Go to the north end of the subway platform of the Times Square shuttle, and you’ll see a grimy door with an old darkened sign above it.
The Knickerbocker, on Broadway and 42nd Street, was a trendy place back in the aughts and the teens. Legend has it that the martini was invented there.
And opera great Enrico Caruso supposedly belted out “The Star-Spangled Banner” from his room balcony one Veterans Day.
Covered up by construction scaffolding for a few years, the sign and door are visible once again.
And as tempting as it is to imagine going inside and doing a little time traveling, don’t even try. The door remains locked, and though the building still exists, the hotel was shut in 1920.
Tags: beaux-arts buildings in New York City, Enrico Caruso in New York City, John Jacob Astor hotels, Knickerbocker Hotel, passageway to the Knickerbocker Hotel, secrets of the New York City subway, Times Square subway passageway, Times Square subway station, who invented the martini