Sydney hotel turns 50, but its iconic bar is turning 132
Here, fiction meets fact, for Hilton was indeed a pioneer – in his use of advertising and public relations, but also as the person to establish the world's first international hotel chain, the concept of hotel franchising (an investor builds it, the brand runs it) and the first airport hotel.
The hospitality giant's first venture into Australia was the Chevron Hilton in 1960 and later the Sydney Hilton, which opened for business in 1975 and so celebrates 50 years this year. One of its durable features is the basement Marble Bar.
That bar has some history – it opened in 1893 as part of the George Adams Tattersall's Hotel and was dismantled piece by piece when that building was to be demolished, eventually reassembled to open as the basement bar below George Street as part of what is now the Sydney Hilton.
If those walls could talk, one thing they'd mention is the photo shoot for Cold Chisel's 1979 album, Breakfast at Sweethearts – with the cover photograph in the Marble Bar. By some accounts, the band itself didn't love the album, but it did win 'Cover of the year' at the Countdown awards.
And if Cold Chisel happened to drink a pina colada to celebrate, that cocktail combination of rum, coconut cream, and pineapple juice, then they had Hilton to thank for that – the drink was created in the 1950s at their hotel in Puerto Rico.
Hilton also claims to have invented the chocolate brownie, but that is more by way of inheritance. The brownie is generally believed to have been created in the kitchens of Chicago's Palmer House Hotel in 1871 and Hilton bought that hotel in 1945.
In Australasia, Hilton has 47 hotels with upcoming openings including the $575 million, 227-room Waldorf Astoria Sydney at Circular Quay, claimed to be 'Australia's most luxurious hotel'. It is expected to open late next year.
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