Since my first visit, 1962, a young Navy ensign, over the 5 decades since, I've patronized a small hotel just across the street from the Hilton, the Warwick, a blessing which has allowed me to attend meetings at the Hilton without putting up with the usual suspects and associated cr*p. Unless it's changed since my lat visit, the Warwick's cocktail lounge was among the last surviving relics of grander times, and a great place to get a feel for a sort of Hollywood 1940s perspective of NYC.