part-time Employee of the Month for November.

Arber has quite literally grown up (in both size and experience) in his job here at the Hawthorne Hotel. He began working as soon as he was old enough, at 14, very part-time as a brunch runner for our Sunday Brunch.

He soon progressed to busser, which he still does from time to time. After that, he learned to host, and this past fall (our busiest season) he handled the door of the Tavern (our busiest restaurant), hosting and managing the huge waitlist that we always seem to have during this time of the year.

It always makes us happy to watch someone grow and develop on the job here at the Hawthorne Hotel. It is part of what makes us all feel a part of a big family.

In this final photo you see Arber with James Kluge, our Dining Services Manager, standing on the left, and Danny Matias, our Dining Services Supervisor, on the right of this photo. You can tell just by looking at them, how proud they are of Arber, and what he has accomplished.

So am I.

Juli

An Unusual 25th Anniversary, here at the Hawthorne Hotel

Here is a very recent article from the Salem News:

Singer Julie Dougherty celebrates 25 years of caroling in Salem
By Michelle Morrissey , Staff writerSalem News
—
For the past 24 years, Julie Dougherty has led the public in a free carol-sing at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem on Christmas Eve. This year marks her 25th of singing "Silent Night" and other holiday favorites. She'll be caroling from 6 to 8 p.m. on Sunday and 4 to 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

Dougherty said she started singing in the hotel's tavern in 1982, but thanks to the popularity of the event, it was moved into the hotel's grand ballroom. The show also features local musicians Woody Woodward on bass, Ken Field on saxophone and flute, Sal Baglio on guitar and vocals, Kathy Dougherty on vocals and Taylor Armerding on mandolin and vocals.

A special appearance by "the fiddling Santa" is scheduled for 6 p.m. Christmas Eve. For more information, call 978-825-4311, or e-mail dougherty_julie@hotmail.com.

I hope to see you here.

Juli
P.S. If you do plan to come, come early. Both of these events fill up quickly.
P.P.S. We will "pass the hat" for donations to the families of the explosion at the Salem Harbor Station Power Plant. Please open your hearts and your wallets when we come around the room.
P.P.P.S. This video includes a bit of Julie's caroling that she performed for our Hawthorne Hotel staff children's party last night. The best part of this bit is our Director of Food and Beverage dancing with some of the children.

Entertainment on New Year's Eve

We hope you are already planning to come to the Hawthorne Hotel for dinner on New Year's Eve. If you are wondering what to do before or after dinner, here is a suggestion for you. One word of advice. This is a VERY SMALL theater, which makes it great for you in the audience, as it is a very personal theater experience. However, that also means these tickets will be gone in a flash. so if you do want tickets, follow the instructions at the end of this post quickly.

New Year's Eve Comedy at the Griffen Theatre

Monday, December 31, 7:45 & 9:15 pm, doors open at 7 pm

7 Lynde Street, Salem, MA

Professional standup comedy with Boston headliner Stephen Bjork, Amy Tee and Sal Votano.

Tickets: $20. To purchase tickets or for more information visit www.scampscomedy.com or call (978) 825-0222.

I hope to see you here, or there!

Juli

Some More of Our Hawthorne Hotel "Family"

Samanta, Tom and Angela


Rachel, Christine and Scott

I Love These Photos of Our Staff and Their Children

Every year, as part of what we do to honor our staff, and to thank them for all they do, we host a party for all of the children of our staff. Whether they are children or grandchildren, nieces or nephews, they are all welcomed. Santa comes, and brings a toy for each and every child.

This year Santa even played a fiddle, while our good friend, Julie Doherty, played and sang the music of the season.

Here you see (top to bottom) Tiffany and Nataliah,

Claire and Thatch,

Amanda and Ginny (in this case Amanda is a staffer here and Ginny is her mom),

and

Anthony and Tim


I'll do a second post to so you can see some more of our Hawthorne Hotel 'family'.

Thank you to all of our staff for all you do!

Juli

Work in Progress

During the months of December and January you might see a lot of these kinds of scenes here at the Hawthorne Hotel. We are currently reconditioning our guest rooms, with a new coat of paint, new wall paper, crown moldings, new bedspreads with matching shower curtains, and new carpets.

We have finally been able to get this done, because we finally have buttoned up all the leaks that have been plaguing us for years. If you check out the earlier posts this year, you will see the lintel work that was being done to the exterior. While this wasn't glamorous work, it had to be done!

I hope you enjoy seeing this other side of life here at the Hawthorne Hotel.

Progress!

Juli

The Storm of December 2007

Yesterday we had a nor'easter. It started out as snow, then turned to sleet, then freezing rain. It was miserable weather for certain.

However, I loved this photo that I took of a neighbor's house, through a pane of glass. It seemed to capture the essence of this storm.

I hope you enjoy seeing it, more than I enjoyed being in it.

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel's Flags of the Wee ~~ December 17 through 23, 2007

Monday , December 17 ~~ Samoa and Nevada
Tuesday , December 18 ~~ San Marino and New Hampshire
Wednesday , December 19 ~~ Sao Tome & Principe and New Jersey
Thursday , December 20 ~~ Saudi Arabia and New Mexico
Friday , December 21 ~~ Senegal and New York
Saturday , December 22 ~~ Serbia and North Carolina
Sunday , December 23 ~~ Seychelles and North Dakota

I hope to see you here.

Juli

Teddy Bear Tea at the Hawthorne Hotel ~~ December 15, 2007

Today Nathaniel's Restaurant here at the Hawthorne Hotel was the scene for our annual Teddy Bear Tea. This is an annual tradition, which benefits Toys for Tots, in addition to being just a fun event for children and their parents, grandparents, aunts and even uncles.

These are just a few of the photos we took today. If you want to see them all, simply go to http://picasaweb.google.com/HawthorneHotel and click on the Teddy Bear Tea album.

I hope you enjoy this holiday slice of life, here at the Hawthorne Hotel.

Juli