Where Shtisel meets The Jetsons

Most airport hotels pride themselves on being modern and slick, a stopover to the future. But there’s one at JFK airport in New York that is the exact opposite. Inspired by the halcyon days of the early 1960s, the TWA Hotel takes guests back to a time when air travel was just starting to become popular and affordable. Think Happy Days or The Jetsons.

My wife and I were children of the sixties, so on our last night in the city before heading home, we decided to have some nostalgic fun, and also avoid any last-minute stress in getting to the airport from the city.

It was a memorable experience. From the huge sunken lounge in the space-age foyer to the teak panelling in every room, the recreation of TWA founder Howard Hughes’s office, the rooftop ski lodge and pool, beehive hair salon, vintage pop music and the real-life airplane that’s been turned into a cocktail bar, the hotel is a glorious time capsule of the early 60s.

The public areas are spacious, with special rooms and exhibits branching off the central foyer. It's a museum as much as a hotel. Even the food is good, considering that you are captive and can’t just wander off to try another restaurant if you don’t like the menu.

This encapsulates both the positive and negative aspects of staying there. The TWA hotel is a destination in its own right. It’s a shlep to get back on the airtrain to Queens, and a long way back to Manhattan. When you check in, you stay in. The only people you’re going to meet here are other guests.

Or so I thought.

As the light faded on a sunny April afternoon, we planted ourselves in the main lounge to enjoy the sunset. Suddenly my wife nudged me.

“Look up,” she whispered.

On the mezzanine floor above the period 'Twister' decor, a young ultra-Orthodox Jewish man and woman were sitting at a table, engaged in conversation.

“So?” I replied. “They’re probably flying out tomorrow. We’ve seen lots of frum families at the airport.”

Then she pointed to the hotel entrance. “Look!”

More frummies. An older man with a grey beard and another young man, and woman.

While the penny dropped slowly inside my dull brain, my wife declared: “I think this is a meeting place for young Orthodox Jews to meet – remember Shtisel!”

She nailed it. Like stars twinkling in the night sky, the more we looked around, the more couples we saw. Within an hour the hotel was dotted with young ultra-Orthodox men and women sitting together in alcoves and private places, trying to find out if they could make a shidduch – a match.

It made perfect sense. Through its remote location and abundance of space, the TWA hotel offers privacy and discretion. It is also an ideal meeting place for people coming from interstate to meet up with someone from New York’s vast ultra-Orthodox community.

A quick Google search confirmed our observations about TWA’s alter ego. “A lounge like TWA on a regular night can have up to 20 different frum young yeshiva dating couples, sitting on the couches sipping drinks. A married frum couple, or a couple in their 50’s would look out of place. If they want to go, nobody will stop them,” wrote one contributor to Imamother.com, an online forum “connecting frum women”.

Another contributor named Peru added: “Highly recommend the TWA JFK lounge”

On the beautifully named Shidduchshuk.com, one person wrote: “Set in the iconic former TWA flight centre (Terminal 5), this airport hotel is a great shidduch spot, with multiple seating areas and a bar for drinks.

“There are some interesting exhibits here as well (about airplanes, old-fashioned telephones, and a whole bunch of other stuff) to liven things up a bit if you’re down for that. I personally really like the very long hallways and oversized lounges. Great Place!”

On the night we were there, frum couples could be seen in many remote parts of the hotel. At one point we made our way over to the recreation of a typical 1960s lounge room, complete with Beatles single and a poster of the first Bond film, Dr No, only to be greeted by the sight of a young ultra-Orthodox man and woman in quiet conversation on the low-slung chairs.

Of course, some shadchens (matchmakers) are bound to disagree. Michpacha.com did not include the hotel in its list of top 10 dating venues, and Shidduchshuk.com carries an anonymous post from 2022 which complained that “TWA hotel is very inappropriate. Loud, Bad Music, crazy people there….”.

The reviewer must have come on an off night. Our experience was exactly the opposite, and the sheer number of serious young couples who turned up seems to endorse its suitability. The TWA gives Baby Boomers a chance to relive their childhood and today’s youth an opportunity to build their future. And those plush red lounges definitely put you in the mood.