(1993). The hotel reopened in 1996 but Irving never returned.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-05-19-ls-5806-s...
If, like me, you were curious about the visuals to go with this piece, it appears that this is the pool today: https://www.dorchestercollection.com/los-angeles/the-beverly...
> ordered breakfast: scrambled eggs back in the days when people ate eggs, and, more recently, banana and granola with skim milk.
It's funny how much life cycles. I do kinda remember a phase where people were eating a "healthier" breakfast of some kind of fruit, and when granola became popular, and when milk fat was considered the worst thing you could do to your body.
But now eggs are fine, again. Great, even.
> Then Irving would either walk back home to his wife and two children
What the... he'd leave his wife at home with the kids while he hung out all day at the pool with "magnificent-looking young women, full of theatrical drive" and eat all his meals at the hotel?
He made it to 101
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/irving-lin...
I can't be the only person curious about his Fortunescope: https://www.etsy.com/listing/719052863/antique-1935-fortunes...
Reading the article, looking at pictures from the Beverly Hills Hotel in the 70ies and 80ies, and considering the fact that Irving V. Link acted in a movie once, I get the strong feeling that an episode of Columbo in which Link played himself as a wrongfully accused prime suspect (saved by Columbo in the end) would've been excellent.
Just imagine Peter Falk and Link conversing next to that pool: https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/travel/discover/photos...
what stands out of me is a sense of place the hotel represented that isn't present anywhere today. if you were at the hotel when something occurred, the hotel was a part of america and by being there, you were there, a small part of the story. the starkness in the story to me is that the culture today lacks belonging. no matter how many followers you have, you will never belong anywhere the way this Irving character had become a fixture. he was a part of the story.
maybe I'm just nostalgic, but there's an essential dynamic in the story that isn't present in the culture now.
the hotel was a place with durable meaning that cohered in the culture over a long period of time. I couldn't name one place now that isn't just a theme park to its former meaning, full of toursts taking selfies, people who themselves know they don't belong somewhere. the thrill of taking photos of themselves or their food is the same as they might get from shoplifting a lip balm. maybe what's changed in the culture is the people lack belonging and go from place to place like this stealing bits of meaning without their lives becoming any richer, or particularly less poor.
the physical places themselves didn't change, but I think the identity of people who use places to tresspass and share with their imaginary followers somewhere else has hollowed out the presence and meaning of these places, and that is what has made characters with romantic and interesting lives like this Irving guy something from the past. maybe people just don't act like they belong anymore.
If you enjoyed this consider William Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways". He is a quiet unassuming guy, or at least I assume he is unassuming, because he presents a human edifice that strangers open up to.
As opposed to this monster of minutia that is one life, Moon traveled the back roads and collectively met hundreds of people and made conversation, gathered famous and obscure lore of the places he visited. He encountered them on their own turf and elsewhere. Even a chance meeting by a lake with a mosquito-bitten teenage runaway girl who opened up to him about the awful life from which she had just fled, and he made the 'courageous' decision to drive her across Wisconsin and deliver her safely to her grandmother's house in Green Bay.
He is essentially a documentarian, and delivers the plain truth of the tales told to him. It is a transformative read.
I was thinking: "an entire article about a guy who used to tan at a hotel pool... when we start focusing on such trifles, it's usually a foreshadowing of some major upheaval coming."
Then I saw the year of publication: 1993.
I don't know why I found this so interesting to read. After the first few paragraphs I wondered why this was in The New Yorker, afterall, this is about a place in CA. The answer did appear, eventually...
“My story begins on the Lower East Side of New York,” he said...Article summary: “ Irving V. Link spent 42 years at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool, where his meticulous daily routine of breakfast, sunbathing, and gin rummy became legendary. He was admired by hotel staff and Hollywood figures alike, symbolizing the timeless charm of a bygone era in Los Angeles. His life was deeply intertwined with the hotel’s evolution, reflecting the glamour of old Hollywood and the shifting dynamics of its clientele. The hotel’s closure by the Sultan of Brunei for renovations disrupted his routine and marked the end of an era. Link’s personal narrative weaves together memories of luxury, business intrigue, and cultural transformation. Ultimately, his story is a poignant meditation on the inevitability of change and the enduring power of tradition.”
Apparently the Eagles song, "Hotel California" is loosely based on the fokelore around this hotel.
There is a strange sort of cerebral experience that elicits a visceral response about glimpses into ordinary life through plain black ink…err…fonts.
> Often he and the hostess, Bernice Philbin, would be the first two people there, and they would have a polite conversation before Irving took his place in his booth—the first half circle to your left as you came in—and ordered breakfast: scrambled eggs back in the days when people ate eggs, and, more recently, banana and granola with skim milk.
TIL that my last 30+ years of egg eating has been a faux pas.
I find it wonderfully clichee that the guy who's job was linking vendors and customers was called Mr. Link.
So he would just go hang out at a pool all day and avoid his wife and children? No wonder he lived to 101.
Marvelous article. I was prepared to read about an eccentric and mild recluse but Irving seems to been witness to extraordinary things.
What a lovely, sumptuously-written piece. Thank you for sharing!
Amazing read!
>scrambled eggs back in the days when people ate eggs
do people not eat eggs anymore?
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My goodness, 42 years of sun bathing at the same latitude as Tunisia. Should he have got skin cancer or did he benefit from all the naturally produced Vitamin D?
This is completely all over the place, like it would be to listen to an 87yo, but I'm not too sure about the author or editor.
These are the kinda articles I like to just read the last paragraph. So much work to paint some annoying ass story; sorry, I skipped to the end haha.
https://archive.is/eRc3M