Notable Guests
- Presidents
Many US Presidents have chosen to spend time at the hotel while in Louisville, including William Howard Taft (1911), Woodrow Wilson (1916), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1938), Harry Truman (1948), John F. Kennedy (1962), Lyndon B. Johnson (1964), Jimmy Carter (1970s), Bill Clinton (1998), and George W. Bush (2002).
- Gangsters
Lucky Luciano, Dutch Schultz, and Al Capone — who was a frequent guest of the Seelbach — stayed at the hotel, often for secret poker games. One story from the 1920s involves Al Capone sneaking out of the hotel through a series of secret stairways and tunnels when Louisville Police broke up one of these games. Any of the employees will be more than helpful in showing the Al Capone room to you ( as long as it is not occupied ) and giving the history of the room.
- Others
Whitney Houston, Elvis Presley, Robin Williams, Russel Crowe, Julia Child, and Wolfgang Puck are among those celebrities who have stayed at the Seelbach.
F. Scott Fitzgerald frequented the hotel in April 1918, while training for his deployment in World War I. One night after expensive bourbon and cigars however, he had to be restrained and kicked out of the hotel. This experience seemingly did not tarnish his memories however, as he later included a fictional hotel akin to the Seelbach as the setting for the wedding of Tom and Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby.
Read more about this topic: Seelbach Hotel
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