Hilton Hotels & Resorts asserts that the lyrics to John Lennon's 1971 song "Imagine" were composed in the hotel.[13]
In late spring 1971, Neil Sheehan and colleagues at The New York Times were in rooms[14] at the hotel organizing and summarizing the Pentagon Papers, an internal DoD study of the history of the Vietnam War which he had surreptitiously copied from Daniel Ellsberg for publication.[15]
In June 1972, Elvis Presley stayed at the hotel while performing four sold-out concerts at nearby Madison Square Garden. He held a press conference before the first show at the hotel's Mercury Ballroom.
Martin Cooper made the world's first handheld cellular phone call in public April 3, 1973, when he called Joel S. Engel at the New York Hilton with a two-pound Motorola DynaTAC phone. Cooper, a Motorola inventor called his rival at Bell Labs to tell him about the invention. The cell phone base station was next door atop the 1345 Avenue of the Americas.[16]
The hotel owned the property immediately west of it which was the site of the Adelphi Theatre where episodes of The Honeymooners were filmed. The Adelphi was torn down in 1970. In 1989, an office tower, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, was built on the site. The tower is connected to the Hilton with a walkway and keeps the Hilton's Sixth Avenue address even though it is midblock and closer to Seventh Avenue. Exterior shots of Elaine's workplace at the J. Peterman Company in Seinfeld show the building.[17][18]
In the 2016 United States presidential election, Donald Trump held his election night victory party in the hotel's grand ballroom.[19] The hotel is home to a number of award ceremonies, including the International Emmy Awards presented by the International Academy. Each spring, the hotel serves as the venue for the Inner Circle Show, the annual charity dinner produced by New York City journalists.
On December 4, 2024, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed outside the hotel lobby, where he was scheduled to speak at an investor meeting.[20][21]
