Hotel Astor is a luxury hotel in Paris, reached by recommendation, where wealthy guests deposit valuables and courtesans, financiers, jurists and judicial astrologers mingle on the veranda.
| Type | Place (hotel) |
| Spanish entry | Hotel Astor |
Description
It lies outside the central district, but from its windows the Louvre and the palace are seen in the distance, and the gardens are not far. It is recommended by word of mouth: «El Astor es el hotel.» (“The Astor is the hotel.“)
- Public floor: the veranda, serving chocolate and coffee, and the large breakfast room “with columns of command” (columnas de mandos).
- Private floor: the key desk, the suites, and the safe-deposit box, where Paris hotels take valuables against a receipt.
Cocottes and other famous women of Paris, financiers, presidents of jurists and judicial astrologers talk, consult and deal there over chocolate.
Other Paris hotels
- Hôtel des Invalides: crown-sponsored, near the Champ de Mars; houses the wounded, detainees and prisoners under guard, with good treatment and drink. Steve Reyes was lodged there and escaped.
- Hôtel Dubil: more central; the musketeers stayed there a century ago.
- Hôtel d’Angoulême: Paris residence of the Rohan family.
Conflicting accounts
- Speech says Astor; some papers write Astra.
Open questions
- Its facade, size, suites, prices and exact district are not recorded.
- Whether the Hôtel Dubil is distinct or a corrupted echo of “Astra” is unresolved.
- Whether the “columns of command” are of command, marble, or a garbled term is unknown.
- Whether the safe-deposit box is the Astor’s own or common to Paris hotels is unclear.
- What the astrologers do there, and whether the Astor and the Invalides have dealings, are unknown.