Sheraton-Tenney Inn
Front of a postcard depicting the hotel around 1964 
Story from the NY Amsterdam News, Aug. 7, 1965 recounting meeting of the Empire State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs at the Sheraton-Tenney. 
Advertisement for the now Royce Hotel, Queens Tribune June, 22-28 1989. 
Advertisement for the now Ramada Inn, Queens Tribune, June 4-10, 1992.
Event announcement describing the address as a Courtyard by Marriott, Queens Tribune, March 20-26 1997. 
The hotel in September 2024. Known Name(s)
Sheraton-Tenney Inn
Address
La Guardia, 90-10 Grand Central Pkwy., E. Elmhurst 69 Queens, NY
Establishment Type(s)
Hotel
Physical Status
Extant
Description
The hotel is located at 90-10 Grand Central Pkwy., East Elmhurst, NY, directly across from La Guardia Airport. A postcard from 1964 depicted the hotel as a flat-roofed, L-shaped building of six stories, five of which bear the outward facing windows of guest rooms. Next to the building, in the corner formed by the L shape, was a large swimming pool. An awning covered a walkway to the parking lot where guests could load and unload vehicles and carry in luggage. A parking lot surrounded two sides of the building’s footprint. The building today occupies the same footprint, but has some additions, bearing additional awnings and an updated valet walkway with green metal roofing.
Detailed History
The Sheraton-Tenney Inn, as the name suggests, was a Sheraton hotel. When it opened, Sheraton hotels were under the direct management of the company, not franchised or merely managed. The inn was opened on December 1, 1962. At opening, it boasted free parking, a swimming pool, five restaurants, and the Fiorello Lounge, a bar where live music could be heard. The hotel was also in proximity to the 1964 World’s Fair, a major selling point in advertisements from the period. Throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, the hotel hosted a large number of events for social groups and individuals renting out its spaces. The Sheraton-Tenney's prevalence in the New York Amsterdam News, an African American paper, suggests that the hotel was one of the primary locations that Black organizations could rent to hold events in the area. In the 1980s and 1990s, the hotel changed hands several times, being known as the Royce Hotel in 1989, a Ramada Inn in 1992, and a Courtyard by Marriott by 1997, which it remained until 2017 (https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2021/11/16/shuttered-courtyard-by-marri...). While the property remains closed, it is maintained, and most recently sold to a developer in 2022.
