As we wearily check into our hotels, BnB's, and roadside lodges after a long day of travel, we seldom stop to think about the difficulties minority travelers faced doing those exact things in the not-too-distant past. Calvin Stovall Jr. is the author of Hidden Hospitality: Untold Stories of Black Hotel, Motel, and Resort Owners from the Pioneer Days to the Civil Rights Era, a book that explores the often-overlooked experiences of Black travelers and the entrepreneurs who created the thriving businesses that catered to their needs. From the days of wagon trails all the way to the Civil Rights Act, Black hoteliers faced down discrimination to build vibrant hubs of culture across the country.

Buy your copy of Hidden Hospitality here.

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"Lounge Cruisin" by Airstream.

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Our first live episode! We got to interview the queen of literary cocktails (and acclaimed Broadway producer) Brisa Carleton live at the Algonquin Hotel's historic Round Table, where literary greats like Dorothy Parker once lunched and quipped. We discuss Carleton's debut novel, Last Call at the Savoy, which spotlights the forgotten history of London's first female bartender, Ada Coleman. She also lets us in on her writing process along with some extra history tidbits about the Savoy and the Algonquin.

Buy your copy of Last Call at the Savoy here.*

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📰 Sign up for our free newsletter, The CHECK-IN.

📖 Join our free book club here.

📚 Shop our bookshelves here.* Support indie bookstores!

☕️ You can support Hotel History (and our caffeine addiction) here or on Patreon.

👩🏽‍🤝‍👩🏻 Want to collaborate?

🎶 Music

"Opportunity Walks" by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under CC-4.0.

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Thank you for calling. Your call is important to us. Please hold. Dial 0 for the operator. These familiar expressions began 150 years ago when Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call in Boston. It didn't take long for luxury hotels to adopt the technology, and eventually the phone became a commonplace amenity used to request room service, wakeup calls, and extra towels. But behind the hotel's phone lines were the women running the switchboard... and keeping the secrets of their celebrity guests.

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📰 Sign up for our free newsletter, The CHECK-IN.

📖 Join our free book club here.

📚 Shop our bookshelves here.* Support indie bookstores!

☕️ You can support Hotel History (and our caffeine addiction) here or on Patreon.

👩🏽‍🤝‍👩🏻 Want to collaborate?

🎶 Music

"Mining by Moonlight" by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under CC-4.0.

"analogic_dial_telephone" by trip_sound is licensed under CC-3.0.

"phone-pickup-click-22" by Adam_Joseph is licensed under CC 3.0.

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