La Guardia Hotel
This postcard for the La Guardia Hotel shows off one of its restaurants and suites during the 1960s.
Here is a matchbook cover from the La Guardia Hotel. The date is unknown, but it mentions the "Cloud Room", a bar in the hotel.
Here is a matchbook cover from the La Guardia Hotel. The date is unknown, but it highlights Louis Ritter, the hotel president from 1953 until his death in 1958.
This advertises the new "Birdcage Restaurant" that opened in 1962 at the hotel. It mentions a complete Thanksgiving dinner being only $3.95 per person.
This is a tax map of what was once the La Guardia Hotel from 2025. The location is now a parking lot. It is block 1634, lot 101.
Known Name(s)
La Guardia Hotel
Address
99-11 Ditmars Blvd., E. Elmhurst 73 Queens, NY
Establishment Type(s)
Hotel
Physical Status
Demolished
Description
There are no photos of the building as it stood during the Green Book era. Its site is now a massive parking lot for La Guardia airport. However, there is a postcard with a picture of a double bedroom and the restaurant inside. Newspaper articles provide information on the interior space as well as some exterior changes.
The La Guardia Hotel, built from 1953 to 1955, was a two-story building that contained 350 rooms and was fireproof, soundproof, and air conditioned. It was built on a seven-acre field opposite the LaGuardia airport. It had a restaurant, bar, and cocktail lounge. The restaurant was called “The Cloud Room.” In 1957, an outdoor patio called “The Flight Deck” was added. The bedroom shown in a postcard features brown carpeting and a brown accent wall, with the rest of the walls being white. A boxed out “beam” ran through the middle of the room. The furniture includes an orange vinyl chair, two beds with green and red striped coverings, a table, and a TV. The restaurant had pale yellow vinyl booth seating, tan carpet, and brown walls, except for the front wall, which had large windows. The ceiling had recessed can lights.
Detailed History
Louis R. Ritter, a real estate broker, began construction for the La Guardia Hotel in 1953. Construction ended in 1955, when there was a grand opening with celebrities and members of the New York elite. One of the celebrities listed at its opening was Georgie Jessel, an actor. The hotel garnered a favorable reputation, with its restaurant and bar being highly regarded among travelers and the press. Some of its meals included a seafood omelet with lobster, calf’s liver, lambchop, veal, and goulash. It was listed in the Green Book from 1961 to 1966.
There were a few robberies at the hotel, the most notable happening during a wedding. La Guardia was also on a list of hotels being investigated for overcharging guests for phone service by the Public Service Commission.
The hotel’s original owner and president, Louis R. Ritter, passed away in 1958. He left a big mark on the real estate industry, as the likes of Time magazine and the New Yorker ran obituaries about him.
