Wed 4 Nov 2009
Re-brand the Williams Club …
Posted by Dick Swart under Swart Art at 12:29 pm
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5 Responses to “Re-brand the Williams Club …”
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hwc says:
Now, you’ve gone and done it. We now shall commence the debate about whether the Williams Club has a quota on Asian American members. One expert from the nearby Princeton Club claims that Asian Americans face a higher hurdle for admissions into such clubs.
Dick Swart says:
@hwc:
Your humble corespondent in his haste to put together a suitable response to the discussions on the Williams Club, stole the first picture he saw under ‘google club crowds’ that had the desired perspective. I later realized the crowd was in HongKong.
I got my first job in New York at the bar in the Williams Club. I was a senior job-hunting on Madison Avenue. I stopped by for a drink, was immediately given a scotch and soda and, through the kind offices of my benefactor and a telephone, an introduction to Mike Griggs ‘46 at BBDO. I was in the training program by the end of the day.
Such was life in the old days!
Parent '12 says:
@Dick Swart:
Cheers to the good old days! Great anecdote. I wonder how many others could be collected and published to benefit the Club.
Based on hwc’s comment, wouldn’t it be funny if the Williams Club were marketed in Hong Kong, creating a brand that made some money.
Ken Thomas '93 says:
I recently had the privilege of staying at the Oxford and Cambridge Club in London.
Some thoughts.
One could certainly criticize some aspects of the Club on rather obvious grounds. Indeed, this was a topic of conversation with younger members. As a guest, I have little wish to engage in that without feeling I understand a little more of the situation.
Membership in the O&C is substantively more expensive than the Williams Club, I believe. This goes quite a ways towards making it self-sufficient.
Members rates for services (lodging, dining, drink, services) do not seem to be actually “subsidized” (though that is the term used)– so much as operated on a not-for-profit model.
It was quite clear that the life of the Club, including the intellectual life, was quite lively, in a way that the Williams Club may lack. Several major events and lectures of an academic nature occurred per week.
In comparison to other venues in the area, members cost for lodging is about 50% of comparable hotels in downtown London. Food and drinks is probably closer to 1/3.
There is a dress code. In a $1900 (retail!) suit, I tended to feel under-dressed. I found myself dressing to go out into the hallway to the room to iron my shirts.
What touched me the most were the older men and women who gathered at the Club, coming in for a glass of wine and to read the journals. Many were alone, but would run into old friends. It was poignantly obvious that for a number of them, were it not for the Club, there would be no place to go in downtown London– either socially, or financially.
Jr. Mom says:
Ken,
What a lovely glimpse into the O & C Club. I once stayed in one of those old clubs in London, but I can’t recall if it was that one.
Many of these great old clubs are reciprocal with one another. Because of a longstanding membership in a particular one, we have stayed in, or used the facilities of several in the US and Europe.
Some of them are quite tired. The Harvard Club in Boston, for example is pretty scruffy. The NYAC (New York Athletic Club), I quite like. Though not inexpensive, like the O & C, it is a deal when compared to a comparable hotel. What might be lacking in the rooms, is more than made up for by the location (Central Park South), and the athletic facilities. The highlight for me (and something I have not seen anywhere else), is the “spout room”. It is right alongside the giant pool, so after a swim, you go right to the spout room and get blasted by a fire hose-like jet of warm water. It is delightful.
The dress code is such that you must enter by the back door if you aren’t up to snuff. I once tried to convince the man at the front entrance that my pants were “denim trousers”, not jeans. I saw several pairs of very scruffy khakis walk by me while my clean and pressed, indigo-rinse jeans, did not pass code. Irksome at the time.
Another big plus of these old dinosaurs, are the small, quiet bars. Stepping in off the street late at night, they make you feel like you’re home, and entice one to the pleasure of a cozy nitecap before heading up to bed.
I have not been to the Williams Club. I lived just a few blocks from it for half a decade without knowing it was there. But even without having seen it, I find it sad that it may not survive as part of the Williams legacy. I hope something can be done to make it viable as such.