The Barbizon

The New York hotel that set women free

- PAULINA BREN

Throughout the years, magazine advertisements for the Barbizon Hotel emphasized this point: “OH! It’s great to be in NEW YORK … especially when you live at the Barbizon for Women”. The tagline was always the same, assuring in its tenacity: New York’s Most Exclusive Hotel Residence for Young Women. But magazine pieces also warned of the wolves, those men who roamed New York’s streets on the lookout for pretty, naive, young things, and the Barbizon promised both protection and sanctuary. Yet that wasn’t the only reason America’s young women wanted to stay there. Everyone knew the hotel was packed full with aspiring actresses, models, singers, artists, and writers, and some had already gone from aspiring to famous. Rita Hayworth had even posed for Life magazine in the hotel’s gymnasium, beside the pool, looking both sexy and impertinent.

But first, this new arrival had to get past Mrs. Mae Sibley, the assistant manager and front-desk hawk, who would look her over and ask for references. In addition to having to be presentable(preferably attractive), and with references attesting to her good and moral character, Mrs. Sibley would quietly mark a potential resident as an A, B, or C. A’s were under the age of 28, B’s were between 28 and 38, and C’s, well, they were over the hill. More often than not, the girl from out of town with a Sunday school hat and a nervous smile was an A. But this first hurdle was the easy one.