“Excuse me, where’s the lobby?” asks young actor Macaulay Culkin in the movie Home Alone 2, as he enters the historic Plaza Hotel, gazing at the beautiful chandelier and the Christmas decorations.
“Down the hall and to the left,” replies a gentleman in a suit and black coat, with a familiar shock of blond hair.
That’s a scene from Donald Trump’s greatest holiday movie, in which he made a cameo appearance in 1992. Trump owned the building at the time, having bought it in 1988 for $390 million.
The purchase of the building was a huge personal victory for Trump, as the New York Times reported at the time:
What Trump wants, Trump gets. But this moment is special. He has never wanted anything quite so much as the Plaza. It has been his obsession for more than a decade because, as he says, ”This isn’t just a building. It’s the ultimate work of art. I was in love with it.’ And there was another reason: The $400 million purchase of the legendary hotel conferred upon Donald J. Trump and his glitzy empire a social cachet beyond price. ‘I tore myself up to get the Plaza,” Trump says.
In the movie, Macaulay Culkin’s character, Kevin, gets a room at the Plaza using his father’s credit card, charging $967 for room service.