all abandoned.

This old cab operation panel interests me for a number of reasons. First, the usability of the room directory sign. The room numbers are not aligned properly because it is not written in a monospaced font - this causes the 7th floor to be compressed and the 6th floor to be inflated. Next, the first floor room numbering is obviously awkward, to say the least, although it was not clear that there was no room 4101, for example (in fact it seemed to be quite like the other floors, with the exception that they were used as offices, not guest rooms). The sign also is interrupted between the second and third floor with the note "Main lobby connections and 2nd and 3rd floors." And finally, the sign adds "Mini-conference center on 1st floor," and proceeds to name the conference rooms, apparently named after local geographical features (and subsequently, Indian tribes): Oneida, Seneca, Shandelee, Sugarloaf, Sundown, Thunder Hill, Tuscarora, Walnut, Willowemoc.

But back to the elevator COP features. First, there is only an "open door" button, there is no "close door" button. But the most interesting here are the inching buttons. Notice the "U" and "D" push buttons on the operator's panel - these were actually used during fully manual elevator operations. The key on the lower left side of the panel enabled the elevator to be switched out of automatic mode, into attendant mode. In attendant mode, the doors would remain open at a landing floor and the elevator would not close the doors nor start running until the "U" or "D" button was pushed at the same time as the floor selection. It is my belief that this is where the urban legend of "holding the floor button and door close button for express service" originated, since this is basically how attendant mode worked.

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