Peacock Alley

English

Etymology

The main corridor connecting the two buildings comprising the Waldorf–Astoria was given this nickname by the press in New York City in reference to wealthy patrons (especially women) who would go there to show off their finery (compare peacock (“strut proudly”)). The name then came to refer generically to the foyer of any such upper-class hotel, or similar gathering place. First appears c. 1904 in Real New York by Rupert Hughes.

Noun

Peacock Alley (plural Peacock Alleys)

1. Any of a number of specific named hotel foyers, first and most notably that of the Waldorf–Astoria in New York City.
   • 1912, Albert Bigelow Paine, Mark Twain A Biography‎^[1]:

     I supposed he would want to go down with as little ostentation as possible, so took him by the elevator which enters the dining-room without passing through the long corridor known as "Peacock Alley", because of its being a favorite place for handsomely dressed fashionables of the national capital.

   • 1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post‎^[2]:

     She had on a light-blue dress—one of those soft filmy things—with slippers and stockings to match—there was a lace wrap over her shoulders, shiny gimcracks in her hair, and rings on all her fingers—a little piece of Peacock Alley dropped down in the Hooper House,

2. (historical, US) Any hotel foyer or similar area where upper-class women congregate in order to be seen.
   • 1907, Daisy Fitzhugh Ayres, The Conquest‎^[3]:

     There was a lot of fool humbuggery about these plutocratic hang-outs, with their "peacock alleys" where women strutted to show their clothes,

   • 1918, Anna Steese Richardson, “Love, Looks or Laughter?”, in McClure's‎^[4], volume 50, number 4:

     To understand the new theatre audiences in New York, you need only stroll through the great hotels about dinner time. The very character of those who lounge in the Peacock Alleys and the glittering foyers has changed.

Alternative forms

• peacock alley