In his 1924 essay 'How to Live on $36,000 a Year', Fitzgerald refers to which establishment as 'the best hotel in New York'?

• A. Waldorf Astoria
• B. Plaza Hotel
• C. The Pierre
• D. The Ritz-Carlton

Answer: (B)

Recognizing a precise reference to a symbol of luxury in Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age writing helps explain why this choice fits best. In How to Live on $36,000 a Year, Fitzgerald uses the image of a hotel that stands for ultimate urban sophistication to lampoon a life of opulence, and the establishment he names as “the best hotel in New York” is the Plaza Hotel. The Plaza’s Fifth Avenue location opposite Central Park and its reputation as New York’s premier luxury hotel made it the emblem readers would instantly recognize as the height of refined, costly hospitality in the 1920s. The other options are famous NYC hotels, but the essay’s phrasing and the era point to the Plaza as the intended reference.