Politics and Cocktail Bars

Abstract

Book reviewed in this article: Annabel Jane Wharton, Building the Cold War: Hilton International Hotels and Modern Architecture In the 1960s, before the Junta took control, I spent a great deal of time in Athens, lost—I fear—in visions of the fourth century B.C. So it always came as a great surprise when tear gas wafted over Omonoja Square and crept under the awnings at American Express, when sirens wailed, when an unruly, unsettled present intruded upon a golden past. The politics of it all were of no interest to me; in that respect, I was the typical American abroad. Whenever the Paris edition (in English!) of the Herald Tribune was delayed by the various coups and protests in progress, my friends and I had no idea of what was going on around us, except that it was all terribly inconvenient. There were days when you couldn’t walk through Plaka to the ancient agora (and the American School of Classical Studies, recently opened in the Stoa of Attalos, which had been beautifully restored with Rockefeller money) for the smoke, the confusion, and the fitful clumps of angry marchers. Despite our learned sophistication, our everyday landmarks in Athens had always been American Express and the American School. But when things finally spun out of control, we fled to the brand new Hilton, high above the troubled city, for hamburgers, reassuring voices from home, and a palpable sense of safety. The Hilton was a little patch of Suburbia USA in this troubled corner of the ancient world.