Spring is Coming to Salem

While the weather is not being overly cooperative today, we are boldly stating, by our actions today, that Spring has arrived in Salem, Massachusetts.

Here you can see that we are taking out our little evergreens that have been doing quite well in our planter boxes this winter, and replacing them with our traditional signature pale, pale yellow pansies.

In case you were wondering what we will do with all the evergreen trees, here is the answer. We are going to try to 'summer' them over in the garden of our Bed and Breakfast, the Suzannah Flint House, so we can use them again next winter. Wish us luck!




Here is Tim Cheney, from our building maintenance department, working in the rain to make the switchover of winter to spring happen, right here at the Hawthorne Hotel.

I hope to see you here, especially in the lovely springtime of the year.

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel's Flags of the Week ~~ March 31 through April 6, 2008

Monday , March 31 ~~ Gabon and Kentucky
Tuesday , April 1 ~~ Gambia and Louisiana
Wednesday , April 2 ~~ Georgia and Maine
Thursday , April 3 ~~ Germany and Maryland
Friday , April 4 ~~ Ghana and Massachusetts
Saturday , April 5 ~~ Greece and Michigan
Sunday , April 6 ~~ Grenada and Micronesia

Juli

A Lovely Letter Arrived on My Desk Recently

. . . and I thought you might enjoy seeing it too.

If you have a hard time reading the type, just click on the document and it will become much larger and easy to read.

I hope to see you here, and perhaps hear from you, too!

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel Honors Victor Mariscal Jr. for February

Victor was all smiles when we waylaid him in the lobby last night to award him the Part-Time Employee of the Month Award for February 2008.

In this photo above you see me (Juli Lederhaus), Claire Kallelis (our Food and Beverage Director), Victor, Penny Petronzio (our new Dining Services Manager), and Marcus Wilcox, (our Dining Services Supervisor). We were all very happy to see Victor achieve this award, since he has so greatly improved since he came to work for us last Fall.

In this last photo I asked Victor to pose like he would for his friends at Salem High School. He liked that idea, and readily assumed the position. Way to go, Victor!

Juli

Salem Marine Society

Photo by Linsey Tait, courtesy of Salem News, March 20, 2008

One of the little treasures of the Hawthorne Hotel is a place most of our visitors will never get to see. It is the Salem Marine Society located on the roof of the hotel, and seen here in a photo taken this month for an article regarding a dishonored former member.

In order to build the hotel, the builders had to agree to provide a place for the Salem Marine Society to meet, in perpetuity, and this meeting room was built to accommodate those meetings. It is a replica of the cabin of the Taria Topan, one of the last Salem vessels to ply the lucrative East India Trade.

The society was established by ship captains and owners in 1766 for the dual purpose of sharing navigation information and providing benefits for the needy members and their families.

The society has been meeting on this site without interruption ince the early 1830's, with it's current meeting room established after the Frankline Building was razed to make way for the Hawthorne Hotel in 1924.

I hope you enjoy learning a little bit more about this unique place, the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, Massachusetts.

Juli

A Local View

I took this photo with my iPhone this winter when I was conducting some business at the Shetland Park Business Center here in Salem. I actually shot it through the window of the office I was in at the time. While I was taking this photo I thought how fortunate we are to work in such a scenic city as Salem.

I hope you get to come to visit us in Salem, whether or not you choose to stay at the Hawthorne Hotel, and experience such lovely scenes as this one.

Juli

Crocus a Hopeful Sign of Spring

When I was walking in to work yesterday I spied these crocus poking their blooms up out of the ground -- a sure sign that Spring is coming.

And in this photo you can make out some planters full of pansies and daffodils on the front porch of a home right next door to the crocus' bed. The shadow is me!

We plan to install our traditional pansies in our planter boxes on Monday. I hope to see you here at the Hawthorne Hotel, as winter gives way to spring in Salem, MA.

Juli

Easter Photos from the Hawthorne Hotel Available Now

To obtain your photo with our compliments, simply go online to:
http://tinyurl.com/224y5y ~~ Once you find your photo you will be able to right-click on it, and either print, save, or email it right from there. There is no cost, no registration. It is simple and easy.

Happy Easter from your friends at the Hawthorne Hotel

Juli
Juli Lederhaus, General Manager ~~ 978-744-4080 ~~

Hawthorne Hotel's Flags of the Week ~~ March 24 through 30, 2008

Every day we change the flags that fly on the front of the Hawthorne Hotel. Here are the coming week's flags, flown in alphabetical order. If you memorize these, you could do well in a Jeopardy category someday. Be sure you let Alex know it was because you are a faithful reader of the Hawthorne Hotel blog.

Monday , March 24 ~~ Equatorial Guinea and Guam
Tuesday , March 25 ~~ Eritrea and Hawaii
Wednesday , March 26 ~~ Estonia and Idaho
Thursday , March 27 ~~ Ethiopia and Illinois
Friday , March 28 ~~ Fiji and Indiana
Saturday , March 29 ~~ Finland and Iowa
Sunday , March 30 ~~ France and Kansas

I hope to see you here!

Juli

These Children Loved the Easter Bunny

. . . . and the Bunny loved them right back.

Easter Brunch at the Hawthorne Hotel

A Family of Regular Visitors to the Tavern

On Friday we had a darling baby who was having lunch in the Tavern with her mother and her big brother, Livingston.
Ronan (the baby) is just one month old, but that was not her first visit from her home in Waltham to the Tavern. Her Mom, Alison, says they have been coming to the Tavern together since before Ronan was even a twinkle in her parents' eyes. And in fact, Ronan has already been here now twice in her first month of life!

Since everyone was cooing over this beautiful baby, I thought you, fair reader, would enjoy this slice of life here at the Hawthorne Hotel too. As you know, this blog serves as our daily diary, and this is a lovely entry for us all to enjoy.

Alison told me that they love to sit in front of the fireplace in the Tavern and enjoy a meal. I hope to see you here too!

Juli

News from Salem's Favorite (and only) Movie Theater

. . . located just one block from the Hawthorne Hotel. If you have read this blog before you know how much I enjoy this theater. CinemaSalem is as comforting in feel as is the Hawthorne Hotel. And the best news is the popcorn. REAL BUTTER. Need I say more? Of course, if you are watching your calories, they also have Bare Naked Popcorn, made with no fat. And they have some cool popcorn salts.

Wait, maybe the best news is the homemade Cinnamon-Salem cookies, which are remarkably like Snickerdoodles. Or maybe it is the fact that they sell Klondike Bars. And that they serve Fresca. Or that all their prices are significantly less than the mega-plexes that plague the rest of the world.

I hope to see you there (or here, before or after a show, the Tavern is a great place to eat and drink!)

Juli

Here is their weekly newsletter:

Great News: we've succeeded in booking the Salem Film Fest Audience Award winner, BUDDHA'S LOST CHILDREN, for a one-week engagement starting NEXT Friday, March 28. This beautiful and inspiring documentary captures the true story of a former boxer-turned-Buddhist monk who makes all the difference to a group of orphans and abandoned children in the Golden Triangle region of Northern Thailand.

You can find out more at http://www.BuddhasLostChildren.com. We'll fill you in on showtimes and print some raves in next week's email.


Wow! A lot of you loved HORTON HEARS A WHO (G - 110 minutes) this past weekend. It's earning great reviews from little kids, medium size kids, and big kids, such as normally cynical movie critics like Tom Lang of the Detroit News: "Horton Hears a Who! brings a masterwork into the here and now with both respect and wide-eyed enthusiasm. So smart, so stimulating, so much fun," and Richard Collins of Time Magazine: "The movie proves a funny, elevating ride that should beguile the young and keep their parents or grandparents enthralled too. For once, the G rating stands for Glorious."

HORTON will play at CinemaSalem Fri - Sun: (11:30 AM), (1:45), (4:10), 7:00 and Mon - Thu: (4:30), 7:00.


New this week, for one week only is the incredibly well- reviewed THE BANK JOB (R - 110 minutes) about which the Washington Post writes: "What makes director Roger Donaldson's movie greater than zany heist fare is that this particular robbery really happened and that this episode illuminated an almost moral clash between the haves and the have-nots of Great Britain," to which Andrew Sarris adds in the New York Observer: "The Bank Job shapes up as one of the liveliest entertainments of the year and, in its twisted way, a genuine feel-good movie."

THE BANK JOB will play Fri & Sat: (11:15 AM), (2:00), (4:30), 7:15, 9:40; Sun: (11:15 AM), (2:00), (4:30), and 7:15; Mon - Thu: (4:20), 7:10.


10,000 BC (PG-13 - 109 minutes) answers the question "Were all prehistoric people slim and good looking?" with a resounding "Yes!". The Daily Telegraph notes "Roland Emmerich's prehistoric odyssey 10,000 BC is his silliest, most preposterous blockbuster to date. But it's lots of fun, too." The Salt Lake Tribune also finds it amusing: "There have been funny movies about prehistoric times, but for real gut-busting laughs, it's hard to top 10,000 B.C."
10,000 BC will play at CinemaSalem Fri - Sun: (12:00), (2:30), (5:20), 8:00; and Mon - Thu: (4:40), 7:20.

The Writer's Guild called to see if they could buy advance tickets to BUDDHA'S LOST CHILDREN, and we say, yes, they're available at our website. They also asked if we wanted to print a different colored logo, and we said no, our patrons have grown accustomed to the blue one.

Thanks for supporting CinemaSalem!

Paul Van Ness
email: paul@cinemasalem.com
phone: 978 744-1400
web: http://www.cinemasalem.com

VIP of the Week March 18, 2008

Here at the Hawthorne Hotel we like to really recognize our VIPs. How do you get to be a VIP, which stands for Very Important Passport member? Just join our Passport Club. There are some requirements regarding the amount of overnight stays your company brings us each year. For more information, contact our Sales Office at 978-825-4359.

Congratulations to Mary Kate. We're glad you are here!

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel Names Full-time Employee of the Month for February 2008

Here you see the series of snapshots that constituted our surprise awarding of the full-time employee of the month award to Tim Cheney of our Maintenance Department. Time just recently became eligible for this award, and we were so happy to be able to recognize him for all the great work he has done for us here at the Hawthorne Hotel so far.

After the award ceremony several of Tim's co-workers approached me and said how much Tim deserves this award. He is the kind of person that just keeps going, and he approaches all of his work with enthusiasm, dedication, and perseverance.

Left to right, Juli Lederhaus, Tim Cheney and Jay Gilliss, our Chief of Building Maintenance

I think Tim was the happiest in this photo because it was the last one.

Congratulations, Tim, and thank you for all that you do for all of us.

Juli

Computers and the Internet are important to Historic Hotels

Here you can see photos of our computer room (probably better called a computer closet) where we keep our servers. As it is for so many businesses these days, we simply don't function when our computers go down.

Last week the hard drive on our main server went bad (naughty drive!), and something happened to our firewall at the same time. Yikes!

In this last photo you see our computer guru, Duane Hartman, who flew in (literally) to fix our problems in record time. Thanks so much for getting us all fixed up and back to work.

Juli

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Sales Team at the Hawthorne Hotel

This week our Sales and Catering team members went out on sales calls, as part of their St. Patrick's Day Sales Blitz. They took along gifts that reflected the holiday that is upon us. I thought the entire process of them putting these gifts together was worthy of a Hawthorne Hotel Blog post. I hope you enjoy seeing this too.


"May your pockets be heavy, and your hearts light, May good luck pursue you, each morning and night."

The gift box of St. Patrick's Day cookies, the poem, and of course our meeting flyer and brochure.


Karen Cotton, our Director of Catering, holding the finished product.




Robyn Sheather and Lindsay Otis are the 'taping team' shown here.



If we missed your company on our rounds, give a call to our Sales and Catering Department to see if your company qualifies for our meeting package rates. The direct lines are Sales: 978-825-4359, and Catering 978-825-4358.



I hope to see you here.



Juli