Private Air New York

www.privateairny.com Private Air New York | Fall 2015 82 WEEKEND Born into the life of hotelier, Casalasco cut his teeth in luxury and hospitality while working in Monte Carlo's Hotel Anglais, the family business owned by his father. Coming to New York as a young man, Casalasco began work at Sherry's as first assistant in the salubrious restaurant. It was there that Casalasco honed the skills that endeared him to the era's most well known influencers. Fueled by encouragement and advice received from Astors, Vanderbilts and Morgans as well as by his own lofty aspirations, Casalasco utilized his experience, capitalized on the benefits born from proximity to corporate greatness and opened the doors of his own restaurant on Park Avenue. He named the place Pierre's and while his dreams melded into hard won reality, Casalasco watched his fate driven star begin to rise. An undisputed society hub in 1920's New York, Pierre's Restaurant hosted the most glittering of socialites, the most exquisite of debutantes and the most impressive events of the day. Yet despite riding the pinnacle of the restaurant's success, the ever-endeavoring Casalasco sold the Upper East Side gem and redirected his energies towards a more lucrative joint venture with several Wall Street financiers including E.F. Hutton and Walter Chrysler. e result of this venture was to be the opulent Pierre Hotel. Constructed at a cost of fifteen million dollars - an unheard of sum in the days surrounding the Great Depression - the Pierre rose to be a Georgian masterpiece; a towering, imposing homage to elegance crafted in granite, capped with gleaming copper and inspired by a French chateau. With a pledge to create a hotel steeped in "simplicity and refinement," Casalasco opened the doors to e Pierre on October 1, 1930 and the uppermost echelons of society took admiring notice. e event was marked by a gala featuring a Bill of Fare prepared by none other than famed Chef August Escoffier and e Pierre's place in New York society was firmly, irrevocably cemented into place. Despite such adoring accolades, the hotel once described as "a monument of beauty and one of the most majestic structures in all New York," the hotel with the revered reputation of catering only to "those of refined tastes who can afford the best in the way of hotel luxury," was destined for shattering change. In 1933, Casalasco succumbed to a financial storm left in the wake of the Great Depression and the grand Above: The Hutton Suite of The Pierre with its breathtaking views of Central Park and Fifth Avenue

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