Graduate Providence Celebrates 100 Years of Glamorous Offerings, Prestigious Guests, Spooky Tales and Family Bonds

Photograph by Christian Horan Photography

“Everyone has a story about the Biltmore,” says Elise Shatraw, Senior Catering sales Manager and Wedding Coordinator at the Graduate (nee Biltmore). “When people call  to make a reservation or when they come in, I’ll ask, ‘Have you been here before?’ And they’ll either tell me about a memory they’ve had here, or they’ll say, ‘this is my first time in, but I’ve been by 1,000 times and always wanted to see inside.’”

I’m in the former camp. During my junior year of high school, my class had a particularly fruitful class fundraiser and thus were able to spring for a swankier prom location. Naturally, we turned to the crown jewel of Rhode Island’s capital, known for its fairytale-esque ballroom on the seventeenth floor with unparalleled city sightlines. As expected, we had a beautiful, glamorous time in the city, but perhaps the memory that sticks with me most is from the very beginning of the night when the fire alarm suddenly began blaring (no doubt set off by a mischievous classmate) followed closely by the ensuing chaos of 100 or so teenagers making their way to the stairwell. At least half of the massive throng of students were made up of girls in heels and floor-length skirts who had to precariously teeter our way down the many, many steps to the ground level exit, all the while trying not to break a sweat and ruin hours-worth of hair and makeup.

My unforgettable experience is just one of countless the iconic hotel (which was originally designed by the same architects who created Grand Central Station—who knew?) has provided over its 100-year tenure. Since its grand opening in June of 1922 — the most elaborate social event the city had seen according to a front-page Providence Journal article from the time — has hosted everything from bar mitzvahs and weddings to movie sets (you can peep the building in 27 Dresses and the Last Shot) along with everyone from celebrities to mobsters (fun fact: Raymond Patriarca was a Biltmore bell boy in the 1930s). It’s survived a number of troubles, including multiple vicious hurricanes and a brief, local economy-induced closing in the seventies, and celebrated a number of triumphs, including its designation as an historic landmark thanks to Buddy Cianci’s Midas touch.

Photograph by Christian Horan Photography

But no one knows its story more intimately than Shatraw and her colleague Desiree Rinaldi, who, between the two of them, have a combined fifty-plus years employment with the hotel. Rinaldi was first to come on board in 1989, following in her mother’s footsteps as a waitress (“we’ve worked side by side for twenty-something years!”) before working her way up the ladder to Banquet Captain. Shatraw later joined the team in 2003.

“I had worked with the director of sales at my previous hotel and after she came here, she called me and said, ‘You’re coming to work for me!’” Shatraw recalls. “I was a Rhode Island girl, so I knew the building. I was so excited, like, ‘You want me to come work at the Biltmore? Really?’ I was thrilled at the opportunity.’”

The two both quickly found a family within the hotel’s grand walls.

“I have lifelong relationships because of this place. We’ve watched our kids grow up together and now we’re watching our grandkids grow up. It’s unbelievable the friendships that we’ve had. Even people who have left, like the full-timers I started with who have since retired and are in their eighties and nineties, still call me to go to lunch every month,” Rinaldi explains. “Our department, between the front of the house and the back of the house, is beyond close. It’s very unusual; usually the front and back [staffs] do not get along. But here, it’s one giant family. It’s amazing.”

“We have staff that have been here twenty, twenty-five, thirty-plus years, so you get really close with everyone,” Shatraw adds. “And we all really enjoy what we do, so it really helps to lend itself to both the service the friends aspect and really watching out for each other.”

Both she and Rinaldi have their own fair share of favorite memories from over the years, like the time a fellow employee dropped a birthday cake at the man of the hour’s feet and then promptly walked away like nothing happened. But nothing beats the night Rinaldi met Julia Child.

“They had a chef’s convention here in the nineties and we were in the Picante Room which does not exist anymore,” she recalls. “But she was just sitting in a chair on the dance floor, and everyone was going to her— she didn’t have to go up to anybody. I was passing wine and she took a glass and was like, ‘just keep it flowing.’ Famous chefs like Emeril Lagasse were here, but to them she was like royalty. I couldn’t believe I was serving her. Definitely a highlight of my time here.”

Photograph by Christian Horan Photography

Other big names the two have come across include Diana Ross (in town for her daughter’s graduation), Mary Esposito (whose son was getting married on premises), Tom Brady (in attendance for a friend’s wedding) and, of course, the longtime Biltmore resident, Buddy Cianci.

“We don’t treat anyone differently, though.” Rinaldi says. “Whether you’re spending $5 or $500, it doesn’t matter to us. Everybody’s a VIP.”

But does that include the dearly departed?

“It is rumored that the building’s haunted,” Shatraw admits. “It’s a fascination. I can’t personally speak to it because I’ve never experienced it, but some people swear it is.”

Rinaldi is one of them.

“This was a long time ago, but in L’Apogée, the floor used to go from tile to rug, and one night I was working by myself. I was setting up the room when suddenly, the entire Queen Mary with all my trays went from the tile all the way up on to rug and just stopped. No one else was in there with me and there was no slant in the floor. So, that was an experience.”

Photograph by Christian Horan Photography

The hotel does have an interesting history of spooky stuff, with local legends whispering of Satanist cult meetings and animal sacrifices in its early days. Rinaldi and Shatraw say a couple engineers have witnessed unusual things such as figures dancing in windows of empty rooms. Former guests have also made claims on sites like TripAdvisor that certain rooms have ghostly energy.

“And they do say that someone was murdered in one of the elevators —I think it’s number four — before they reopened again in ’79, and the elevator door kept hitting [the body before it was found],” Rinaldi says. “If the elevators aren’t’ locked off, that one will go up, open, close and then come back down all by itself. It will just keep doing it until it’s locked off.”

Some may chalk this up to the quirky inner workings of a century-old structure, but it’s worth noting that it has undergone quite a few renovations over the years.

“They’ve converted some of the former spaces, like the Picante Room is now a two-level spa. And then up on the seventeenth and eighteenth floor, we had a multi-level restaurant called L’Apogée. It had a bar in the center, and you could look down from eighteen to seventeen, but that’s all been filled in and changed to a function space. Now the only restaurant space is in the lobby.

Perhaps some of the most significant changes have taken place in the last five or so years after AJ Capital Partners took over in 2017 and renamed it the Graduate in 2019 (to coincide with their line of hotels across the nation). The hotel’s interior has since been completely transformed with a funkier, bold Art Deco vibe.

Photograph by Christian Horan Photography

“I always like to say, ‘if I was 100, I’d need a facelift, too!’ Rinaldi says with a laugh.

The Graduate’s new décor also places a huge emphasis on local.

“Throughout the guest rooms and in the hallways, there are nods to either local colleges or the city,” Shatraw shares. “A lot of thought went into each selection. You can go through and look at all of the artwork and go, ‘okay, what does this mean or why is this chosen in the room’? It is pretty cool if you tell guest that and then they can go in and see how many they can figure out. The front desk has an information sheet so you can find out what each piece signifies.”

Photograph by Christian Horan Photography

But though the building has gone through many changes throughout its 100 years, the one thing that hasn’t changed is its heart.

“I think that no matter how many times we’ve changed companies, brands or management, she’s always been the Biltmore. She’s always going to be the Biltmore. The sign is never coming down. She will always be the Grande Dame of Providence,” Rinaldi says.

And guests certainly recognize that fact. Whether its people like me who had their prom at the hotel and want to check out the new updates, or brides whose parents married in the building back in the day and want to have the same wonderful experience with Rinaldi and Shatraw, we always come back. Even following a pandemic which nearly decimated the hospitality industry, visitors and couples and corporate meetings are back to booking in full swing this summer.

“We’re fortunate as a Union Hotel that we had people come back to work. A lot of venues are really struggling to find help now, but everyone here couldn’t wait to get back to work,” says Shatraw. “We’re in great shape because everyone came back that really wanted to come back, and we’re all looking forward to being part of everything again.”

Photograph by Christian Horan Photography

Another thing the staff is looking forward to? The 100 Years at the Biltmore gala on Thursday, June 9.

“Celebrating of 100 years is exciting. They’ve been planning for months for the event. We’re going to have a lot of archive items on display—silverware, service ware, menus, staff photos, things like that—so people can take a look back at the history of the hotel itself. We’re also going to have a nineteen-piece orchestra, Tropigals will be performing…. They’re really doing a whole nod to 100 years to celebrate the hotel through the century.”

The soiree will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. and in addition to the archive displays and performances, attendees can expect to enjoy ‘20s-themed cocktails and an array of delicious food. If you are interested in attending and celebrating the Bitmore’s illustrious history, tickets are $75 a piece and can be purchased in advance here.