During the thirties and forties, the Biltmore hosted many talented acts as the Big Band era was in full swing. Even a performance by Esther Williams, a record setting swimmer at the time who performed an aquacade, who had the dance floor filled with water and made into a live aquarium with fish, graced the great Biltmore.
One of the features the Biltmore gave to its guests in the thirties and forties was the Bacchante Girls. In the Bacchante Room, these girls would be the servers, who could be summoned at the push of a button. Known for being the most beautiful women around, they would wear costumes that featured a low cut top, see through skirt and the whole room had a glass floor with pink under lighting to highlight the Bacchante Girls’ legs.
The Biltmore had suffered some catastrophe including a 1938 flooding where the water was 8 feet high in the lobby. There are commemorative markings in the lobby today that mark the historical event. In the 1970’s the hotel underwent a 7.5 million dollar restoration project to keep up with the times, add two levels of luxury housing, and yet still maintained the charm of its original 1922