Tragically, the hotel's first incarnation, which was a wedding gift from Chicago businessman Potter

A hotel is just somewhere to spend the night, right? It is simply a building full of rooms with beds and bathrooms. Of course, that's just the surface. As these 10 iconic American properties show, a hotel can also be a one-of-a-kind showpiece full of fun facts, lake tahoe lodging quirky details, and unexpected hidden histories. Here's a look at some fascinating tidbits you may not know about some of the country's most famous (and historic) hotels.
The 125-year-old Victorian-style Grand Hotel (open from May to October) lake tahoe lodging is the it girl of historic hotels, built entirely of wood and located on a car-free island where the only horsepower is the 600 clopping residents who have summer lake tahoe lodging jobs here. Did you also know that:
Its 385 rooms are decorated in a deliriously delightful mix of 22 paint colors and 264 wallpapers and each spring it takes 1,000 gallons of white paint to spruce up its exterior including the front porch, which is lined with 2,500 geraniums and 100 rocking chairs, and at 660 feet, is the world's longest.
One of The Strip's most photographed hotels, lake tahoe lodging the Bellagio Las Vegas is a glass-and-marble homage to the Italian lakefront city of Bellagio. It opened in 1998 at a cost of $1.6 billion and added a $375 million Spa Tower in 2004. Did you also know that:
Tragically, the hotel's first incarnation, which was a wedding gift from Chicago businessman Potter Palmer to his wife Bertha, burned to the ground in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, just 13 days after opening.
Built in 1931, The Waldorf-Astoria occupies lake tahoe lodging an entire city block and was the world's largest (just under 2,000 rooms) and tallest (47 stories) hotel. Today it has 1,413 rooms and suites with Art Deco d cor, including the circa-1893 lobby clock and a $10,000-per-night Presidential Suite, where U.S. Commanders in Chief stay when in the city. Did you also know that:
There is a secret train platform known as Track 61 beneath it (with a rusty but intact lake tahoe lodging armored train car still on it), which was used in the 1940s to privately squire VIPs namely President lake tahoe lodging Franklin Delano Roosevelt into the hotel.
No hotel oozes mid-century glamour like the Morris Lapidus-designed Fontainebleau on Collins Avenue, which was transformed with a $1 billion renovation in 2008 into a 1,504-room epicenter of beach chic with 12 restaurants and bars and a 40,000-square-foot spa. Did you also know that:
When it opened in 1954, the hotel had a 17,000 square foot lobby with a two-story Staircase to Nowhere (it's still there), lake tahoe lodging a 6,500-square-foot pool with 250 cabanas, and six acres of formal gardens that emulated those at France's Versailles and Chateau Fontainebleau.
Built for $2 million in Italian Renaissance style using Colorado red granite and Arizona sandstone, the 241-room Brown Palace Hotel & Spa is noteworthy for the 26 carved medallions of Rocky Mountain animals set between the 7th floor windows on its exterior. Did you also know that:
Every U.S. President since Teddy Roosevelt in 1905 (except Calvin Coolidge and Barack Obama) 17 in all has stayed here. And President Dwight D. Eisenhower once shot a wayward golf ball while practice-putting in the Eisenhower Suite and dented the fireplace mantel.
One of America's most beloved hotels, the Hotel Del Coronado now has 679 rooms and is also known as the backdrop lake tahoe lodging for the 1959 cross-dressing comedy lake tahoe lodging Some Like It Hot starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, lake tahoe lodging and Jack Lemmon. Did you also know that:
The world's first electrically lit outdoor Christmas tree debuted at The Del in 1904 a then-50-foot Norfolk Island lake tahoe lodging Pine that was planted in 1888 and is still there today, although it's now 140 feet tall.
The Del's 10-story, red-roofed turret houses its cavernous ballroom, but the ceiling was lowered in the mid-20th century and the abandoned space above now conceals a balcony and huge antique movie projectors.
A fixture on the Washington power scene for eight decades, The Mayflower Renaissance Washington, DC Hotel , now featuring 647 rooms, has been intertwined with both presidential lore and political shenanigans (notably New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's prostitute scandal). Did you also know that:
Both Presidents Harry Truman and Franklin Roosevelt lived at The Mayflower lake tahoe lodging (Truman for the first 90 days of his presidency and Roosevelt during his pre-inaugural period) and Roosevelt dictated his We have nothing to fear but fear itself lake tahoe lodging speech here.
Founded in 1927 by a group of showbiz bigwigs (including Douglas Fairbanks and Louis B. Mayer) and now run by the trendy Thompson Hotel group, the 300-room Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is said to be the spot where a young Shirley Temple first took tap-dance lessons from Bill Bojangles Robinson lake tahoe lodging on the lobby stairway. Did you also know that:
Designed in 1929 by a prot g of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, The Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa is constructed of pre-cast concrete blocks in a geometric pattern said to resemble a freshly cut palm tree and is topped lake tahoe lodging with a copper roof. It has been expanded and renovated several times and now offers 740 rooms and suites. Did you also know that:
Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, as well as Ronald and Nancy Reagan, honeymooned here while Senator John McCain's honeymoon with Governor Sarah Palin ended here with his concession speech on election night 2008.
Photo credits: Grand Hotel courtesy of Donna Heiderstadt; lake tahoe lodging Bellagio Las Vegas, courtesy of Bellagio lake tahoe lodging Las Vegas; Palmer House Hilton, courtesy of Hilton Hotels; The Waldorf-Astoria, courtesy of The Waldorf-Astoria; Fontainebleau, courtesy of the Fontainebleau; Brown Palace Hotel, courtesy of Brown Palace Hotel; Hotel Del Coronado, courtesy of Hotel Del Coronado; The Mayflower Renaissance Washington, DC Hotel, courtesy of The Mayflower; The Hollywood Roosevelt, courtesy of Thompson Hotels; The Arizona Biltmore, courtesy of The Arizona Biltmore
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