Oscar Tschirky (1866–1950), better known as Oscar of the Waldorf, was maître d’hôtel of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City from 1893 to 1943. Tschirky emigrated from Switzerland in 1883, and with the help of his elder brother, Brutus, who was a chef in New York, Oscar landed a job as busboy at the Hoffman House, the best hotel in the city, the same day he landed in the United States.
From the moment of his arrival, Tschirky worked only at the finest places. In 1887 he was hired by Delmonico’s, the most prestigious restaurant in New York City at the time. There Tschirky advanced to become headwaiter for the private dining rooms. Ever ambitious, when he heard about the $10 million Waldorf Hotel (the Astoria came later, with the addition of the Astoria wing in 1897) being built at Thirty-third Street and Fifth Avenue, Tschirky applied for a position. He wrote himself a letter of recommendation on Delmonico’s stationery and encouraged the restaurant’s well-known patrons to sign it. Four days after he mailed his impressive ten-page list, which resembled a who’s who of New York, Tschirky was hired as the hotel’s first employee.
