Summary

In Chapter 1, “The End of Breakfast,” in 1960s New York City, Mrs. Emmie Mossler is running the Biedermeier, a women’s hotel. Because women’s hotels are going out of style, Mrs. Mossler can no longer afford to serve continental breakfasts. The meal used to be delivered to each Biedermeier girl’s door every morning. Now the girls only have “a slightly unfashionable” lunch at the Biedermeier (4).

Mrs. Mossler is sad about the loss, as she “arranged the breakfast menu in 1929” (4). Since starting at the Biedermeier, Mrs. Mossler has noticed waves of women coming to Manhattan in hopes of finding jobs and husbands. After boardinghouses went out of style, women’s hotels began to emerge for unattached young women working in the city.

Mrs. Mossler still sees the Biedermeier as a first-rate establishment despite those who think otherwise. She began working there “within...