William B. Tabler was then tapped to finish the project and he designed it with slabs. It opened June 26, 1963 as the New York Hilton and offered 2,153 rooms making it largest in the city.In June 1972 Elvis Presley stayed here while performing four cold out concerts at nearby Madison Square Garden. He held a press conference before the first show at the Mercury Ballroom at the Hilton hotel. Hilton Hotels and Resorts asserts that the lyrics to John Lennon's 1971 song Imagine were composed in the hotel. 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. 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 walking 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. In 1990 a $100 million renovation decreased the number of guest rooms to 1,980. The property underwent further renovations in 1991- 1994 and a $100 million renovation in 19998-2000 that included a complete overhaul of the lobby the addition of an 8,000 square foot.
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