New hotel opens

SLP2003021501- ST. LOUIS, Feb.15 (UPI) -- Former bellman, Seventy-seven year-old Kenneth Long and his wife Jane enter an elevator for a tour of the new Renaissance Grand Hotel, as general manager Dennis Wagner holds the door in downtown St. Louis on Feb. 15, 2003. Long, who worked at the old Statler Hotel from 1942-1943 and again in 1947-1954, remembers serving many well-known guests like Dwight Eisenhower, Bette Davis, Red Skelton and many more. The hotel, built in 1917 and closed about 20 years ago, has undergone a $265 million restoration. Long is the first guest of the hotel which opens with over 900 rooms today. rlw/bg/Bill Greenblatt UPI