Newyork Stories

Staying at the Plaza’s Eloise Suite sounds like heaven for little girls—but how do the adults fare? Curtis Sittenfeld (plus three) checks in for a family adventure.

The delicious absurdity of staying in the Eloise Suite at New York City’s Plaza hotel reached its apotheosis at bedtime on our first night. My daughters, who are seven and five—I’ll refer to them here as Fern and Pippi— had put on their pajamas and brushed their teeth. We’d read (from Eloise, naturally), and it was time to turn out the lights. The task was more difficult than I’d expected. On the wall above the king-size bed hung bright pink neon letters spelling out eloise in the book’s distinctive font, and though I flipped various switches and toyed with various plugs, I couldn’t figure out how to dim the neon. While I was on the phone with the front desk, Fern and Pippi noticed, much to their delight, that their shadows on the white bedspread were pink. I can’t say the discovery made it any easier to get them to go to sleep, but it lent a distinctly festive air to our wait for the maintenance man.

Staying at the Plaza had been Pippi’s idea because the classic children’s book series written by Kay Thompson and illustrated by Hilary Knight was popular in our reading lineup. My daughters adored the books’ depiction of an indulged, mischievous, and bitingly funny six-year-old wreaking havoc inside the famous hotel. When I was a child, my favorite part of Eloise was any scene involving her pet turtle Skipperdee. (I loved his miniature sneakers.) But I suspect my girls’ more playful sensibility is revealed by the fact that their favorite part is when Eloise torments her tutor, Philip, by repeating everything he says.