Hello All!
 
   I recall a while back there was a question on museums in business
   centers (?) or something marketing themselves to draw in tourists.
 
   Well, here's an interesting twist.  In Washington, DC--touron
   capital of the universe, people FLOCK to the museums.  In an
   interesting twis, it seems the business community (or some of it)
   is trying to hop on the arts bandwagon by aligning themselves with
   museums.  The hottest ticket in town these days is the Holocaust
   Museum and just WAIT until you see what appeared in the local _City
   Paper_!  In a way, it's humorous, morbid, kind of inflammatory, and
   just a little weird all at the same time.
 
   P.S.  Yes I do work at the Museum and I do think Mr. Labash pokes
   a little too much fun at our visitors--to the point of being
   extreme at times--but I just thought this was an interesting twist
   on marketing schemes.  What is to follow is Mr. Labash's opinion
   and are his words and his alone.
 
 
 
   HOTEL HOLOCAUST: The Carlton's Appetite for Ghoulery
   by Matt Labash at the _Washington City Paper_
 
   Advertising mogul David Ogilvy was on to something when he said,
   "You pay for the advertising, the press should be free."  This
   maxim obviously informed the thinking of marketing mites at the
   Carlton, who've been running an ad in the _New York Times_ Travel
   section for several months, offering "An Invitation to Experience
   the Holocaust Museum."
 
   It's "A Time to Remember, " we're assured.  Then, in smaller copy:
    "Visiting the Holocaust Museum is profoundly moving and
   enlightening.  At the Carlton hotel we can also make it comfortable
   and convenient."
 
   Admission to the Holocaust Museum is free to the first 1,500 at the
   door each morning, but the Carlton's weekend museum package is no
   bargain:  It's priced at $185 per night, and as the small print on
   the ad points out, "Taxes, gratuities and parking not included....
    Two night mininmum stay required."
 
   Two nights may be one too many for Holocausting, but what a
   concept!  Imagine tourism entrepreneurs selling souvenir suicide
   shivs next to the tram at Masada, or for goyish anaolgism, a
   gambling junket to Golgotha where you can shoot craps on regulation
   Caesars-style tables at the foot of the cross--roll an 11, and you
   take the robe back in your carry-on.
 
   Perhaps this ad campaign was inspired by its architects' poring
   over selections from Benetton's anthologized portfolio of
   feculence--like the ones that use IRA car bonbings or an
   AIDS-ridden Jesus to sell their
   save-the-world-Skittle-glo-lambswool, Blackwellian no-no's, and
   piss-petal eau de toilette.
 
   But content aside, the time is ripe.  Since the $168-million
   museum's inception, the place has been packing them in by the
   busload--from the bowels of Eastern Europe to the Island of Long,
   from Miami to Cocoa Beach to Sarasota and every other geriatric
   kosher enclave in the blue-hair state.  Gentiles, too.  They come
   to remember, or to see for the first time the annihilation of an
   entire European demographic.  Some come withered and weathered and
   broken in Aunt Sadie glasses with oversize frames and
   sandalwood-tinted lenses, the kind bought at the Walgreen's
   whirl-o-rack next to the sliding-door auto-exit mats and the
   handheld express baskets.
 
   Their husbands amble alongside them, sometimes in catatonic horror,
   sometimes in yarmulkes or in dated gray-felted faux Borsalinos, the
   kind sold in a Buffalo Kuppenheimer, wearing Bingo-ready get-ups:
   double-vented jackets with too much white space between the dirty
   choco-tan Dacron houndsteeth, and sponge-soled ortho-laceups meant
   for balance while shuffleboarding or fox trotting at senior-center
   classes.
 
   That's where the Carlton comes in, easing the way by providing
   much-needed shelter during the out-of-towner' excursion through
   this historical chamber of horrors.  While some may deem the
   Carlton ads tasteless, the hotel's press release provides an even
   higher degree of ribaldry.  "The Carlton Hotel Presents a Weekend
   Holocaust Museum Package," its headline announces.  In addition to
   the deluxe accommodations, the marble bathrooms, the morning coffee
   and afternoon tea, the complimentary newspapers, shoeshine and
   terry cloth bathrobes, the hotel also offers "a lavish Sunday
   brunch" which includes a "sumptuous buffet of appetizers, a series
   of entree choices and an array of delectable desserts."
 
   If, before learning more about the genocide of the 6 million, you'd
   rather pass on the Grilled Lamb Chops in Currant Cabernet Jus or
   the Belgian Waffle with Amaretto Whipped Cream & Fresh Berries, the
   Carlton consoles, "Our chef will gladly prepare any item you do not
   find on this menu."
 
   The Carlton, part of the ITT Sheraton chain, is indeed la casa
   grande.  Originally designed to resemble an Italian Remaissance
   palazzo with additional French and English strains, the 16th and K
   Streets NW hotel has recently completed a $27-million renovation.
   Thus, from its Louis XVIish chandeliers down to its wood-frame
   Trouvailles armchairs and customized Empire-style funiture with
   decorative inlays, it is once again the jewel of the capital city.
    And the perfect comfort way-station en route to your horrific
   history tour.
 
   Based on the Washington success story, shepherding people through
   the turnstiles at the crassroads [yes it's supposed to be
   crAss..JAS] of tragedy and commerce is an idea that the Sheraton
   people might want to take global.  How about similar hotel outposts
   for Phnom Penh and Armenia?
 
   ----JAS:  I take responsibility for any typos or anything that
   looks weird.  I was typing very VERY fast.
 
   Jennifer Schansberg
   [log in to unmask]