Schrager forced to forgo Whiskey
Hotelier Ian Schrager has had to change the name of one of his US hotel bars following a battle with his former business partner, Rande Gerber.
Gerber, who owns 20 bars in the USA, ended his partnership with Schrager when he moved the Whiskey Bar from Schrager's Paramount hotel in New York to the W hotel in the city's Times Square last December.
According to Gerber's Midnight Oil company, Schrager immediately opened a bar in the vacated space, also called the Whiskey. It said the name was its registered trademark.
Following a court order issued by Gerber, the Paramount hotel said last week the name had been changed to the Paramount bar.
Gerber used to operate Morgans bar at Schrager's Morgans hotel in New York and the Sky bar at his Mondrian hotel in Hollywood.
Most of Gerber's bars, 12 of them attached to W hotels, have names with variations on the word "whiskey". They include Whiskey Blue at the W Los Angeles, Whiskey Sky at the W Lakeshore in Chicago, and Whiskey Rocks at the St Regis hotel in Aspen.
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 20-26 June 2002