in Washington, D. C. and in 1925 the company purchased The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia from the heirs of the founder, George C. Boldt. Later Boomer had charge of the Claridge restaurant of Times Square and the Windsor Hotel, in Montreal. Eventually he became directing head of Louis Sherry Inc., the president of the Sherry-Netherland Hotel and also president of the Savarin Restaurant chain. Georgia and her husband managed The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel during its most celebrated era. The original Waldorf-Astoria was torn down in 1929 to make room for the Empire State Building. Lucius Boomer had retained exclusive rights to use the name Waldorf-Astoria. Boomer was in retirement in late 1929 when he was asked if he would head up a new Waldorf-Astoria. On October 1, 1931, the new Waldorf-Astoria was opened to the public. On June 26, 1947, Lucius Boomer died at 67 years of age while vacationing in Hamar, Norway. On October 12, 1949, the Waldorf became a Hilton Hotel. Although The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel passed to Conrad Hilton, Georgia continued to manage the hotel for several years afterwards. Lucius and Georgia had befriended many of the celebrities of their time. Among them were presidents Herbert Hoover, Harry S Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower; performers such as Charlie Chaplin, Benny Goodman, Douglas Fairbanks, and Kirsten Flagstad; explorers Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen, Trygve Lie as well as members of the Norwegian royal family. She helped a young Frank Sinatra launch his career by allowing him to perform there, and is (in competition with several others) credited for popularizing the Waldorf Salad. Legacy Georgia Boomer purchased several properties in Norway, and after her death the urn with her ashes were deposited at one of her farms. Her name is also remembered in connection with the house on North 30th Street in Phoenix, Arizona designed for her in 1953 by Frank Lloyd Wright, commonly referred to as the Jørgine Boomer Residence. References Related reading Boomer, Lucius Messenger (1931) Hotel Management; Principles and Practice (Harper) Farrell, Frank (1982) The Greatest of Them All. History of The Waldorf-Astoria (K. S. Giniger Company) Turkel, Stanley (2007) Great American Hoteliers: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry (McFarland & Company) External links Jørgine Boomer Residence, Phoenix Arizona 1887 births 1971 deaths People from Lom, Norway Norwegian emigrants to the United States Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni American hoteliers