Shanghai Favorite # 1 – The Fairmont Peace Hotel where we stayed. A landmark art deco building built by prominent businessman Sir Victor Sassoon, and is located on the Bund facing the Pudong area over the Huangpu River.
Stunning art deco lobby at the Fairmont Peace Hotel.
The hotel touts itself as “truly a fusion of ancient and modern, Eastern and Western, and was built in the Gothic style of the Chicago School.” Go figure! There’s that Chicago architecture thing “again.” The building was started in 1926, rose to 10 stories, and was designed by P & T (Palmer and Turner) Architects Limited. Ed read somewhere that Victor put a moratorium on buildings being built taller than it, but I’m not sure where he read that. So I might be writing a “white lie.”
Our favorite things at the Fairmont: the Parisian style Victor’s Café where we sipped on cappuccinos surrounded by Germans whose conversations I eavesdropped; my massage that cured my jet lag at The Willow Street Spa where the décor and serenity blew me away; the delicious food at the Dragon Phoenix Chinese restaurant; and X Style the wonderful gift shop owned by Sieglinde Simbueger, a German lady originally from Paderborn, Germany, a city not far from my relatives in Arnsberg. We conversed in German, as I stopped by frequently to purchase postcards and souvenirs.
Victor’s Cafe at the Fairmont!
The Old Jazz Band
A deciding factor in Ed’s decision to book us at the Fairmont was the esteemed Jazz Bar, Shanghai’s premier destination for Jazz, located in the hotel. Nightly, from 7:30 to 9:30 the Old Jazz Band, the long-time resident band made of seven musicians over 70 years old (the oldest member boasts of a whopping age of 92) plays. I found a quote on the web that says it all: You won’t hear much improvisation in their jazz music, but you’ll be moved by their passion and devotion when they perform.
Movie poster for the 70 year-old average-aged band at the Fairmont Peace Hotel.
They’ve even had a movie made about them. We stayed for a drink.
After my father died I took my mother to Toronto which is one of my all time favorite cities. While there I looked up the best jazz bar in the area because I knew my father had been passionate about jazz. Mother and I sat there in silence for a set and when the band, which was quite good, took a break my mother said, “Jazz was never my favorite.”
We went off to China town and dined instead.
I love the lobbies of grand hotels. And the Fairmont seems to have a good one.
enjoyed your descriptions and wording.
felt like I was there.